Tips for Home Staging - If You Want to Sell Your Property

29-01-2007 16:25

The fabulous fashion guru and interior designer Hannah Sandling has given FemaleFirst some fab guidelines in order to help you with the sale or renting of your digs.

The renowned expert has worked with the likes of Carmen Electra, Emma Bunton and Craig David to name but a few and has appeared in numerous print publications and radio and TV shows offering help to those struggling with their dwellings.

Here’s what she has to say:

Spring Clean Your House.

Packing away everything that you don’t need is very, very important – your picture frames, your books etc.

People don’t want to see millions of photos of your kids, and your dirty laundry everywhere. People want to walk in, see a blank canvas and think, “oh I’ve love to live here. I can really imagine myself in here.” But if they’re totally bombarded with your dirty stuff and blasting music and things like that then they’re just going to think “Get Me Out of Here.”

The more clutter that you get rid of; the bigger the space is going to look and the more value the prospective buyers feel they’re getting for their money. You’ll be living in an empty shell yourself but other people need to be able to project their images and feelings onto that environment to see if they want to be there.

First impressions are more important than you think, so make your property homely and inviting.

When somebody walks up to the door and you’ve got dustbins over filled, and your door has got big kick marks in it and the grass in your front lawn is overgrown, they’re going to think “This House is so badly looked after – what’s on earth is it going to look like inside.” They’re not going to get a good impression. But if they walk up to a door and it’s beautifully manicured outside, a gorgeous door,and then open it and see a lovely light and the smell of a beautiful candle stick burning with a lovely soft fragrance, they’ll go “oh this is a lovely welcoming environment, we love it here.” So you’re actually putting them into a good mind. Remove your bicycles and hide everything behind closed doors.

Do a few house improvements.

You might have a mangy old stairwell with dull old carpets all ripped up. Take it out, go and get a cheap, nice carpet from somewhere. It might cost you a couple of hundred quid but you might get an extra three grand on top of that. Little touches like that are going to make you ten times more the amount of money at the end of the day.

The kitchen is the biggest selling room ever.

Don’t have your dishes piled up – maybe have a cake baking in the oven or some floating candles in a lovely stone bowl instead. People will automatically think “oh it’s lovely and cosy in here.”

Don’t have it too hot in the house, but don’t have it too cold either. Have it just comfortable in there.

Consider giving your house a lick of paint, with slightly neutral colours. You might hate it but you’ve got to appeal to more people.