When it comes to staging your home, you might find yourself thinking of those big-ticket items: changing colors, bringing in new furniture, or removing and taking out current decorations. And while these are big things that help sellers to get their homes sold and off the market, there are other factors that go into staging houses for real estate value—some of them small enough that you might not think of them.
One of these important factors? Smell. Believe it or not, the smell of a home can majorly impact how buyers think of a space, which can help sell your home for maximum profit. Here, we’ll break down why smell matters so much and some things that can help as you prepare to sell. Why does smell matter? Smell is an important sense—it can help you detect dangers, like gas leaks, fires, or spoilage in food. It’s closely linked to taste, and is important in allowing that sense to function fully. But smell has other important features—even more than sight, hearing, or taste, smell is the sense most related to memory and emotion. You might have experienced the ways that scents can trigger memories—maybe you’ve smelled freshly baked cookies and suddenly remembered scenes of your own past. Smell is also important to emotion—perfume and scent companies specifically produce scents intended to make you feel a certain way. While this emotional reaction varies from person to person—some may find a perfume pleasant, others may dislike it—there are some smells that have fairly general appeal, and smell good to nearly everyone. At the bottom of the “smell good” list were the super 70’s popular musk and patchouli. How does smell impact buyers’ impression of a home? When buyers tour a home, they’re often looking for reasons to rule it out—and it’s easy to give them reasons to. A violently orange wall or a bare room can make a potential buyer lose interest—and the same goes for strong smells. In recent years, strong air fresheners or artificial scents have fallen out of favor, and can make even the most modern house feel dated, as buyers remember when they were in style. Smells can take over even the largest house, and might be totally overwhelming when staging a small house. More trendy smells? Buyers love fresh air. And if there’s any scent at all, some stagers recommend using essential oils—like eucalyptus or lemongrass. These are generally inoffensive, and have the advantage of being frequently used in places like hotels—many buyers may have memories associated with them from past trips. These pleasant associations can make it easier to sell the house. What scents can help move my home on the market? Essential oils like orange, lemon, and lavender can be a pleasant, non-overwhelming scent, and have the advantage of being useful for getting rid of lingering scents trapped in wood furniture or baseboards. But another scent that can help move a home? Fresh paint. This often gives buyers the sense that a house has been newly touched-up and is fresh and ready to go. Paint has the advantage of covering lingering odors, like cat litter or kitchen grease—a strong scent that can take away from the visual impact when staging a kitchen. Some primers, like those from Kilz and Zinsser, are specifically designed to block odors, and some paints, like those from Sherwin Williams Harmony, can help absorb new odors. What services are there to help scent my home? If you aren’t sure what scents to pick, you aren’t alone—some companies exist to help you with this process. Some provide ambient scent, or a gentle background scent designed to produce a specific mood in the buyers—one that you can help choose. Even better, some include an odor-neutralizing additive called Mezatene in their scents and diffusers. This can eliminate any bad smells, while the diffuser gently puts off a good one. How can Heidi Ross Design help me? Wondering “where can I find a company that can help with staging for sale near me?” At Heidi Ross Design, we put our experience to use helping stage and sell luxury homes in the Memphis area—including Germantown, Cordova, Bartlett, and other locations in the Greater Mid-South region. We can stage occupied or vacant homes to help you maximize your profit. And if you’re looking for virtual staging companies near me, we’re here to help you as you prepare your home to show online. When you’re ready to get started, contact us for a free quote—we’re here to help. **Disclaimer** Please be advised that all content, including Blog articles, on the website https://www.heidirossdesign.com is for INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. THE INFORMATION INCLUDED IN OR AVAILABLE THROUGH THE SITE MAY INCLUDE INACCURACIES OR TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS. No guarantees are made and the use of the website, content, and any information provided is to be used at your own risk.
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If you take a look at some pictures of homes that have been staged for sale, at first glance you might see what looks like just a nice room with welcoming arrangements of furniture and walls and windows that look airy, cozy, and inviting depending on the style of the home. But if you take a closer look you might also notice some differences between the home you live in now and how homes look when they’re staged for sale. While a tidy kitchen, when you aren’t trying to sell your home could still have clean dishes in a drying rack, or your family room might have family pictures lined up on the walls like a gallery, a staged home takes a different approach. Rather than focusing on livability, a staged house focuses on the sale. And something that appeals to clients? A neutral color scheme, a paring-down of personal accessories, and--maybe most of all--cleanliness. Just how clean does your home need to be for selling? And how can occupied home staging work with you as you live in your home while having it on the market? We’ll break down these important factors and let you know Heidi Ross Design can help you quickly and efficiently sell your home. I think I keep my house pretty clean—what’s different about cleaning when it comes to selling? When you live in your home, the cleaning that you do is different from the cleaning required when buyers look at a house. When you live in a space, you clean up after your pets, but might stop noticing when hairballs get stuck under beds or other pet mess that is hidden away in basements or the lingering smell of a cat or dog. And that pile or newspaper or bills might look orderly to you, but if it is left on the counter or floor, it will surely change how a buyer perceives the space. You naturally don’t notice the little messes that occur—and those things can turn buyers off. A spill in the bottom of the oven probably doesn’t bother you, but it can for a potential buyer. Food crumbs and spills in the fridge or microwave can make the kitchen seem old and worn out, even if it’s not. These types of details are especially important when staging a bathroom for sale—buyers don’t want to think about current owners using that space, but want to envision themselves or their family there. This is hard to do when a buyer is making mental notes on lack of hygiene of the current owners. Unfortunately this is what is really going on in a buyer's mind. They are criticizing the seller's lifestyle rather than viewing all of the wonderful assets your home has to offer! Remember, buyers look for reasons NOT to buy a home. They are looking at a home through critical analysis, as indeed they should. What do I need to clean? That’s not to say that in staging your home you need to take everything out and start from square one. Deep cleaning is a good idea, though—either by yourself or with the help of a hired professional. Hit the kitchen, bathroom, carpets, and windows, along with other big-ticket areas like the entry. Clean or repaint walls, and carefully clean along the baseboards. Scrubbing grout and toilets is a good idea, too. Here is a bullet list of target areas to be cleaned:
If you’re still living in the house as you try to sell, it might be time to cut down on your furnishings. Heidi Ross Design professional staging company can help you make determinations about how to arrange the space to give the biggest and best impact to buyers. Removing personal photos and mementos and any clutter can help get the space looking bigger and less “lived in”...more impersonal. This will help the buyer envision themselves living there and can give you a jump start on moving. This is especially important for taking those listing pictures that will help sell the home online. Even in a space that’s roomy, online listing photos can make a space look smaller and gives buyers the opportunity to notice cluttered or unclean spots. While this means that you might need to rearrange your home to benefit from virtual staging and pack up some possessions while living there, it’s a sacrifice that’s well worth it and can help you make maximum return profit. How can I get help staging my home for sale? At Heidi Ross Design, we are local home stagers helping clients in Memphis and the Greater Mid-South sell their luxury homes and maximize their profits. We walk you through every step of the staging process—whether you’re staging a vacant home or an occupied one. Ready to get started and find out about staging prices? Contact us for a free quote and get started on a process that can streamline your home selling experience. **Disclaimer** Please be advised that all content, including Blog articles, on the website https://www.heidirossdesign.com is for INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. THE INFORMATION INCLUDED IN OR AVAILABLE THROUGH THE SITE MAY INCLUDE INACCURACIES OR TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS. No guarantees are made and the use of the website, content, and any information provided is to be used at your own risk. |