Buying and Selling a House During the Coronavirus Pandemic—Part 3: Staging
Tips to Maximize Your Home’s Selling Price
Preparing and staging a home to sell used to involve completing a few minor repairs and a few touch-ups like fresh paint on the walls. However, as the market continues to improve during Covid-19 and therefore become increasingly competitive, the bar for a well-staged home continues to rise. The social distancing measures necessary during Covid-19 have also made showing one’s home more complicated. With that in mind, consider the following tips to sell your home for its full value quickly.
Repairs and Upgrades
Before beginning the process of staging a home, make the most of your real estate agent’s experience by asking her/him what you should repair and replace in your home to prepare it for the market. Their experience in the local and contemporary market will be much more valuable than any generic advice the Internet has to offer. Additionally, ask them for referrals for handymen and/or other services you will need to complete their recommended list of repairs and upgrades.
Expertly Staging a Home
A well-staged home will garner much higher offers than one that is poorly staged, and on average they sell three times faster. Your agent will know how to stage a home or will know someone who can. Make the most of your team’s skills and knowledge. It will be well worth the effort.
Admittedly, once your home is staged, it can be very difficult to live in since it is supposed to look like a model home: airy, open, sparse, and de-personalized. During Covid-19, showings are done by appointment when the home is empty, one potential buyer at a time (as opposed to open houses), to allow for safe social distancing. As a result, you could have multiple appointments in a day during which your home will have to be impeccably clean and you, your kids, and your pets will have to be gone. If you’re working from home and your kids are learning from home, the hours during which your home can be shown will be very limited, and likewise will be the flow of offers.
Solution? Consider moving out to a temporary home, like an Airbnb or VRBO, for a month while your home is on the market. That way, your agent will be able to stage a home and schedule showing after showing without concern for interrupting your life. You won’t have to live in a model home, and your family will not have to work around interruptions. Undoubtedly, your home will sell much faster, and perhaps even for more, thus covering the cost of your temporary home.