Does selling your home seem like a nightmare? Are you afraid that your apartment will remain on sale for months?
The selling process can often be overwhelming, and you may not even know what to do to avoid losing money, time, or even your mind!

Fortunately, I gathered my best tips for *you*. Let’s talk about how to prepare your house for sale!

When you think about selling your home, you need to stop thinking about yourself and your opinion on your house.
You have to switch your glasses and see your apartment through the buyers’ eyes.

Your main goal is to have a perfectly healthy house, different from the other ones on the market, where the buyers will easily project themselves.

This process is called home staging.

Let me show you my best tips to create this WOW effect and sell your home fast, and at your price!

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Declutter

Hide your stuff in closed storage

Hide a maximum of items in your existing furniture (chest, closets, etc.). You don’t want your future buyers to have the feeling that your interior is cramped. To show them the space and emphasize your square feet, you have to tidy!

Don’t make the mistake of hiding your stuff in open storage such as shelves or bookcases. You need to make them disappear!
Grouping them in an open storage will only have an overwhelming effect and won’t declutter at all!

If you don’t have enough room to store everything away from the buyers’ eyes, rent a storage unit for a few weeks. It may be an unplanned expense, but believe me, it will save you a lot of money in the end!

How to define what’s to hide?

A little tip to help you: take pictures of your home, and look at them.
You will be surprised how it changes the perspective of your decor.
And you will surely be amazed by the mess. We are used to living every day in our homes, so we get used to its daily clutter.

Looking at your interior via your camera will definitely help you tidy your space.

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Suppress everything too personal

Help the buyers’ see a blank canvas

Your family pictures, the drawings of your little ones, etc., may prevent the buyers from projecting themselves in the future home.
They need to visualize what their future house will look like and feel that yours is perfect for them!

But maintain a welcoming vibe

Don’t suppress everything! Your home needs to be welcoming without being overwhelming.

It’s a delicate balance to achieve.

You can, for instance, keep one lovely family picture above the console in the dining room to create a homely vibe. But suppress the ten pictures hung on the fridge.

The best tip is to put yourself in the buyers’ shoes. Taking pictures can be a real help. And ask your friends when they come over how they feel about the place: too personal, too clinical, or just perfect!

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Do minor renovations

Keep the expenses marginal

First of all, don’t put a massive budget into it.
Your first goal is to sell your home, so the renovations budget needs to remain marginal compared to your selling price.

Suppress the dated wallpapers, give a little refresh by painting your walls and ceilings (preferably in a shade of white).

Repair everything!

Think about every imperfection in the apartment: if you have a non-functioning bulb, a cracked mirror, a loosened door handle, etc., repair everything.
Nothing worse than raising the buyers’ concern about the quality of your house! 

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Go neutral

Forget about your decorative tastes!

It’s excellent to redecorate and renovate your home to sell it. But the main mistake sellers make is decorating it according to their taste.

Homestaging is precisely the opposite!

You are not designing your home sweet home; your unique goal is to make most potential buyers love it.

You need to suppress your personal decoration in the same way you need to suppress (or at least reduce) your personal objects.

Ask yourself about your home and see what elements are mainstream and what could clash and be a problem for your future buyers.

No judgment here, but maybe the purple walls of your bedroom could be unpleasant for a lot of potential buyers, whereas you shouldn’t be wrong with a light grey floor in the living room.

Opt for simplicity

Choose neutral colors (white, grey, cream, blush, light blue, or green), avoid patterns (or maybe elementary ones, like stripes). 
And please forget bold colors, complicated patterns, flashy wallpapers, etc.!

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Spark a crush

Again, your goal is to help people projecting themselves in their future house. 

Present a tidy and healthy house

Sometimes making minor renovations to create a crush can be an excellent investment, especially if you have an older house or apartment.

Think about the kitchen and bathroom. Sometimes replacing a countertop, a backsplash, or some cabinets can be a great idea to reduce a too vintage look.

Use decoration

And don’t only think about renovations. To initiate a crush and distinguish your house from the other ones on the market, you also need to think about its decoration. 

Buy a few accessories to decorate your apartment, cover your old sofa with a lovely blanket, install candles in the bedroom to create a cozy effect, add a lovely wall art above the fireplace, etc. Don’t go for too expensive accessories. Think about brands like Target for instance and their collections with Studio McGee or Magnolia.

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Ask for help!

A little investment in your on-sale apartment / house is an excellent idea and will save you a lot of money in the end.

But don’t spend too much, or your sale may not be so profitable. Try to keep the overall renovation/decoration budget under 5% of your home’s price.

The process of selling your home can definitely be overwhelming. Hiring a professional decorator used to create beautiful interiors can be a great idea and save you a lot of time, money, and frustration!

Book a 1:1 call with me to talk about your selling project!