Are you ready to sell your Orange County home? Part of the home-selling process is staging your home to sell. This means setting up your home to look clean, neutral and appealing to as many buyers as possible. It should strike a balance between lived-in and never-owned. According to RISMedia, properly staging a home can raise the value of a home and can boost a sale price by as much as 10 percent!

Here at Hakola & Associates, we offer free staging consultations from a professional stager, because we understand the importance of a properly staged home! We also offer professional photography and video, to make your listing look as visually appealing as possible.

To help you prepare for the staging process, here are six staging secrets to steal from model homes, according to RISMedia:

  • Set intentions for the space – Remove items that don’t fit the intended purpose of the space. For example, take televisions and computer desks out of a bedroom, so that it only appears as a bedroom. Remove clutter from your kitchen eating area, so it only appears as a table ready to be served with food.
  • Open up accessibility – Make sure your rooms properly flow from one to another by pulling furniture away from walls and setting up social seating areas. Add area rugs to better separate the space. Allow for at least three feet of walk-through space around the furniture. This makes the room seem larger.
  • Convey spaciousness – A great way of doing this in the home is to group solid furnishings, such as bookcases and sectionals, with lighter pieces, such as a glass side table or raised bench.
  • Add light fixtures – As a rule of thumb, you want to have at least one light fixture for every 100 square feet of space. Use pure white lamp shades on all light fixtures. Replace incandescent bulbs with CFLs. Open window blinds and curtains to allow as much natural light in as possible during the day.
  • Mix table and task lighting – You want a little of each in high-traffic areas. For example, you could install lighting underneath cabinetry in the kitchen, and you could place a small lamp on a desk.
  • Accessorize sparingly – You want the home to look lived in, but also clean and decluttered, like a model. This means displaying only a handful of books on bookshelves, one healthy house plant on a side table, or one statement piece of art over a bed or fireplace. Create focal points.

For more professional staging tips, contact us, your Orange County real estate agents! We will help price your home properly so you can net the most amount of money. We will offer you a free staging consultation from a professional stager. We will take professional photographs and video for your home listing. We will help negotiate a home sale with the right buyer. We will help you out in every step of the home-selling process. Contact us today!