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Staging Houses In Real Estate Investing
Three years ago, houses were selling fast. Anyone could get a mortgage, and interest
rates were low. Now interest rates are still low, but it’s hard to get a mortgage. So,
you do have to take a little more time staging houses in real estate investing to sell your
houses.
Now, there are some types of deals that you might want to stage, and some you might not
have to. For example, wholesale deals where you sell to other investors, those you probably
don’t have to stage as well.
Of course, you do want to make them look good so it looks like it won’t need so much work.
An experienced rehabber will know what he’s going to have to do, anyway, after walking
through the house.
The houses I am talking about are the ones that you are selling to the public, a retail
buyer who is going to move in and buy the house. If you have a house that you are putting
up for auction, or you have a house that you have an option, doing a retail flip, or if
you are a rehabber and you just renovated a house, and you want to make it look good
to sell, you might as well make it look the best it can.
When you are staging a property, you always want to appeal to the senses. You want to
make it smell, sound, look, and feel good. A home is a home. It has to be warm, comforting,
and inviting.
First, let’s talk about what you see. The kitchen and bath are especially important
to the ladies. Everybody knows that the kitchen and bath are usually what sells a property.
Put some towels up, hang them on the racks, fold a towel and leave it out by the sink.
Put some bowls or wooden spoons out on the stove. In my smaller properties, I leave a
box of dishwasher cleaner on top of the dishwasher, put some detergent by the sink, make it look
like you have taken the extra care to make sure the place is clean. Appeal to their senses
in the kitchen.
Decorate it a little bit so it’s not a big long empty countertop area. Maybe put a little
rug in front of the sink, so it feels a little bit warmer. In the bathroom, do the same thing,
put a little rug in front of the sink, as well in front of the bathtub. Hang a shower
curtain as well, as well as putting towels in there.
Also, make sure there is toilet paper on the roll. You can also put some handsoap and perhaps
a cup on the sink. You want to make it look inviting.
On the front porch, it’s a good idea to put a welcome mat out, as well as a little
throw rug in the foyer, perhaps. If there are sliding doors in the kitchen, it might
be a good idea to put a throw rug in front of the doors.
As for the living areas, if you have a fireplace, it might be a good idea to put a picture frame
on the mantle with the picture that comes with it. Fireplace tools are a good idea as
well. It makes them imagine what it would be like with a nice warm fire going, while
sipping a cup of tea.
A fake plant or two by the fireplace or other living area space would be great as well.
Buy some neutral rug runners and you can put them in a long hallway in the house. You don’t
want them hearing an echo in a long hall. It sounds and looks better. If you have some
extra pictures, hang some big pictures up as well.
In the bedrooms, I don’t do
a lot, but here are some tips. For the kids’ rooms, you can find those rugs with kids’
designs on them, perhaps a basketball-type one for the boys’ room and leave a basketball
there, or even go with a baseball theme.
For a girls’ room, you can put a Disney princess-type rug down and place maybe a rocking
chair with a little crown on it, it would really make it look inviting. And when the
kids check out those rooms, they come out asking if this room can be theirs.
You want them to assume what it would be like if they were living in their house.As far
If you want to put a bed in the master bedroom, that would be great with throw pillows and
would be great. I know it’s some extra work, but these companies will come out and set
You want people to imagine what it would be like living there. To make it sound better,
Open all of the blinds and turn on all of the lights so that it’s bright, airy, and
nice outside noises. It helps to make a nice overall feel to the house.