CEO's Message Mar 2018

Getting your home ‘Show Day ready’

I know that looking for a new home is the fun part. Selling your current home can be hard work if you don’t have the right team to guide you – but getting your home ‘Show Day ready’ doesn’t have to be labour intensive. 

Remember that an empty or untidy home can be overwhelming for potential buyers. Even dressing up a home with a few items yourself − or with the help of a designer or home stager – can help people to visualise a space better and help lead to a quicker sale. 

The international trends we are seeing show that staging homes and decorating get the best deal possible, so I’ve asked some experts to give us some objective advice on how to go about it. 

If you are unsure of why a home stager or decorator’s advice is a good idea, here are some interesting statistics.

Generally, it is accepted that staged (or furnished) homes sell 50 percent faster, receive 8 -10 percent more on the final offer and potential buyers spend 35 minutes longer at the house.

Dressing up a house can increase the marketability of your home and decorators and home stagers offer different services such as consulting (advice on what to change); sourcing items for a home; and furniture hire to (partially or completely) furnish a home. 

“Every house I approach from the ‘home staging’ perspective is less individualised and more mass market. I loosely reference trends, but prefer to showcase a look that is loveable year on year, with accents such as a copper table, which is very popular at the moment,” explains Lucy Le Roux, owner of Illuminate Home Staging and Consultancy.

The other option is to make some tweaks to the interiors yourself.  It’s always a good idea to ask a friend with a good eye for design to help you.

Carin Shardelow, interior designer and owner of CS Design, has this advice:

Tell a story
Many potential buyers cannot look beyond your furniture – and many find it difficult to visualise their treasured possessions in a space. Help them by allowing your décor to tell a story. If your décor follows a specific style – such as Bohemian or Modern – embrace the style completely, choosing accent pieces and accessories that really play up this style.

Apply a fresh coat of paint 
If you’d like to repaint entire walls in your house, stick to neutral colours − such as light grey − which are universally appealing. Failing that, simply repainting skirting boards and cornices can make all the difference. 

Theme your artwork and collections 
Instead of having different items all over your countertops, place ‘like’ items together – such as all of your decorative plates on a bookshelf or your perfumes on a bathroom windowsill. Organising your artwork can also make an impact. Keep all your watercolours together or create a wall dedicated just to postcards. Alternatively, having one wall that showcases only black and white artwork can be equally striking.

Make it welcoming 
Small touches on Show Day can make all the difference. Make your home extra inviting with fresh flowers or a bowl of sweets on the dining room table. On colder days, make sure that your home is warm. Pick up kids’ toys and pets’ blankets, neaten up the lawn and patio and remove any loose old rugs from high traffic areas.

Choose your finishing touches carefully 
You can get a designer in to help, alternatively, get a stylish friend with a good visual eye to help you with suggestions on small design tweaks that you can do. Remember that not everything needs to cost a lot – just a few bright scatter cushions and throws from Mr Price Home can really help to brighten up a space.

Finally, remember that our Tyson Properties agents are on hand to help give you some key input on ‘quick wins’ in making your show day ready.

Regards
Chris