External Home Staging Tips
First impressions count!
external home staging tipsIf you’re looking to sell your property to someone who’s going to live in it you must think about these external home staging tips. The first impression a buyer gets of your home make can make or break it’s chances of getting a wining price at sale time.
Now I’m a strange kind of buyer. I love to look at floor plans and layouts. That’s what I look to first when assessing a house. But then I’m always looking with the eye of a potential investment opportunity. I want good bones with a shabby looking shell that looks tired and hopefully smells of cat.
But I’ve come to learn over many years that perhaps this is not normal behaviour.
These days Jane and Wayne average are more likely to be surfing the net looking for their dream home. Jane will see the pictures on the agent’s site and they’d better look good, like an audition to get on “The Block”. Then she’ll call Wayne over by saying “Honey, I think I’ve found one!” He’ll say, “Great love” and go back to reading about footy or finances.
Jane and Wayne will go for a drive-by of your lovely home and this is where the rubber starts to hit the road.
What is the first thing they’ll see?
They can’t “un-see” it, no matter what else they find out about your home. Many people make their mind up about someone or something in the first few seconds. You only have the one opportunity to make a first impression. So try to put yourself in their position when you’re setting out to stage your home.
If you’re selling a unit there’s a limit to what you can do, but don’t be afraid to “take responsibility” to see to the front garden. There’s no point waiting for the maintenance contractor to sweep the pathway that leads to your door, or clear the junk mail away from the letter boxes. Do what you can in those circumstances.
If you’ve got your whole house to yourself then you have complete and utter control. Think ahead. Some things take time. Go and stand out the front of your house. Look at it through fresh eyes. Walk towards it from different angles. Look at it from the other side of the road. Take some photos for later reference.
Make a list of what needs doing and start prioritising.
If you need some more grass for example you can’t leave it untill the last-minute. Get some lawn repair or seed from the hardware store and start scattering. New grass takes 2-3 weeks to come good and needs watering from the get-go. That new bush might take a bit longer to get established and start producing some new fresh growth.
Have you been putting off getting your garden under control? Start now!
I am a terrible gardener. I can mow lawn like there’s no tomorrow, but that’s the limit of my ability or desire. If you’re a gardener then I’m sure you already know what to do and have probably done it. For the rest of us here’s one word of advice – Outsource!
The best thing I ever did – apart from getting a home-staging professional in at the start, was to hire a garden contractor to do a “garden clean-up” job on my front and back yard.
I seriously had more grass in the garden beds than the on the lawn. The garden gnomes the kids had placed under some shrubs could no longer be seen. My place was looking like a rental in a sea of owner-occupiers.
After the first 5 minutes I was convinced that getting Dan in to help was the second best decision I’d made. All it took was 5 minutes on the power tools to completely transform my front garden bed from jungle to jardin (I should copyright that!). I knew from that moment that all was going to be well and that I’d be able to accomplish my mission.
It took 2 half-days and a couple of guys but for about $1000 I had a completely and utterly new yard that looked clean and fresh. It gave me hope that the project was going to be successful and laid the groundwork for me to complete the process by adding a few shrubs from the local nursery – (I also knew how to dig a 15cm deep hole!)
Getting the garden right is a must for any home staging project.
Until next time,
