Buying and owning a home for the first time can be an overwhelming experience. But the majority of people who are looking into buying their own homes have become smarter and even more picky when purchasing a pre-owned one. When you’re trying to prepare your house for a sale, you probably know by now that aside from photos, virtual house tours are now the thing too do when marketing a property.
Since most home buyers look online first when searching for a house listing, it’s important that both the photos and virtual tour are professionally done. This way you can rest assured that the quality is on par with the current marketing trend.
But for the experts to do their best, you have to do your part too. Remember, they will only capture what your property’s condition is. It’s up to you to stage the whole space in a sellable way. To do that, here are some tips that can be helpful.
Start At Your Front Door
Just like any tour, a virtual one begins at the front door too. So before you even stress about anything else about the house, walk into your home first and take note of what you see.
Does the outside of your home look unkempt? Has your front door seen better days? Are there too many random personal items in your entry area?
Do you really want potential buyers to see all that?
If you can, get a friend to check too. Because they may spot something you missed since you’re used to how your entry area looks. Ask them what they would think about it if they’re the ones buying your house. A fresh set of eyes can help put things in perspective.
Remove Or Minimize Personal Photos
As mentioned above, random personal items laying around isn’t exactly a good idea when trying to please potential buyers’ eyes.
As much as possible, those should be out of sight. People buying a house go into each one with the hope that it could be their new home. Seeing personal photos of other people doesn’t exactly make it feel like it can be their new personal space because it’s distracting and a little awkward. So make sure you create a blank canvass for them by clearing the counters.
Clean And Organize
Who likes a house that looks like it hasn’t been scrubbed for a while? Buyers like to spend their money on things that look new and still in good shape despite the fact that they’re buying a pre-owned house. So to create a new feel, you must ensure that every inch of the house is neat and tidy to give off the impression that your home is well maintained. It would also be better to minimize decors and other items that take a lot of space, especially on areas like the kitchen that can look cluttered when all your appliances are out.
This can help shoppers to focus on the feature of the house and the available space instead of the decors or how little space there is.
Don’t Forget Your Closets
People naturally have a lot of stuff that they likely to bring into their new homes when they move. So, one of the things they look into when shopping around for houses is the available storage space that the house. One of the things they are mentally checking out is if their personal belongings will fit in the existing storage of your place.
So you have to organize your cupboards and shelves to make it seem like they have enough space for their own things. If you can, try to free up 10-20% of the closets and other storage areas to give the impression that there is enough space.
Pick Features You Want To Highlight
Think about the time that you decided to buy your house. What aspect/part of the house made you say yes to it? What are the areas that you love the most? Is there something that your house has better than the other houses in the neighbourhood?
You want the buyer looking at your home to look past any faults in it and see what’s great about it. You can do that by highlighting exactly those! So make sure that the people taking photos and videos of your house to create a virtual tour are informed about the features you want to be highlighted. Staging your house right accentuates the best parts of it which give it a higher chance of selling fast.
