Heather Cook

Selling your home is always stressful and inconvenient however selling during the winter presents its own unique set of challenges. Not only is the market typically slower during colder, winter months but the holidays can make it difficult to juggle the need to decorate with the importance to properly showcase your home. As there are less buyers looking for a home its vital to make sure your property shows beautifully so buyers will willingly – and eagerly – face winter’s cold wrath to preview your home.

Keep your driveway and walkways shoveled and accessible. The last thing a seller wants is for a potential buyer to decide not to preview the interior because the exterior is treacherous or difficult to get access to due to snow and ice. Make the exterior too much of a challenge and your buyers will simply move onto the next property on their list. By keeping all access points clear, you will welcome visitors inside and showcase the fact that your home is well maintained and taken care of.

Be wary of heavy or potent smells. Winter makes it almost impossible to open windows so a home’s smells are important to be aware of. While your house is on the market, do your best to refrain from using incense, heavy perfumes or pot pourri and doing a lot of cooking with heavy spices. These things not only linger in the air for days, they also permeate the soft decor in your home – your carpets, draperies, pillows and these smells can stay trapped in these items for long time. This means even if you air out the house, when you close it back up, your soft decor items will still release the same heavy smells back into the home. Keep on top of pet smells and ensure that their litter or bedding is changed daily – sometimes twice daily. To keep the air light and fresh, keep the house clean, keep the air purifier working and use natural citrus scents to add a warm welcome to the air.

Make sure every room is well-lit. This sounds logical however there are a staggering number of people who do not have adequate lighting in their home. In order for buyers to buy a home they need to not only be able to see each room but they also need to be romanced – especially in the key selling areas such as the living room, family room, bedroom and kitchen. This means having levels of lighting, not just a harsh overhead light, so that you set the mood and ambiance for your visitors. In the winter when sunny days are at a premium and it gets dark very quickly, these levels of lighting are vital to proper showcasing. From table lamps to modern floor lamps and kitchen fixtures – these items play an important part in a home’s overall presentation. Another way to ensure rooms are well-lit is to keep blinds and window treatments open as natural light is one of the best ways to make sure a space appears bright and welcoming.

Keep holiday decorating minimal and tasteful. As we discussed during our postStaging to Sell over the Holidays, while decorating for festivities is important, it’s also vital to keep the decorating tasteful and in balance with the space. It’s very easy to overwhelm a room with too many decorations, too many ornaments and too much cheer. Your buyers will appreciate simple decorating touches so don’t feel you can’t celebrate. Once the holidays are over however, make sure decorations get taken down quickly and if any photos online showcase holiday decor, have them refreshed so your listing doesn’t seem stale in January.

Create simple winter curb appeal. Regardless of the time of year, your home needs to have welcoming appeal. Shoveling is a first step but one of our top suggestions is to add some urns with seasonal greenery, hazel twigs, berries and even soft white lights flanking your front door which will add pops of color against the snow as well as warmth and welcome to your porch. Ensuring bushes and small trees are trimmed back, house numbers are visible from the curb, all lights work are all elements of strong curb appeal.

Clean out closets and storage areas to make room for winter clothing. From heavy winter coats and snowpants to heavy boots and skis – winter comes with a lot of extra things to store. Pare down the contents of hall or mudroom closets, taking the opportunity to pack away lighter clothing to make room for all these winter must haves. As a general rule, all winter clothing and boots should be stored neatly in these closets so buyers don’t think the house has storage issues. Skis, snowshoes etc should have a home in a closet or in the garage however it may mean packing away other items to make room for these winter essentials.

Be aware of your home’s temperature. You don’t want your house to be overly warm so your buyers are too hot to enjoy previewing the home. At the same time, we have been in a lot of homes which are freezing – either because they are vacant or because that is how the current home owners like the temperature. Keep the temperature comfortable so your buyers feel welcome and then want to stay.

Warmth and welcome are key aspects to luring buyers out to see your home during colder months. By following these tips and consulting with a professional stager to ensure all areas of your home are properly showcased, sellers will reap the benefits of impressing the buyers who are shopping for properties even when the market typically slows. Regardless of the time of year, a home which has been properly prepared and staged will stand out against its competition, making it the house to see!

Home staging, which has changed the landscape of how homes are sold today, has made really dramatic strides in only the past few years. These changes come in response to a new generation of home buyers whose high expectations are dictating what sells homes – and what doesn’t. We call this change in mindset Model Home Mentality and it encapsulates the effects of HGTV and snazzy model homes on impressionable home buyers who must have all those fancy upgrades as well as a home which has ‘the look’ before they buy it.

Gone are the days when a home owner could put a for sale sign in the front yard and trust that a buyer would be able to look past the way in which they lived in the house and envision what it could look like. Truthfully, it’s a little sad that buyers have changed so drastically that they would rather walk away from a property which has potential and just needs a little TLC rather than accept the challenge the home offers.

Buyers – especially first time buyers – expect a certain level of home when they make the decision to purchase. They aren’t just buying a house, they are buying into a lifestyle – one which has all those bells and whistles they see on TV and in decorated model homes. The expectations of these discerning buyers and their willingness to pay more money for homes which model the lifestyle they want to have, is shaking up the real estate industry. Savvy sellers are becoming aware that in order to get the full value of their home, they need to be prepared to do what it takes to showcase their homes properly.

In order to reap the benefits of this new real estate trend, we often tell home owners that they should be prepared to invest some time and money in both the preparation of their home as well as in the professional staging or showcasing. By committing to this two part process, the family home will then take on a polished, modern appeal which will be memorable to all buyers previewing the property. The cost? Normally about 1% of the home’s list price and always significantly lower than a price reduction once the property is on the market.

Neutral Bedroom with no Showcasing makes this space fall Flat!

Adding some WOW to this space suddenly makes it memorable!

Competing against new build homes is difficult to begin with (and a whole other article), however there is NO competition when a resale home fails to impress buyers. First time buyers are young and hip; they gravitate instinctively towards homes which are updated and beautiful to look at. This puts the average seller who is over 50, at a distinct disadvantage. Wallpaper, dated fixtures and finishes, cozy rooms stuffed full of collectibles and belongings – all trademarks of a happy, well lived in and loved home are key components to making a home’s target buyers run for the hills - or the nearest model home.

So what does it take to sell to this new generation? Well, it used to be that simply doing some painting, packing away personal pictures and cleaning off counters were the most important things. These are still important aspects of the preparation process but without proper showcasing, the house can still fall flat with buyers. Going to the next level and professionally staging a home by using modern furnishings and beautiful accents to create memorable focal points is what makes buyers go WOW.

Bringing in a pro stager bridges this generation gap and puts a powerful tool in any home owner’s arsenal. From the initial consultation which gives sellers a customized preparation plan to staging options for their home, consulting with a professional stager is a great first step. Instead of a general list of things ‘to do’, working with a professional will take the guesswork out of how to properly showcase your house and maximize its selling features. Investing both the time and money to be sure your home is staged to sell is the best way to ensure that this new generation of buyers see the value and appeal in your home, regardless of the price point.

Rooms in Bloom Home Staging & Design Inc. is an award winning company based out of Kitchener-Waterloo, ON. For more information on our home staging services or to book a home staging consultation, please contact us. To view our extensive portfolio, please visit us online at www.homestagingdesign.ca.

At the beginning of August, we were contacted by a local builder about the possibility of staging one of their model homes which had been up for sale for a year. We met with them and toured the home, taking in all the gorgeous architectural features in the home and the extensive upgrades. Originally, they asked us to simply quote them on staging the dining area as they had gotten alot of comments that without furniture, their buyers just couldn't 'see' how their table and chairs set would fit. We agreed that this area was in need of staging however we also took in the fact that because it was an open concept living room/dining room/kitchen that staging one area wasn't really going to do justice to the space. The builder had put in a couch/loveseat, rug and coffee table but their custom fireplace wasn't being highlighted and with all the heavy custom cabinetry the room felt very weighted to one side of the room.

Below you can see the results after we staged this open concept area:

We replaced their rug with a thick cream shag rug and added matching end tables with lamps to really finish off this living space. We also used a lot of custom florals to add softness, color and texture in all the different areas of this one room.

Previewing the home, we didn't discern the master bedroom until we noted the adjoining ensuite and walk in closet. To us, with the drop down pendant and custom fireplace we were unsure of its function so this was something we conveyed to our client. We stressed the importance of staging the whole main floor so that buyers didn't question the function of a space and so that all the large architectural features and window treatments were balanced with scale appropriate furnishings. So .. instead of just staging the dining room, we ended up staging the whole main floor!

All of the furnishings were bought, delivered and set up within two weeks of the quote being accepted by the builder - a phenomenal turn around time! We normally take between 2 - 4 months to stage a model home however the staging faeries must have been on our side this time because it all came together like a dream.

Our client, the builder, loved the results so much that they can't wait for us to help them again in the spring with another model. We loved working with them and can't wait to do it all again!

For more information on this home, please contact Nino Orasanin with Remax Twin City Realty or visit www.premierproperties.ca.

Regardless of whether you call it home staging or home fluffing; the goal is the same – to get your home sold quickly and for top dollar. There is an abundance of articles and information which will tell you how to go about staging your home. These articles however, while they tell you the basics of what to do to get your home ready for sale, they don’t say how to do it. Told to de-clutter and neutralize, sellers often scratch their heads and wonder what should get packed away, how much is too much and what are neutral colors to decorate with which hold modern appeal? It’s very confusing and if sellers don’t get it right or they don’t do what they need to do, they are missing out on maximizing on the equity in their home.

Wondering how best to present your home for sale is stressful!

While that basic premise does involve cleaning, painting, repairing, or editing furnishings; its really about a change in perspective. You must stop seeing your house as your home and instead see it as a product which needs to be merchandised effectively to be sold at the highest price possible. To do this successfully, you must put aside your ego and view the home selling process without emotion. This is probably the toughest thing a seller has to do because to them, the house represents home and it is very difficult to be objective about what needs to be done to get the best possible return on the sale of the family home.

So what does this mean? First off, it means you realize you aren’t selling your home you’re selling someone else’s dream. But it doesn’t stop there; once you understand that your home is a commodity and you’re marketing a dream, that is when the real shift has to take place and your ego needs to move aside.

The way you decorate and live in your home is probably not the best way to market your home. Ouch! Even if it has been professionally decorated (especially then). Even if you clean until the whole house sparkles and you declutter and depersonalize, it’s likely that your personality and the way you relate to the rooms in your home will shine through. It is also a safe bet that your home is decorated to suit your individual tastes, not the broad market. Too often this is the point where the homeseller draws the line, mistakenly thinking that buyers will look past pink carpets, acres of wallpaper and personal decor choices! A seller will think “I think this house looks great! I’d buy it, and if I would buy it, then other people will appreciate it the same way!”

Selling Your Home? You're Selling a Lifestyle Upgrade not a Dated Time Capsule.

What a shame! It’s likely, with this mistaken thinking, that the seller – you – just turned your back on cash. The truth is, if your house is priced correctly for the market, somebody will buy it. But in terms of maximizing your selling price, a home’s appearance needs to be memorable and impressive to get the best return on investment. The more people who fall in love with your house, the better the chance you will maximize the equity in your home. However it’s more than just getting the right number of people or the right price. Ask any marketing professional and they will tell you that price and packaging go hand in hand. The better the packaging is at selling the dream, the higher the price a consumer is willing to pay.

Design savvy Buyers pay Top Dollar for Bright Spaces with Modern Appeal

That’s where a professional home stager comes into the picture. Home Stagers understand the art and science of marketing homes. Since they have no attachment to the contents or decorating style of your home they can view your home objectively and make the changes that will maximize your sales price. Additionally, they will have the resources and partnerships to take a home from ho-hum to stunning in a very short amount of time. From modern furnishings available for rental to creative and innovative ideas on how to maximize the value and impact of every space in a home, their assistance is invaluable. An experienced and talented professional home stager will add the tangible WOW factor to a property so buyers fall in love with every space and can therefore justify the list price – whatever it happens to be!

Professional home stagers specialize in marketing homes and creating appealing lifestyles. For more information or to get Rooms in Bloom’s professional assistance with making your home ‘show-worthy’, visit us online today!

A sincere thanks for some article content and inspiration courtesy of Larry Hahn, a Realtor in St. John’s Newfoundland. To read his original article, follow the above link.

In an age when home staging is such a prevalent real estate tool, it is amazing how many real estate listings are out there which are clearly not in any way ready for potential buyers to walk through. We work with a lot of realtors and know just how tight their marketing budgets are when it comes to their listings. It only makes sense to maximize these dollars by showcasing pictures of modern, bright, uncluttered spaces which will attract buyers in droves. This seems logical to me and I know of many realtors who will refuse to list a property unless the sellers work with a professional stager and follow their recommendations.

In the spirit of being helpful, we have compiled a list of the top ten things NOT to do when listing a property for sale.

Defer Basic Maintenance

Opting to let the new home owners take care of basic maintenance is a highly risky move. At best, a seller may attract a property flipper who is comfortable taking on these tasks and who puts in a low offer or at worst, buyers will be turned off by all the work which needs to be done just to make the house liveable. Either way, its a bad first impression and is often a key reason why a property lingers, sad and unloved, on the market.

Leave up Wallpaper & Borders

Even though wallpaper IS making a comeback, its not wise to leave it up when you go to sell your house. Why? Because wallpaper and borders are often very personal decor choices and a seller seriously narrows down their buyer pool if they opt to wait for someone who will love it just like they do. Murals and specialized painting applications also fall into this category for the same reasons. We can’t stress enough the importance of neutralizing these decor choices with some great modern paint hues which have broad appeal. If only 1 person in 50 likes wallpaper, guesstimate how long it will take to sell the house? If on the other hand a property appeals to 23 out of 25 people, think about how much FASTER it will sell and for how much more money …

Block the front of the House with Bushes & Trees

Yes, and if you’re wondering, I saw THREE local MLS listings today where it was impossible to see the front of the house because of overgrown bushes and trees. Curb appeal is a vital component of getting any house ready for sale as buyers driving by properties at all times of the day need to actually SEE the front of the home.

Pack a Room Full of Wall to Wall Furniture

In order to create strong visual appeal, rooms need a balance of scale appropriatefurniture and open areas in which buyers can navigate around or through the room. Rooms which have every wall jammed with furniture and ‘stuff’ make spaces appear a lot smaller than what they, adding visual clutter and turning off buyer’s who are looking for large, bright and airy spaces. It can also end up looking like a seller hosts parties for 20 or more instead modeling a modern, functional living space. A living room for example, should be staged with a sofa & loveseat (or two accent chairs), coffee/end table set, rug to anchor the space and a set of table lamps. That’s it. No bookshelves, curio cabinets, pianos, chests etc unless the room is huge and its possible to define multiple functional areas with plenty of navigation room in between.

A functional and appealing living room

Put up EVERY Piece of Artwork You Own

We like to get a room down to having art or a framed mirror only on one main wall. This visually pulls the eye to one main area (usually a focal wall or focal point) without making the eye jump crazily around a room. Not only does this cut down on another area of clutter but it makes rooms feel larger.

Block Architectural Focal Points in a Room

Architectural focal points are normally features such as a fireplace or windows in a rooms. These are key selling points to a house and they need to be enhanced and showcased instead of blocked with furniture. Many times we have seen real estate listings where these types of focal points are completely blocked and eclipsed by furnishings within a space. As people are not buying a seller’s furniture, but are buying the architectural elements in a house, it makes sense to highlight these focal points instead of obscuring them. This is where a professional stager can really help; editing out furnishings and arranging them so that the eye is naturally drawn to the right focal areas.

Its Important Not to Block a Room's Focal Points

Showcase a Kitchen or Bathroom Which Features 1970′s or 80′s Decor Styles

We have written blog articles about smart, modern upgrades for kitchens however the bottom line is, kitchens and bathrooms are key decision making areas. Dated cabinets with dated hardware aren’t going to impress buyers. Stained, scarred or discoloured countertops are another detraction for most people touring a house. Paint, new hardware and new countertops are smart and budget friendly upgrades which instantly updates these types of spaces. 72% of buyers who are not impressed by a home’s kitchen or bathrooms will keep shopping and will pay MORE money for a home which features these upgraded rooms.

Bright, updated Kitchens Make Buyers Fall in Love!

Don’t Clutter Rooms up with ‘Stuff’

Heard the saying ‘clutter eats equity’? Couldn’t be more true. Well loved homes feature layers of things which we keep around us to make us feel more comfortable. From extra furnishings to collections showcasing our favourite things, rooms easily become clogged and can appear overwhelming for potential buyers. Peeling back those layers to reveal the true size, shape and function of rooms in a home not only showcases their innate charm but also makes them appear bigger and brighter which in turn increases a home’s intrinsic value. We tell clients all the time that a home up for sale needs to model a lifestyle upgradebecause that’s what people buy. They cannot visualize what a room looks like if its filled with clutter, so they will keep shopping until they see a home which models a lifestyle they want to have.

Sell a Home Which is Unfurnished

As mentioned above, buyers are looking for a home which models the lifestyle they want to have after they purchase a property. It is an emotional choice which is made after they fall in love with a house, already visualizing how their life will be once they have purchased it.Homes without furnishings lack warmth and appeal; they often appear cold and sterile which turns off buyers. Additionally, a lack of furnishings means rooms have no defined function which decreases the value of the home and when only 10% of buyers can visualize a space with their items in it, sellers are therefore losing 90% of their buyer poolwho just move onto the next house.

We hope this helps in terms of what not to do when listing a property for sale. When the average buyer is 28 and the average seller is over 50, there is a significant gap in decor styles and the expectations buyers have today. This young, design savvy buyer pool know what they want and will pay more money for a home which showcases the upgrades and lifestyles they are searching for. Sellers who tap into this need, taking care to invest in key upgrades and staging ensure maximum appeal and a swift, profitable sale of their home.