Home Staging Guide for Sellers
by: Jaclyn Isaac
As the in-house Staging Consultant I have the privilege of examining a homeowner’s space before it hits the market. My role is to provide a report to the homeowners which outlines what to do in order to best present the home for sale. Your realtor’s goal is always to sell the listing as quickly as possible for the highest price, and proper preparation of the home on your end is key to achieving that goal!
Here are our Top 5 recommendations for preparing your home to show it’s best for sale:
- De-personalize. We recommend all sellers remove family photographs and personal items from their home when getting ready to sell. It’s important that potential buyers not get distracted by the way someone else lives in the space so that they can envision themselves there instead. A pretty landscape or art on the walls is fine, but store everything else that contains someone you know. For added measure, put away religious and political items, or anything that may be considered inappropriate.
- De-clutter. Cluttered homes look and feel smaller and make the buyer feel as though you have outgrown the space and that is why you’re moving! We want to give the potential buyer the feeling that this space has served the sellers well, and it’s now time for them to take advantage of this! Remove all items from the floors of closets and organize your shelves; throwing away all expired food items and pack away seasonal pieces. All countertops and dressers should only have the items on top that are currently in use. Store children’s toys in bins and donate ones they outgrew or no longer play with. If it’s in the way, store it!
- Consider a Handyman. If you have a small leak, a faulty outlet or a wall that needs repainting, make sure this is done prior to any photos or open houses. You do not want a buyer requesting unnecessary credits or believing that the home was not taken care of.
- Put away all unused electronics. With the new wave of wireless and Bluetooth enabled smart home technology, it’s a major eyesore to see wires and cords everywhere. For showings and photos, unplug all items, hide the cords and store away unnecessary electronics – consider donating them to a local IT store!
- Hire a professional cleaning service! A clean home is a sold home! After decluttering, hire a cleaning service to give your space that final touch. The most frequent recommendations: wipe down all moldings/baseboards, clean interior and exterior glass on windows, clean grout, dust above cabinets/fans and behind electronics and in corners, vacuum carpets, replace shower liners and de-sanitize and clean tubs.
*Jaclyn is a licensed real estate agent with PRIME Real Estate Group.
Jaclyn can be reached at 201-691-7546 or jaclyn@downtowndecorators.com
Testimonials
Just a few words to compliment Todd for this help and assistance in the purchase of our current home. Anyone buying a residence should know it is a complicated, timely process where attention to detail is a necessity. Todd’s recommendations and suggestions from negotiation of the original contract through the day of closing were spot on and saved my family time, stress and money. Real estate sales persons, the ones that stay with you once a desirable home is found and the purchase contract is …
Working with Todd was fantastic! He was very quick to respond to my questions, and was available to speak at any moment. He knew what I wanted in a home and worked diligently in finding a great fit. I will definitely recommend him to my friends when they’re ready to purchase a home. – July 2020
Todd assisted me to purchase an apartment in the Hudson Tea building. After living in NY for several years and working with several brokers and can tell that Todd is in different level of service, whether is his honesty, integrity or responsiveness for any question that we have any day in the week. He made the process 10 times easier and more clear. If you are looking for a broker in the Hoboken area, he is defiantly the right guy and I was defiantly lucky enough to find him and use his service…
Todd has been a great resource in our home search in Hoboken. We’ve been working with Todd to find a home in Hoboken over the past 2 years. He has a great knowledge about the area and has worked with us throughout the entire process from search, negotiating an offer, and the closing process. He put us in touch with a great real estate lawyer and mortgage broker.We appreciate Todd’s help in finding us a home we love and his help in negotiating a price in a competitive market. I highly re…
Todd was extremely helpful in the sale of our 2 bed / 2 bath apartment in the 1200 Upper Grand building. His knowlwdge of the Hoboken real estate market and buyer base really paid off and we were able to attract several bids during the sale which took less than 1 week. Todd was quick to communicate and respond to our questions / concerns throughout the process. We certainly recommend his services to the local community.
We used Todd to both buy our place in Hoboken and sell, 4.5 years apart. Todd was knowledgeable, exercised patience, and shared local expertise that we found extremely helpful throughout both processes. In a recent market that felt over saturated with homes for sale Todd was able to sell our place within 7 days which was a pleasant surprise. We’d 100% recommend Todd to anyone buying or selling in the area! – March 2021
Todd represented me both in the sale of my Hoboken apartment in 2017 and the purchase of a townhome in 2020. In the case of the sale, he did a beautiful job of framing and staging the property, so much so that we had a bidding war without having to host an open house. More recently, he encouraged my wife and I to see a property that we would not have otherwise seen, and it ultimately resulted in our buying our “forever home” at a price almost 15% below list. His knowledge of Hoboken is excellent…
Todd, Jess and their team were awesome! They not only sold our place during a pandemic but got us top dollar and made the process super easy. Their knowledge of Hoboken and the real estate markets was a huge help especially during this unprecedented time – July 2020
Todd was the ideal real estate agent. Knowledgeable, responsive, and patient. He knows the Hoboken market inside and out and proved to be a great advisor with a balanced opinion. When it came time to offer on a property we liked, Todd executed to perfection. We would strongly recommend Todd to anyone looking for a home in Hoboken. – November 2020
Todd and his colleague Jesse were extraordinarily helpful in our recent search to buy a condo. Our search was exclusive to Hoboken and Todd and Jesse had deep knowledge not only of available properties, but also of ongoing construction projects and what might be coming onto the market over the next few months. We were able to buy a place through Todd and Jesse before it was “officially” listed, and ended up with a great property at a very fair price. We were very happy with him