Home Staging: Making Your Home Look Good
If you’re selling your East Van Home or Condo, how it’s presented to prospective Buyers can be a deal breaker and can drastically influence the market value of your home. It’s proven that well presented homes sell quicker and for more money than homes that look un cared for and messy. Believe me, I understand the work involved and all around annoyance it is, but it’s well worth it. A little bit of work now, means your home could be on the Vancouver Real Estate market for a much shorter amount of time.
If you’re interested in selling your East Van property, I’ll give you some advice on where to focus your attention when it comes to presenting your home. Our team also focuses on taking great pictures for the listing and using professional Marketing Materials to make your home look as good as possible, but some of it starts with what you can do at home.
In East Van, there are many of the condos/apartments/homes look older on the outside, but have been renovated on the inside. Showing your home to look clean, perhaps modern, and well cared for can help a Buyer overlook an unappealing exterior.
Here are some simple ways to make your home looks its best:
- Increase Curb Appeal: Add plants and flowers at all decks, patios, backyards and front entrances (yes, even condos could use some greenery on the balcony). Choose plants that are low maintenance so they’ll always look good. You want to make it look like you use the outdoor space, so prospective Buyers look at it as an extra room in the house.
- Re-Paint: Fresh paint helps make the interior of your house look new. Choose simple colours (white, grey, etc.) that can work with any design scheme.
- De-Clutter: Remove as many personal belongings as possible, and keep your house clean so people don’t focus on all the “stuff” rather they focus on the layout and the idea of living there. This means personal photos, knick knacks, bathroom accoutrements and kitchen things on the counters. It’s wrong to think that a space with a lot of furniture looks bigger than one that has less stuff.
- Use Lighting: If your house is dark, especially if it faces North, use extra lights in rooms to brighten the space and make it feel more inviting – especially in the rainy dark months we have here in Vancouver.
- Ensure all home renovation projects are finished. Seeing something unfinished leads the Buyers to think about everything else that could be unfinished in the house. Also, if you get an accepted offer and the prospective Buyers have a home inspection, the inspector will find all of these problems anyways and you’ll be asked to fix them, so you may as well try to tackle everything before the property hits the market.
One thing that may help is to think about who the potential Buyers of you home may be. Do you live in a Vancouver Special or East Van character house? Then a family will probably be buying in and will be looking to see how livable the home is for a family. Do you live in a one bedroom East Van condo unit in a newer building like the Sophia or Ginger? It’ll be either a young professional or investor (who will be renting it to young professionals!). If you can, play the part.
People are notorious for not being able to properly picture furniture in homes, and it can be useful to put a bed, or living room set up. We’ve worked with home stagers in the past who have a good stock of furniture and a professional design eye to help make your home the best.
This Home was staged by DesignLab Interiors
Home Renovations: Increasing the Value of Your Home
If you’re considering a renovation, give me a call beforehand in order to determine what people look for most in homes, and where you should be spending your money (in order to get the most value). The type of renovation you do can also change depending on if you’re doing the renovation then selling the home, or doing a renovation that you can enjoy for years.
I completely renovated my Vancouver Special a few years ago and I love it. It’s a long process, but well worth it in the end. Check out my blog to see the before and after photos: Rob Zwick Vancouver Special Blog.
Kitchens and Bathrooms get the biggest return on investment. A new modern kitchen, and a new clean bathroom always look good to prospective Buyers, both because the renovation is a big job that they won’t have to do, and because it’s immediately livable. Choose simple colours that can work with any design theme. Newer (and typically stainless steel) appliances are also on most Buyer’s wish lists. Add in storage wherever possibly. People like knowing that there’s a place to put their things.
Flooring is also a great return on investment, that is, if you install hardwood, quality laminate or nice tiles. Stay away from carpet (unless in the bedrooms) because it’s generally not desired by prospective Buyers.
Give me a call if you’re considering a renovation, especially if it’s to increase resale value when you sell your home. I have the know-how when it comes to what is on most Buyer’s radar (popular trends come and go), what will give you good bang for your buck (both when it comes to the reno and the resale) and I can give you good recommendations for contractors. This is a big project, so don’t skimp on the planning.
