Successful Home Staging: 3 Tips to Make Your Open House a Hit

Selling a house is a major undertaking and involves several ‘moving parts’ in order to make the transaction successful. But when you boil it all down, selling your home at or near your desired price within a timely manner comes down to two primary factors:

  1. Optimal exposure in the marketplace (traffic); this is achieved mostly through the efforts of a top producing Realtor.
  2. Making your home attractive to the prospective buyers (conversion of traffic to sale).

Factor #2 is the one you have the most control of. Your willingness to follow the advice of staging professionals and do what’s necessary to make your home stand out in the marketplace will largely determine how quickly you can get it sold.

The place where your home really has an opportunity to shine is during the open house. With that in mind, here are 3 tips to make your open house a success:

Maximize ‘Curb Appeal’
First impressions are always critical and perhaps more so when selling real estate. When someone likes the initial appearance of a home, they already have it in their minds that this is a property worth considering.

This mindset will cause their psyche to put the best possible spin on other potential issues they encounter as they go through the home. In most cases, as long as the other issues are relatively minor, the prospective buyer will likely put your home on their “under serious consideration” list.

To ensure that the home has curb appeal, see to it that the lawn is always green and mowed, the bushes are always trimmed, and that all minor damage such as torn shingles, damaged siding, or cracks in the driveway are repaired. This could require some investment on your part, but remember that it will pay off if it helps put the buyer in the right mindset.

Listen to Your Professional Home Stager
 As mentioned above, it is important to follow the instructions of your trusted staging professional, especially when it comes to the interior. It is highly likely that the biggest piece of advice will be to de-clutter the home; that is, get rid of all personal items and remove a large amount of the furniture. You may need to invest in a storage unit rental for this step. At the end of the day, the goal of the staging is to make the home appear open and inviting and to allow prospective buyers to picture themselves living in the home.


Do Something Extraordinary
Steps 1 and 2 will often be enough to attract a lot of interest to your home but if you really want to sell it, go the extra mile and add something out of the ordinary to distinguish yourself from the other properties in the neighborhood. Some great ways to accomplish this are:

  1. Decorate one or more room with fresh flowers. Fresh flowers always enhance the look and feel of a home.
  2. Spray each room with a scented freshener.
  3. Bake some cookies and leave plenty out for the guests. This will not only give your kitchen the fresh aroma of baked goods but your prospects will also leave your home with a good taste in their mouths.

After you’ve done all you can do, just relax. Stress will certainly not speed up the process.