Let’s see… where did we leave off?

Oh, right. You were Marie Kondo-ing your house and asking me how much value re-tiling your powder room would add to the value of your home. Moving on… These next steps are where I’ll more or less take over, so breathe a big sigh of relief as we get your house on the market and ready to go.

After you’ve decluttered and the painting is done, it’s time to bring in the big guns.

Next step: I’ll bring in my stager to make your home look like a model… home, that is.

I’ve found that clients often get nervous when a stager comes to their home–keep in mind, if you’re not an interior designer, nobody expects you to be one. Your home doesn’t have to be perfect, or even close to it. That’s why I hire a stager, who has experience decorating and styling your home so that it sells more quickly and for a higher bottom dollar.

Don’t worry about every throw pillow being perfectly poofed, just pick up as if you were having company over. The stager will give you a list of items to put away or move around your home, and then she’ll supplement your home decor with pieces from her collection.

If you want to get a head start, here are some things she’ll likely have on her list:

• Take down personal photos if you haven’t already
• Clear your counters as much as possible. Put that coffee maker in the closet–I know it’s a pain, but you’d be amazed at the difference empty counter space makes in helping your kitchen and bathrooms seem larger and brighter.
• This overlaps with the de-cluttering stage, but if you’ve got bookshelves full of books, take at least half of them down and pack them up. Same goes for clothes in your closets–this makes your home and closets feel brighter and bigger as well.
• Limit your home decor items. A house fills up as you live there, but air on the side of minimalism.

Your house is perfect! Now, it’s time for photos.

I always hire a professional photographer to photograph my listings. I like to meet the photographers onsite to make sure they get all the shots I want to feature in listing your home. I like to get there early to make sure all the curtains are open to let in as much light as possible, and I’ll coordinate with the photographer to find a time that the light hits the front of your house and the interior the best. Sometimes these are two separate times, in which case we’ll do two photo sessions.

Before photos, please make sure any holiday decor is taken down, especially if we aren’t listing until after the holidays. If pumpkins are on your porch in the first photo buyers see, but we aren’t listing until the week after Halloween, it makes your listing look like it’s been sitting on the market, and this might cause buyers to wonder what’s wrong with it. For this reason, I also like to take photos as close to the listing date as possible. If you’re listing in May, we don’t need to take photos in February.

Before photos, please make sure your house is as clean as possible. No dishes in the sink, no dirty mirrors, and make sure all light bulbs are working so we can get as much light as possible.

It’s almost time to list!

Throughout this whole process, I’ll have gotten all your paperwork ready to go, and all the details I need to list your home. I’ll have gotten all my marketing ready to go, and as soon as we have photos done, we just have to set a listing date. I’ll work with you to make sure this fits your schedule, since you’ll need to be able to leave the house for showings while it’s on the market. Clients with school-age children often prefer to wait until school is out to list for convenience. Some clients like to list right before they go on vacation to let buyers come see their home with total flexibility on timing. If you ask me, that sounds like the ideal way to sell a home. Leave town and come back to a contract? Wouldn’t that be great?

There is a lot more involved with selling your home, but hopefully this overview has been helpful in making the process less mystifying. As always, if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to send me a message!