Hotsellertips 2014 proof revised

This book is designed for savvy people like you - who DON’T want to leave money on the table when selling property.

So, I’m coming out of ‘the closet’ and revealing it all!

Hot Seller Tips

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Hot Seller Tips How to Increase the Recommended Retail Price of Your Home Edition 1

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Hot Seller Tips (Edition 1)

Published by Bestagents Management Pty Ltd PO Box 1613 Noosaville DC Queensland 4566 Australia Phone 1300 556663 Library Cataloguing-in-publication data: Deb Lindner Hot Seller Tips All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without prior written consent of the publisher.

The material contained in this publication is for general reference and guidance and is not intended as advice on any particular matter general or specific. No reader should act or fail to act on the basis of any material contained herein. The authors expressly disclaim all or any liability to any person whatsoever in respect of anything done or omitted to be done by any such person in reliance whether in whole or in part upon any of the material contained herein. Readers should make their own independent enquiries and consult professional advisors.

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Deb Lindner

“I believe that Deb’s staging added $20,000 to the sale price of my investment property. Not only that, the property sold in 2 days in a market where the average sale time was 47 days. Deb created the ambience, warmth and appeal that my buyers loved. I can highly recommend Deb for her professionalism and attention to detail.”

Liz Sweatman, Brisbane “We would like to thank you again for the excellent service you provided in staging our house. We continuously had positive feedback on the presentation of our house and within the first week we had two offers, followed by another two offers in the second week and we were under contact after only 2 1/2 weeks.

We achieved a premium price for our property. We believe that by having you stage our house we achieved a price $20k-$30k above what we would have achieved had we left our own furniture in the home.

There is no way in years we could have come with the combinations of colour, the art, the matching accessories and the great ideas. We will definitely use your services again in the future.”

Shane & Lucia Hiscock “I am delighted to advise that Ney Road went under contract after 9 days on the market. Apparently more than one person has asked, “Can we buy the furniture too?”! Everyone has complimented the presentation, so thank you again for a fantastic job.”

Joanne Verikios “After having 5 or 6 agents come through for appraisals, we were given a price range of mid $900,000s up to $1.1 million, with the majority of the agents believing that a sale over $1 million would be difficult.

In order to maximize our selling opportunities, we had Deb Lindner from Mink Home Staging come in to prepare the house for us. When Deb was finished, our house had turned into a beautiful, warm, stunning home. Less than two weeks after being put on the market we signed a contract for $1.1 million.

I have been having my homes staged for sale now for a number of years and Deb is by far the best home stager I have ever had. The results were outstanding.”

Jennie Brown

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Who Is This Book For? Home Owners: • • • • •

About to put their house on the market Who want to attract premium buyers Who want to attract multiple offers Who want to sell their property FAST! Who want THEIR home to be the one that gets all the attention

Stressed Sellers: • • • •

Who are frustrated by the lack of a sale Who are sick of ONLY getting low offers Who are tired of spending hours preparing for endless open homes Who are tired of negotiating with agents and buyers

Property Investors & Developers: • • • •

Who are market savvy Who want to sell and get on with the next deal Who want to maximize their profit Who understand the formula and are now ready to put it into practise

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Hello, Welcome And Get Ready To Sell For More Few homeowners ever sell their home for the highest price possible.

Your home does not have a recommended retail price, so if you are in control of the sale, you are able to significantly impact the final sales price you achieve. One of the key ways to sell for more is by knowing how to present your home for sale. By changing its ‘packaging’.

You are about to discover the insider secrets in the world of Property Styling – a proven marketing strategy that puts more cash in your pocket.

This strategy has been used for over 40 years in the USA, and now more and more market-savvy sellers are tapping into this proven formula that largescale developers have been using for decades!

Now, this proven formula is available to you too…

This is not just another list of good ideas. This book contains those proven marketing strategies, AND all of my ‘hush hush’ trade secrets’! The ones I use every day when professionally staging properties to achieve a fast and profitable sale for my clients.

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Have you ever heard about a friend or family member who had a ‘dream sale’? You know, the one where the first person to walk in the door absolutely loved the house and bought it on the spot? Or had three buyers fighting over it, making higher and higher offers?

If you want that to be your experience, you need to focus on that result and DO EXACTLY WHAT IT TAKES to achieve it.

This book is designed exactly for savvy people like you - who DON’T want to leave money on the table when selling property. So, I’m coming out of ‘the closet’ and revealing it all.

The only things I’ve included here are my proven methods as I wanted to make this foolproof. (Hey, I wasn’t an expert when I started either!) So there is no designer jargon, which means anyone can understand it – but what’s REALLY important is that you APPLY what I teach you in the following pages.

I will share some of my experience and, more importantly, results. But the key is not just learning these principles...it’s all about taking action and implementing the formulas I will share with you.

Congratulations again on taking that action.

Deb Lindner

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If you want that to be your experience, you need to focus on that result and DO EXACTLY WHAT IT TAKES to achieve it.

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HotSellerTips.com HotSellerTips.com is a free resource for property sellers. The site is loaded with extra presentation tips and live interviews from experts plus an easy locator to help you find your local agent. In fact, your local real estate professional can help you source everything you’ll need to get your home looking great.

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The Real Estate Market Has Changed Yes, it’s finally happened! The real estate industry in Australia has caught up with mainstream consumer marketing. It’s no longer acceptable to pass off homes that are unfinished or poorly presented in the hope that your buyers will overlook these flaws in favour of your home’s more positive characteristics.

Before you do anything, you have to stop thinking of your house as a HOME and start thinking of it as a product on the market. And just like any other consumer product, you have competition and need to give buyers a reason to choose YOUR property over another. One of the keys here is that the right presentation is proven to sell…give your buyers what they are looking for, and your home will get loads of views, competitive offers, and get quickly snapped up – for a premium price!

You can’t use old-school selling strategies anymore and expect to achieve a premium sales result. You must change too. What used to work 5 or 10 years ago simply doesn’t work now. Did you know that over 95% of property marketing is destined to fail?

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The evidence is in. Here is the thing the big marketers know and use every day. Emotions drive sales.

Daniel Kahneman, a psychologist and Nobel Prize winner, is widely regarded as the world’s most influential living psychologist. His studies conclude that we have two brain systems: 1. Emotional brain = 95% 2. Rational brain = 5% So you are making a BIG mistake if you only sell to 5% of your buyer’s brain.

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The Big Marketers Know This Listen to what Richard Branson says about using emotional marketing: “The idea that business is just a numbers affair has always struck me as preposterous. For one thing, I’ve never been particularly good at numbers, but I think I’ve done a reasonable job with feelings. And I’m convinced that it is feelings – and feelings alone – that account for the success of the Virgin brand in all of its myriad forms.”

– Richard Branson

And Tom Hopkins, well-known international sales trainer, and founder of Tom Hopkins International says this: “Arouse Emotions. Don’t Sell Logic.”

So the right presentation of your home is critical. Have you ever seen an empty display home? No? Here’s the reason why.

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These big marketers create beautiful, warm, aspirational display homes for buyers because it works. They understand they are selling to that emotional 95% of your brain. They know that buyers want to buy a ‘lifestyle package’. Not just an empty shell. Not drab, plain walls, floors and ceilings.

And certainly not somebody else’s cluttered and tired old home.

And it’s exactly the same for you when selling YOUR home. The way you live in your home is NOT the way you present it for sale.

Do you want to attract premium buyers – or bargain hunters?

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Why Soap Packets & Real Estate Are Just the Same I am now a full-time Home Stager and Home Staging trainer. But before this, I worked as a designer for 15 years. I worked in a small, boutique studio, but we knew how to think big! Our clients were multi-national companies, and I was designing packaging that you would see in supermarkets. Some of our clients included Gillette, Kraft, Berri and Cussons.

One very important lesson that I took away from this 15 years experience is that people make emotional buying decisions – and that is exactly why my big clients would spend millions of dollars getting their packaging just right.

These big clients would do loads of research with focus groups before even deciding on the product name and product ‘look’. We would then spend months and months designing the packs - making sure that the shape and colour of the pack was exactly right, getting different illustration options created so we could make sure it was perfect, agonizing over the final choice of typeface...even down to finely tuning the exact size and position of the barcode.

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We knew that getting the presentation on the packaging right would increase sales by millions of dollars.

And I know that if it is true for selling soap packets then it is even truer for selling real estate.

People’s perception of the value of a product is DIRECTLY affected by the packaging! And of course, the higher the perceived value, the higher price they will pay for it.

So when I see people paying little (or no!) attention to the way they are presenting their properties for sale, I just can’t believe it – I KNOW they are simply throwing their money down the toilet.

You must present YOUR home correctly if you don’t want to fall into the same trap.

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The Property Deal Gone Wrong that Went Right (or How I Found $35,000) Here is how I discovered there was such a thing as ‘Home Staging’, and what an amazingly powerful strategy it is!

In 2007 I decided to take my love-affair with property to another level – I wanted to be a full-time property investor. The first thing I did was move from the Sunshine Coast (Queensland) to Brisbane. The second thing I did was invest in a 12-month property mentoring program, and after learning the specific skills I needed, the next step was to find my first project. I searched long and hard for my first ‘deal’ and finally found a renovation project where the numbers ‘stacked up’. In December 2007 I bought one of the ugliest homes I could find. I was so excited!

And what happened next? Yes, you will probably remember the market spectacularly crashed in 2008. The GFC hit big-time. So my plans for a fullblown renovation had to change and I needed to turn my project into a fast, cosmetic renovation and sell as quickly as possible to avoid losing money.

Plan B included focusing on painting (inside and out), carpeting, new blinds, minor cosmetic changes in the kitchen and a completely new bathroom.

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Near the end of my reno, I interviewed three agents, and chose the obvious candidate – she was passionate, knowledgeable and had the proven results I was looking for. After meeting with her to discuss our marketing strategy for selling, we agreed on a sales price of $495,000.

When all the renovations had been completed, I then decided to invest $1,500 on a rental furniture package, and I styled the property – I didn’t know what ‘Home Staging’ was back then, but I knew the power of emotional selling and recognized that it was an important step in finishing the project. I wanted to turn my ‘reno-deal’ it into an ‘irresistible home and lifestyle’.

A week later, when the agent came through the property again with her colleagues for a pre-listing inspection they were so blown away by the “amazing presentation” and the extra value I had created, they all agreed to immediately increase the list price by $35,000. $35,000!

The result? The property sold for that price ($530,000) in 12 days.

It was sold to the second couple who inspected it. They fell in love with it and you’ll notice they paid full price. There was no bargaining or haggling over discounts. They were premium buyers. And premium buyers will pay to get exactly what they want.

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If I hadn’t invested that money on furniture (and left the property vacant), my sales price would have certainly been reduced by $35,000 – especially in that flat, GFC market. I DEFINITELY would have left money on the table.

Instead, my $1,500 dollar investment turned into $35,000 (that’s a 2,233% ROI!), AND a business that I have loved ever since.

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So What Exactly is Home Staging?

Let me be clear. This is NOT about decorating! This is not about just adding pretty cushions –OR alternatively, removing nearly EVERYTHING from your house, so it looks like a cold, bare shell.

Home Staging is an effective marketing tool that enables you to sell your property in the FASTEST possible time, for the HIGHEST possible price.

It means presenting your property at its absolute best before you put it on the market and SHOWING your buyers the lifestyle it offers. It means tapping into THEIR dreams and desires and having them fall in love with your home.

(NOTE: So it’s NOT about what YOU like…but what your BUYERS like!)

Specific, emotional presentation is critical. You want it to look good, smell good and feel good as you only get one chance to make that all-important first impression.

Statistically, you have 30 seconds before your potential buyers decide if they are interested in your home or not. You must immediately ‘wow’ your buyers.

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It is a fact of life that first impressions count. We may not like that fact, but it is simply the way things work. Otherwise, why don’t we go to an important job interview dressed in our favourite, comfy old tracksuit? And why do we polish and detail our car before selling it? BECAUSE IT WORKS! Think of Home Staging as your ‘packaging’. You can increase the perceived value (and sales price!) of your home by the way you ‘package it up’ for your buyers.

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What isn’t Home Staging Before we get down to the nitty-gritty of the presentation system, it’s important to understand that styling your home for sale is NOT interior design! In fact in some ways it is almost the opposite. Interior design is creating personalized living space, specifically designed for YOU, your family and your design tastes.

Home staging is the process of creating a property that is going to appeal to your BUYERS. AND of course prompting a fast sale and higher sale price!

It is not usually about making structural changes to a home, but instead identifying and showing off every feature that your buyers will love – making it much more appealing and memorable than the competition.

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The Stats Home Staging is not new. It has been around in the US for over 40 years! So it is certainly no passing fad. Here are the stats: • • • • •

Staged homes sell 30-50% faster They sell for 7-17% more The average buyer decides in the first 30 seconds 83% of buyers pay more for premium presentation, with no work to do Only 5% of buyers can visualise the potential of a property — they can’t see it if you don’t show it to them

Here in Australia, property styling is now becoming a much more common strategy too – as agents and sellers see the amazing results.

I now work with leading agents who style nearly EVERY property they list (both higher-priced homes and also lower-end properties too), as they know how it will impact the bottom line – both a premium price and much faster sale.

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Why Don’t I Just Leave It Empty? Won’t It Look Bigger?

The short answer is ‘No’. There are three big reasons why selling an empty home is a big mistake:

1. Empty rooms look smaller than furnished rooms.

Often people think it’s the other way around, and that by adding furniture they will be losing ‘space’. But this is simply not true. In fact, in small living rooms or combined lounge/dining rooms, when we put furniture in the transformation is most dramatic.

I remember when I was styling a renovation project for an investor called Mark. It was a small property on a busy, main road (so there was no real front yard), and the block had been subdivided, so there was no back yard either. Inside the empty home, the living room looked very small too and Mark was really concerned about possible buyer objections about the size of this room. I recommended that he create both a living room AND dining room in this space, because it was very important to show his buyers that there WAS enough room for both. He came back to me and said he didn’t believe there was enough room to do this, and if we put a dining table

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in it was going to look cramped and uncomfortable. (He couldn’t even visualize the available space and he had renovated the room!) He really wanted to leave the dining area out completely, and just show the space as a living room. I stuck to my guns and insisted. I told him that I knew there was enough room and if we arranged the furniture carefully it would work very well. And, in fact, if we didn’t put a dining table in, the very first thing that buyers would say is “There is nowhere to eat!”. He was still unsure about my plan, but I told him that if he didn’t like it when he saw it I would come and take it out again. No charge.

We styled it, and it looked great. We fitted in a 4-seater sofa, rug, coffee table, side tables and TV, AND a 6-seater dining setting. It looked very spacious and felt much bigger. (TIP: We used the RIGHT furniture to achieve this effect – right colour, right style and right size.)

And yes, it sold in a matter of weeks.

We style many smaller homes (and rooms!) exactly for this reason…so make sure you don’t create a potential buyer objection by leaving your vacant rooms empty.

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2. Empty rooms confuse buyers.

People just can’t visualize how furniture will fit into a room if you don’t show them. This is a specialized design skill that takes a lot of time and effort to develop. Buyers will NOT be able to walk into an empty home and know where to position their sofa, what size dining table will fit, if there’s room for a breakfast nook – or even the best place for their TV. (By the way, this is especially true in increasingly popular open plan living areas.)

They won’t even know the best use for each room – is it a bedroom, or could it work better as a home office? What is the best way to use that third living room (that is so long and narrow!)? By furnishing these rooms with the best possible layouts, you will be answering all of those questions.

Well-placed furniture can really showcase your home by taking away your buyers’ confusion, and by SHOWING them exactly how to use every space. They won’t need to walk away wondering if they can fit a double bed in the bedroom, or how much seating they can fit on the outdoor deck. They can SEE it… and know that the spaces will work for them. It gives them confidence.

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3. Empty rooms have no warmth or emotion.

If you sell your home vacant, you will only be selling to that rational 5% of your buyer’s brain…and you will be missing out a massive opportunity to create emotional buyers who fall in LOVE with your home.

Bare walls, floors and ceilings are really not very engaging or exciting!

And what will your buyers notice? All the defects! The scratches on the polished floorboards, the dirty marks on the walls and the chipped paint on the window sills. There is nothing else to look at.

And did you know that your buyers will actually spend LONGER in your home if it is beautifully styled? (Statistically, they will stay an extra 10-15 minutes.)

Rather than just poking their head in every room and taking a quick look at the size of the backyard before leaving to visit the next one on their list, instead they will be pleasantly delighted. They will linger. They will actually ENJOY being in the property and will imagine THEMSELVES living in every gorgeous room…enjoying a glass of chardonnay with friends while relaxing on the back deck, or lounging on the big, comfy sofa on a Friday night with the kids while watching a family movie. They will CONNECT with your property.

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CASE STUDY: My Very First Home Staging Job (Or Why You Should Never Sell a Vacant Home) I want to tell you about the very first home staging job I did after I started Mink Home Staging – my very first real client! – because it offers some great insights and learning...

It was a family home that had been built by Helen, a property investor, and was in a brand new estate. She had it built with the specific intention of selling immediately to create a profit. There was nothing very special about this house – it was the classic 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom, suburban family home.

Because it was in a new estate, there were many similar, brand new homes on the market at exactly the same time – including the one right next door!

It was pretty much identical except for the fact that the design was a ‘mirrorimage’. But apart from that, they were the same.

They were obviously both in the same street, had the same land size (and value), same design, same number of rooms, same colours, same fixtures and fittings. They were even being sold by the same agent in the same (flat) market.

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Helen, my savvy investor-client, realized that she had a lot of competition (i.e. all the other very-similar homes in the surrounding streets) and knew she had to make HER home the one that really stood head and shoulders above the others. So she employed me to fully style her brand new property.

I walked through the empty home with her. I made notes and took photos of every room, planning how I would furnish them and showcase the perfect family lifestyle. I then went and hired furniture and accessories to fill every room and created something that looked very similar to a display home.

The property next door remained vacant while it was on the market.

And yes, you guessed it, Helen’s home was the one that got the fabulous sale result – higher price, and faster sale. And it was a dramatic difference!

The family who bought it had flown in for the weekend to look at property, as they were relocating to the city in the coming months, and they were ready to buy! They spent the entire weekend inspecting all of those similar properties, but as soon as they walked into Helen’s they could imagine themselves living there. It was beautifully furnished. It looked warm and appealing. It had lamps, soft bedding, rugs, flowers, scatter cushions, artwork and even luxurious soap in the bathroom. And because all the rooms

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were furnished, they looked bigger. The home looked grand – and they were almost surprised they could afford it! By adding the furniture, it was transformed from an empty shell into a living, breathing home.

Helen got that great sales result by adding the emotion.

The family made an offer that day, and Helen sold it the following day for $547,000. In contrast, the vacant house next door took about 10 weeks to sell, and finally sold for $518,000. That’s $29,000 less - not counting the extra 2+ months of holding costs.

Staged Property

Vacant Property

Selling Time

2 Days

10 Weeks

Selling Price

$547,000

$518,000

$0.00

2.5 Months @ 7%

Exhilaration & Jubilation

Anxiety & Stress

Holding Costs Vendor Emotion

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6 Reasons Why Property Styling Will Increase Your Sale Price 1. People Shop With Logic, But Buy With Emotion As I said, all good marketers understand this principle.

Homebuyers are just the same. They make EMOTIONAL buying decisions.

Your job is to create a fabulous, warm atmosphere that buyers fall in love with.

Buyers will start out with a logical, rational shopping list of all the things they want in their next home. For example, they will say to themselves “I want...

-

4 bedrooms 2 bathrooms Large garden Swimming pool Close to schools Double garage etc…”

And armed with this list, they then begin their property hunt. They visit many homes, looking for everything on their list…UNTIL they come across a

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property that they fall in LOVE with!

As soon as they walk in, it just feels right, and it feels like home.

They immediately notice the soft, luxurious rug in the living room, the way the dappled light filters through the front windows, and imagine themselves sitting there enjoying time with good friends. They notice the luxurious master suite. And when they see the big rumpus room with the massive flatscreen TV, they can see themselves enjoying a Friday night move with the family.

All of a sudden the fact that there is only a medium-sized garden (and not a large garden) doesn’t seem so important any more. They will justify the fact that they don’t REALLY need a large garden…not when they can enjoy that big family TV room and luxurious master suite instead.

THIS is the home they will pay a premium price for. And they will want to move fast – to secure the property before anybody else does.

2. Your Home Will Stand Out From The Competition Home staging will make your property the one that buyers remember. You are always competing against other properties. Whatever area or price-range your property is in, your potential buyers will look at all the comparable

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properties in that price-range. If you don’t capture their interest, they will simply move on to the next open for inspection.

3. It Works In A Slow Market In a slow real estate market, staging is critical because you need to do something to motivate buyers – otherwise there is simply no pressure on them to make an offer quickly.

But if your home stands out from the competition and a buyer falls in love with it, they will be afraid that somebody else might buy their ‘dream home‘.

They will be motivated to take action sooner.

4. It Works In A Hot Market In a hot market, buyers become even more concerned that someone else will snap up the best properties before them. If your home is the one that looks fabulous – and everyone wants – this encourages multiple offers, and can even create bidding wars… every seller’s dream.

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5. Staged Homes Attract More Buyers The internet has become a major player in the real estate market. 90% of buyers shop online first, and once again, you need to make sure your property stands out over the masses of competition. Stunning, wellphotographed interiors, will certainly attract attention and encourage buyers to come and visit your property.

And of course, more potential buyers means more competition.

Let me give you a very personal example‌

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CASE STUDY: Deb and Nick’s ‘Unseen Sale!’

Remember I told you that Nick (my husband) and I had decided to move from the beautiful Sunshine Coast to Brisbane? Well in order to do that, we were selling our family home in Marcus Beach.

Of course this was before I knew what Home Staging was, but having worked in branding and marketing for 15 years I knew a thing or two about emotional selling.

So I immediately set about creating a list of all the little upgrades and enhancements we needed to do before we put our house on the market.

(Actually, many of the things on that list were the ones I had wanted to do for some time, but ‘never got around to…’) Things like re-staining the deck, new plants in the garden, updating the bed-linen, changing the handles on the kitchen cupboards, painting the walls, upgrading some of our furniture etc.

Nick was NOT keen on investing either the time or the money… but guess who got their way? I was so committed to doing this ‘right’ that I simply insisted. And over the next couple of weeks we made the house look absolutely beautiful.

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The best things about our house were: • • •

That it was 800m from the beach We had planted a beautiful, tropical garden two years before, and now it was looking gorgeous We had put a fabulous pool in the back garden that overlooked the enormous national park behind our back fence. It was lush, green and peaceful.

The worst thing about the house was: •

It didn’t have any real architectural merit – it was really just an average, ordinary, cheaply-built 3 bedroom house (a ‘pretend-Queenslander’, actually!).

So, for the presentation I decided to showcase its best features – great location and the dream beach lifestyle it offered.

And while I was working on the presentation, I kept this vision at the front of my mind. For example, in the guest bedroom I used crisp, white linen and put a romantic mosquito net over the bed. I put a frangipani by the front door to create an inviting entry. On the back deck, I positioned a beautiful, old Balinese daybed, (complete with luxurious cushions) overlooking the pool and national park beyond…

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And, (to get to the REAL point of the story!), I then had some AMAZING photographs taken. One of my close friends, who lived in the area, was a professional real estate photographer. He takes photos of those fabulous big, super-chic homes you see – those sprawled out along the river, the private hideaways in the hinterland, or those grand homes sitting up high with the ocean-front views.

So of course I asked him to photograph my very humble property too. And he did an extraordinary job. He put in extra effort as a special favour to me.

He took beautiful morning shots, with the sunlight streaming in the bedroom windows. He then came back during the middle of the day to capture the living room at its best… and then he arrived at twilight to capture some truly romantic shots of the pool, the sunset, and the national park.

The shots looked beautiful. We were so grateful to him.

And the result?

Well, you guessed it! It was an amazing result, despite everyone telling us it was a “terrible time to sell”… in a very flat property market.

We had been advised that we could expect to achieve a price in the low

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$600s, (based on comparable sales). But we decided that after all our efforts it looked far from ‘ordinary’, and we decided to list it at $665,000.

We received three written offers in the first week. And the best offer was from a Sydney couple who offered list price – AND they had never even seen the house! All they had seen were the photos on the internet listing.

Yes, they bought it sight-unseen based on the fabulous, professional photos.

It went unconditional 7 days later. The first time they flew up to see the property ‘in real life’ was over a month later – just before it settled.

They simply loved the photos and wanted the lifestyle it had to offer.

I know it was the emotional presentation and amazing photos that sold this property. Remember, the house itself was quite ordinary.

And the moral of this story? Make sure you NEVER under-estimate the importance of the images you use to market your home. Always use fabulous, professional photos that show off the lifestyle YOUR property has to offer.

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6. Staged Homes Attract Premium Buyers Remember, 83% of buyers will pay a premium price for homes that require no work. You don’t want your buyers to focus on any small flaws (like dripping taps, stained carpet, damaged paintwork etc). This will most likely result in lower-priced offers – and we are talking thousands of dollars, for inexpensive repairs that only cost hundreds to fix.

A property that is well-presented and well-marketed will be more likely to sell quickly and avoid those lower offers.

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How Do You Know if YOUR Home Needs Home Staging?

As I said, the way you live in your home is NOT the way you present it for sale! How do you know if you need a property stylist to work with you on the presentation of your home?

You must address your home’s presentation BEFORE you go to market if: •

•

• • • • •

It’s vacant (95% of people can’t visualize it if you don’t show it to them – so a vacant house confuses buyers as they don’t know where to put their furniture… or even if it will fit!)

It has a few empty rooms (remember, you are selling EVERY room and your buyer will wonder why these rooms are empty. They might wonder if there is a problem as it just doesn’t make sense) It has a couple of rooms currently being used as ‘junk rooms’ where you store all your excess stuff (these rooms need to be showcased too) It’s cluttered with your personal possessions It has over-sized or outdated furniture It’s decorated in a very personal way that will be a turn-off It has strong colours that will be a turn-off

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But My Home Looks Great The Way It Is! Maybe… but is your personal taste exactly what your buyers are looking for?

Often, I walk into very upmarket homes for a pre-sale consultation, and I can see immediately that the furniture is very expensive, very new – and very WRONG! It’s perfect for living in (and the owners absolutely love what they have created!). But it’s simply not right for selling. The ‘packaging’ needs re-working if they are to attract the right buyers and achieve a premium sale.

The richly-textured, brown, deeply-buttoned Chesterfield sofa may be really large and opulent – but is making the room look crowded and heavy. Or the distinctive red and cream leather bar stools are so big and bright they completely distract my attention away from the beautiful, luscious, blue pool behind them.

And it’s exactly the same in nearly every home I visit.

I can see so many opportunities to make simple changes that will make a massive transformation… In the home staging world, we often call these jobs ‘mix and match’. By changing a few key pieces of furniture, removing critical

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items and by re-styling with some new cushions, lamps, rugs and linen, the home is instantly transformed.

A property stylist can walk into your home with ‘buyer’s eyes’, and immediately identify what items are really helping to showcase a home, and what things are really letting it down. As the seller, it is so much harder to see these things yourself, because that is just ‘the way it’s always looked…’.

So make sure you take advantage of the very powerful changes you can make to give your home that ‘display home’ presentation. And make thousands more.

CASE STUDY: Robert and Michelle’s ‘Mix’n’Match’ Here is a classic example of what I am talking about – a recent ‘mix and match’ job for Robert and Michelle.

In fact, I had already completed a ‘mix and match’ job for them the last time they sold their family home too. What’s interesting is that the first time I worked with them, Michelle was really keen and happy to do exactly what I told her was needed. She totally ‘got it’. Robert, on the other hand, was not

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so keen. He really did not see the point of spending any money on their gorgeous home. And it was an expensive, beautiful (and large!) home.

I remember when I first walked in and saw a massive, open-plan space that flowed down over a couple of levels, with white glossy porcelain tiles, crisp white walls, and glimpses of bushland beyond through the floor to ceiling windows at the back of the home. But its presentation was not ‘sale-ready’.

They lived in a very minimal way. In fact the home was quite empty and almost ‘sparse’.

So in this case, our job was to add beautiful rugs, scatter cushions, lamps, artwork, ornaments and flowers to really add some warmth. Robert was amazed when he saw the transformation at the end of our day of styling! In fact his exact words were “Why didn’t we always have it like this?”.

Robert and Michelle then took photos of the exact position of every cushion, candle and ornament we had used (which is a great idea by the way, and you should do that after your home has been styled too), so that they could make sure that as things got moved during the week, in the process of everyday life, they knew how to re-position everything back to its perfect position for buyers’ inspections.

In fact, Michelle was telling me (with a slight sense of glee, I might add!) that

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during their sales campaign, when Robert came home at the end of the day, he would very carefully remove only four scatter cushions from the middle of the beautiful, big sofa, place them gently to one side, and gingerly sit down in the exact same spot every night to watch the evening news!

And then, when he had finished watching TV he very carefully put them back in position again… NOT his usual style! (They were committed to doing whatever it took to get the sale result they wanted.)

As I said, Robert was amazed when he first saw the transformation that professional styling could make. But he was truly converted when it sold for $150,000 more than the agents had told them to expect! In two weeks! NOW we were talking his language.

So for this next sale, Robert was 110% on board from the very start! As soon as they decided to sell, Michelle told me he said, “Let’s just get Deb in and do everything she tells us to do.”

It’s such a joy to work with sellers who really ‘get it’.

The first step was a pre-sale consultation. During this meeting Michelle and I walked around the house together – room by room – and she took notes on the exact things I was telling her needed to be done BEFORE we would do the final styling. I was explaining what furniture needed to be moved out

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completely, what furniture we would just re-arrange, which pieces of artwork needed to come down, which accessories needed to be packed away, etc.

It was a lovely, contemporary home. But there were some things that were simply not right for sale. For example, as you walked into the home, the first room you saw was the formal living room. In this room they had a very large (and expensive!), navy-blue leather sofa with two large, matching single chairs. There was a dark brown rug on the floor, a chocolate timber coffee table and small, matching timber bookcase on the side wall. On the coffee table, there was a large pile of books that they were in the process of reading. There was a treadmill on one side of the room (which had to go, of course!), and the other thing I immediately noticed was that there was no artwork. And, the way the furniture was positioned meant that I felt like I was walking straight into the ‘back’ of the chairs. It wasn’t ‘inviting’ me into the room. So even though it was a lovely room, with a beautiful lounge I could immediately see how we could improve it for a ‘sale-presentation’.

The formal living room is very important – and even more so in Robert and Michelle’s case, as it was the first room you saw as you entered the house.

I knew it was really important to create a strong first impression here. My plan was to ‘lighten’ the room, as it was just too dark and heavy. There was no ‘texture’ or ‘warmth’ in the room, and I wanted to add more light and colour.

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So for this room, I asked Michelle to remove all of the pieces and we started again. We installed light, caramel-coloured sofas (re-positioned so they didn’t ‘block’ the room, but instead created a sense of flow through to the other rooms), a white shaggy rug, glass coffee table and side tables, a large piece of beautiful artwork on the side wall, a floor lamp (for extra light and a sense of luxury), stylish scatter cushions and some beautiful ornaments to layer in the emotion.

It created a very different first impression!

But in other rooms, the changes needed were very minimal. For example, in the master bedroom, we simply updated the linen, bedside tables and lamps. (TIP: It’s great to use large, luxurious bedside lamps – especially in the master bedroom. It looks grander and more impressive as they ‘frame’ the bed and add more light! This great styling tip is something we use in nearly every home, and you should do it too.) Again, we added some beautiful new artwork and scatter cushions to complete the look.

We talked about de-cluttering the surfaces in the bathroom, re-arranging the furniture by the pool, upgrading some of the older chairs that were a bit worn, and removing all those excess pieces of furniture that you have in your home for everyday living, but need to be taken out for sale (eg. magazine racks, filing cabinets).

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Michelle did everything I asked over the next couple of weeks – even down to colour-coding the clothes in her walk-in-robe and re-folding all the linen in her closet! (She proudly showed me these things later.)

So when the day came for the furniture installation and professional styling, we had the perfect ‘blank’ canvas to work with.

Our truck arrived in the morning and we unloaded all the large pieces of furniture, artwork and accessories. We then spent the day styling every room – positioning the furniture so that every room looked as spacious as possible, making all the beds with beautiful linen and throws, hanging the artwork, carefully placing the accessories, books and lamps so that we created the perfect lifestyle ‘story’ for their buyers.

It looked like a different home by the end of the day. But this time Michelle and Robert were not in the least bit surprised. They knew it would make a massive transformation this time.

And the result?

Well this one took a little longer to sell, as it was on the market over the Christmas period (including all the holidays), but it was a great result.

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Average Days on Market (in their suburb at time of selling): 140 Property Next Door (same specs) sold 5 months prior: $625K Property Across the Road (same specs) sold 2 months prior: $565K Robert & Michelle’s Days on Market (including Christmas holidays): 55 Sale Price: $675K (street record) $50K over highest other sale price in the street

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Step 1: Get Your Attitude Right (It’s Not about You!) Once you have decided to sell your home, it actually changes from being ‘your home’ to becoming a ‘product for sale’. It’s no longer about you.

For many sellers this is a big realization – a big ‘Aha!’ moment. You need to know that the way you live in a home is very different from the way you present a home for sale.

Here is a great question to ask yourself to make sure you are really focusing on giving your BUYER what they want – and not what YOU like.

QUESTION: Who will buy my property? (eg. families, young professionals, retirees) When preparing your home for sale ALWAYS keep your buyers in mind. It’s not about what YOU like. It’s not about what your AGENT likes. It’s about what your BUYERS like!

RESEARCH = PROFIT!

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Think about these things: • • • •

How big is your home?

What are its best features?

What is its selling price range?

What are the local facilities?

-

Parks Schools Bike trails Shopping Centres Cafes Sporting Facilities Public transport

Ask yourself “What are buyers in my area looking for?”

• • • • • • • •

Number of bedrooms Home office/study Rumpus Kid-friendly Off-street parking Outdoor entertaining Security Etc.

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If you know what your buyers are looking for, then you can more easily ensure your property meets their particular needs. This might be as simple as adding a security door for single parents or creating a home office in a small, unused corner for young professionals.

So how do you find the answers to these questions? Many of the answers you will already know. And to answer the others you will need to do some research.

How to research: 1. Talk to Agents: They have the insider knowledge, experience and most importantly statistics that will tell you what buyers are looking for.

2. Study the Competition: Visit other open homes in your selling area on a Saturday and look at what your competitor properties offer. LISTEN to what the buyers are saying as they wander around – THEY will be honestly discussing what they like with their friends and family.

3. Compare Sales Results: Look at what has sold and for what price. What achieved the premium prices? What features did they have in common? Ask the agents what the buyers’ feedback was about these properties – they will usually know why the buyer decided to buy that particular property.

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THEN YOU MUST: 1. Let go emotionally: It’s not surprising that we become attached emotionally to places we live as they are the location of many of our best memories. If this sounds like you, it may help to focus on getting the sales result you want – which will allow you to move on to your next big adventure!

2. Move out mentally: Begin to think of your property as no longer your own. Start to think about it in terms of the new owners.

3. View your home with fresh buyers’ eyes: Begin to imagine what it is like for the new owners. What are the things about the property that they will love? The features of the house — the way the sun comes into certain rooms in the morning or the view from the back deck. What will they love about the location? The quiet street, or proximity to shops and schools.

4. Be Objective: You must be prepared to do exactly what it takes to present your home for your buyers. Sometimes this can be really challenging, especially if you’re selling a home you have been living in for a long time.

It can be really tough to even imagine a different room layout…different bedding, or art…or know if you even need to update your living room…?

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The best advice I can give you here is to get the advice of an experienced and professional property stylist. They understand what sells houses and can guide you through that confusing maze of knowing what to update and what to leave as is. Many will offer an inexpensive consultation service – where they will spend a couple of hours and walk through every room with you, explaining exactly what you need to do in every room to create the right presentation for sale. You then simply need to follow the step-by-step Action Plan they give you BEFORE going to market.

Step 2: De-Clutter (How to Create Space Out of Thin Air) You’ve probably heard that before you sell you MUST de-clutter. But why? Is it REALLY important? Here are a few reasons why you must never skip this step.

1. Clutter Eats Cash Too much stuff in a room simply makes it look smaller. And buyers love large, spacious rooms.

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2. De-personalise De-cluttering will also de-personalize your home. By removing your personal clutter, your buyers can more easily imagine themselves living there. This allows them to focus on the house rather than be distracted by your personal belongings. You don’t want them peering at your personal photos as they wander down the hallway – this is a big distraction that will take their attention away from imagining how wonderful it would be to live in your property.

Example: You might be a big Harley Davidson fan and have your home office covered in biking posters, scale models and memorabilia. You may love it, but if I came to look at your house, I would HATE it! I simply couldn’t visualise myself working in that room – I would be so distracted by the massive posters and how small and cramped the memorabilia made the room feel that I DEFINITELY would not be seeing a stylish, aspirational space where I would love to sit and work. I would feel as though I was intruding on your personal space. I might even feel a little uncomfortable.

3. Storage space sells Potential buyers love homes with lots of storage. Since they will look inside your cupboards, drawers and WIRs, it’s vital that you clear out all

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unnecessary clutter and show off as much storage as you can.

So, what needs to go?

As you assess every area of your house, ask yourself these questions: 1. What is making the space look cramped and messy?

2. What would not be seen in a display home?

3. What items are too personal and distracting for buyers?

4. What looks like it involves ‘cleaning’ or ‘household chores’?

These are the common items that need to go: Groups Of Small Decorator Items: (nick-nacks) that clutter your living areas.

They are distracting and can look messy. Clear off all coffee tables and side tables. We are going to re-decorate with purpose and only want a few wellchosen objects by the time we have finished staging.

Personal Collections: (ANY kind of collection – dolls, teapots, stuffed toys, posters, etc). They are meaningful for you, but don’t help your buyers imagine themselves living there.

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Books: Too many books can make your room look cramped and messy too. Clear away piles of books from coffee tables and bedside tables. Also, it’s important to reduce the number of books on your bookshelves. They should only be half-full of books. You need to leave some open space on the shelves and then add a few decorator items.

Religious Icons: They are strongly personal and will be off-putting for some buyers. It’s better to pack them away now, knowing you can display them again in your new house Artwork: Remove any highly personal artwork (including personal portraits, nudes, family photos). Also, remove any small pieces of artwork that are scattered around the room on various walls. When staging, we prefer to use one or two larger pieces of art per room. This is less personal and more impactful from a styling perspective. If you do remove any unsuitable artwork from walls, also remove the hooks, then patch and touch-up the paint.

Cleaning & Maintenance Items: When looking for the perfect lifestyle to buy, the LAST thing buyers want to do is think about the cleaning and maintenance of the home! So remove anything that reminds your buyer of maintenance, cleaning and household chores eg. doormats, toilet brushes,

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bins, cleaning products on display, toasters, ironing boards, washing baskets, pool cleaning equipment etc.

Based on my experience, the following is the easiest (in fact, almost painless) way to structure the process.

1. Start With A Plan • • •

Otherwise you are not likely to get rid of anything at all Walk through each space (including the garage, garden and all outdoor areas), and assess what needs to go.

I recommend you work on one room at a time, rather than tackling the whole house in one go. This makes it much more manageable, and means you have the least amount of disruption in your home as you go through the process. More importantly, it gives you a great sense of achievement when you finish each room. This makes it much more motivating to keep going.

2. Make The Time Allow a realistic amount of time to complete each room – it’s not possible in 10 minutes! So set aside a few hours to make sure you can achieve your decluttering goals.

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3. Use The Five-Bin System Here is a great system to help you sort through the clutter: Get 5 individual plastic crates. As you sort through everything, make an instant decision and immediately place the items into one of the following clearly marked crates: Bin 1 – Throw Away (all broken, damaged items you no longer need) Bin 2 – Charity (items you no longer need but are still in good condition

and others will value) Bin 3 – Sell (Ebay, Gumtree, etc) Bin 4 – Keep for Now (you currently use these items, need them during the

sales campaign, and can put them in cupboards so they are out of sight) Bin 5 - Keep for Later (these items can go into storage until you move

into your new house)

4. Remember Why You Are De-Cluttering • •

When the going gets tough, remember the PROFIT you’re creating!

“Clutter Eats Cash”.

As a BONUS, this process will enhance your life! De-cluttering will

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Set aside a few hours to make sure you can achieve your de-cluttering goals.

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simplify your surroundings, get rid of the chaos and it will free up time, space and energy in your life.

What if it all seems too daunting? Or you simply don’t have the time? Or you are just not the ‘organised type’? Why not consider hiring a professional Organiser? They are worth their weight in gold. An Organiser will come to your home, and work with you to sort through everything and create systems to make sure your home (and life!) are focused and uncluttered now and in the future.

Step 3: Re-model, Repair, Renew (Why Didn’t I Do This Before?)

Get Down and Dirty!

It’s about PROFIT. Premium presentation includes making sure everything is in perfect, working order before listing.

Remember, 83% of buyers will pay a premium price for homes that require no work. Extra work means spending extra money to your buyers. Having everything in tip-top condition will make a house seem well-maintained and

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loved. Fixing your property before you sell is one of the smartest financial decisions you will make.

You need to do a complete maintenance check before listing. You don’t want buyers to focus on any small flaws you identify. Remember, if you have noticed them, so too will they.

Avoid your buyer’s ‘negative checklist’. This is the list of defects and repairs they will have to rectify in order to make the property ‘perfect’ for them to live in. Buyers will notice superficial blemishes on the flooring, dents and scrapes on the walls, leaking taps, etc. And typically, it’s the minor, inexpensive repairs that make the biggest difference.

Also, when a buyer identifies a problem, she will immediately wonder what else is wrong. A long ‘negative checklist’ will most likely result in lower-priced offers… and we are talking thousands of dollars for inexpensive repairs that usually only cost you hundreds to fix.

We are not talking about a major renovation. Instead, we are talking about doing the necessary minor repairs as this will usually give you a much better return on investment.

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The Re-Model, Repair, Renew Process 1. Inspect: Is everything working? Is everything in good condition? Take an objective look at your house to determine what repairs and updates are necessary.

2. Repair: Once your inspection is complete you need to: • • • •

Create a list of repairs that are required Prioritise this list – what will make the most dramatic impact and give you the biggest return?

Create a budget and a timeline for these repairs Once you have made your prioritized list, STICK TO IT!

3. Upgrade: Finally, you will create the list of upgrades that will most impact your sale.

Kitchens and bathrooms will be your first priority – the minor upgrades you make in these two areas will almost always give you the best return.

The other very important area which should NEVER be neglected is the entry (including the front door). This is vital for helping to create that fabulous first impression that makes your buyers excited, and want to see more!

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Here are some of the key areas you can easily update that will give you the biggest bang for your buck: 1. Walls (No cracks/holes, touch-up paint where required) 2. Lighting (Replace old, broken or dated light fittings) 3. Flooring (Remove stains, replace carpet, replace broken tiles, update old vinyl) 4. Doors (Ensure they open and close easily, no squeaking) 5. Fans (Replace broken or rusty fans with new ones) 6. Windows (Update with new blinds/curtains – just make sure the style you choose fits in with the rest of the house) Kitchen (Replace dated handles with more contemporary ones, update leaking/broken/dated taps) Bathroom (Update old shower curtain, toilet seat, towel rails, mirrors, taps) Appliances (Update to new stainless steel appliances – there are loads of options available now and they are not as expensive as they once were) Exterior (Paint touch-ups, trim trees, new turf, water-blast driveway, update letterbox)

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If you don’t have the time to invest in doing the cleaning yourself, it is worth hiring a professional cleaning company (this is what I usually recommend to my clients). Professional cleaners will be more effective and more efficient – and some specialize in preparing properties for sale.

When hiring a professional Cleaner, it is important to find the right person for the job. Your agent may have a recommended company that they use regularly and know will do a great job. However, if you don’t have a great contact, here are some great questions to ensure you get the best possible service.

• • • • • • • •

Ask for a detailed description of the service they will provide for you Get a quote for your project Tell them what details are most important to you Ask about any special services, prices or cleaning specials Ask how many service providers will be coming to the home Ask how long will it take them to complete the service Always ask if they are insured Let them tell you as much as possible about themselves and their services. This way you can determine if they match your criteria

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Step 4: Clean, Cleaner, Cleanest! (Give Your Property The White Glove Test) I know it’s not very exciting, or popular, but it’s important! When selling a house, you must think immaculate. There is nothing more appealing than a clean and spotless house.

Just think of a display home … no dirt, no stains, no grime. Or a 5-star hotel room — when you walk in and everything is spotless. How does it make you feel? It’s the same when potential buyers are inspecting your property.

For example, you may not even notice how clean a hotel room is, but you certainly would if it was dirty and stained!

I can’t stress this enough. Your home has to sparkle.

An immaculate property gives the impression that it has been well-loved and well-maintained.

So you need to spring clean every inch of your property – remember, you are creating PROFIT. In fact, for cleaning the ROI (Return on Investment) is said to be as high as 600%. So Step 4 is simply non-negotiable if you want the best sales result.

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As a broad guideline, you must consider the following areas: • • • • • • • • • •

• •

Power clean your kitchen (including appliances and inside your cupboards) Power clean your bathrooms (including shower screens, grout & tiles) Clean all carpets, rugs and floors Clean your upholstered sofas and other furniture Clean your curtains, blinds, and venetians to make them look like new Wash your windows, inside and out, to let the sun shine in Thoroughly clean all light fittings to make rooms lighter and brighter Wash down walls Clean light switches, light fittings and fans Get a clean, fresh smell in your home - eliminate odours from pets, smoke (a big sales killer!), cooking smells or other unsavoury smells Make pets ‘invisible’! - ideally remove them from the property during inspections (otherwise you must hide litterboxes, kennels, food etc) Power wash the house exterior, driveways and decks

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Styling – Add The Sizzle (Don’t Be Bland…)

Once you have completed all of the ‘prep steps’ – de-cluttering, maintenance and cleaning – it’s time to begin the important process of styling.

DO NOT FALL INTO THIS COMMON TRAP: A trap that I often find sellers falling into is ONLY doing these ‘prep-steps’ (nearly everyone has heard that they need to de-clutter before selling) and then stopping there. What they end up with is an empty, lifeless, bland home to sell. We definitely do not want to create spaces that are completely stripped of all personality and style.

Property Styling is NOT about creating bland spaces.

So much of creating great home presentation is about the accessories. The warmth. The layering of emotion. (In fact, often when styling for clients we simply change over the art, rugs, lamps, bedding, cushions and accessories – and when they walk back in at the end of the day they are absolutely floored at the transformation we can create just with these items!)

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We definitely do not want to create spaces that are completely stripped of all personality and style.

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So, once you have de-cluttered, cleaned and stripped back the excess items, the next step is to add in the ‘WOW’ factors. You must put the key elements and accessories in, otherwise your home will look cold and uninviting.

The purpose of styling is to create homes that buyers will love (and pay a premium for!), and we know buyers love homes that: • • • •

Have a sense of space Have a sense of light Have a sense of order, calm and peace Showcase an aspirational lifestyle

So that’s what we should give them.

Curb Appeal (Your 24/7 Billboard...)

It’s important to realise that the all-important first impression doesn’t begin when buyers first step inside your home; it’s created as soon as they catch that ‘first glimpse’.

That very first glimpse is usually on the internet, as we spoke about earlier.

But ‘glimpse no. 2’ is seeing the property from the street. So it is enormously

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important to create instant ‘curb-side appeal’ – that is, create such a great impression that they can’t wait to come inside to see more rather than immediately leaving to visit the next property on their list.

In fact, many potential buyers will drive by your property before even deciding if they want to come to the open home, so make sure it looks its absolute best 24/7 once it’s on the market.

Again, you need to look at the property with fresh buyers’ eyes to really ‘see’ what is there. Walk across the street and look at it as though for the first time.

What do you see? What would improve it? Is it a new lawn, fresh landscaping, new exterior paint, landscaping, lights or something as simple as an updated, modern front door and handle? Curb appeal is paramount when it comes to getting buyers through the front door.

Things that will turn buyers off: • • • • • • •

Overgrown gardens The absence of flowers or gardens Dead/dying lawn Weeds Stuff lying around (eg. bikes, hoses) Damaged fences Broken/rusty letterbox

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• • • • • •

Collection of small, faded pots with dead plants Stained driveway Leaves/debris Broken or dirty blinds Chipped/faded paintwork Old/damaged house numbers

You get the idea. You want it to look crisp, clean, well-loved and inviting.

You might choose to contract a professional gardener for a makeover.

There are many companies that specifically prepare gardens for sale. Their makeover services usually include: • • • • • • •

Garden maintenance (lawn moving, weeding and hedge trimming) Pruning New planting New turf Re-mulching Rubbish removal Gutter cleaning

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Here are some great ways to bring your outdoor space up to scratch: Wash Your House: Housewashing is a cost-effective way to get your house looking 5 years younger. And we’re not talking big bucks for this service. A few hundred dollars might save you from having to paint the whole property.

Whites are whiter, colours are brighter … and no rollers or brushes required.

Make Your Front Door Inviting: Give your front entry a burst of colour with a fresh coat of paint. If it’s scratched or marked, you may simply want to freshen it up with the same colour. But if it really is a little dated and uninspiring, consider an exciting new colour to really create some impact. Be bold! This is one of the first things your buyers see. Make them want to see more. (Bonus Tip: a lush plant in a large, crisp, white pot by the front door immediately makes your home feel warm and loved.)

Add Some Fresh Colour: It is amazing how much better all homes look with a fresh coat of paint. This REALLY does give you the biggest bang for your buck! If your budget is tight, even a touch-up to the most obvious parts of the property can do wonders (think front verandahs, steps, fences – all the places your buyers will see first!).

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Shed Some New Light: Exterior light fittings can become weathered and tired. Sometimes, they are dated (having been there for 25 years, and we’ve just stopped noticing them!) There is a lot of bang for your buck in replacing them with new, bright fittings. They will look fresh and shiny and give your house that ‘brand-new’ feel. Just be sure that the style of the fittings matches the style of your house.

Get your numbers right: Shiny, new house numbers can give your house a really upmarket feel. (And again, remember it’s one of the first things your buyers see.) Whether you want to make a bold design statement or simply update the old ones – fresh, new house numbers will make your home feel loved and important.

Remember to de-clutter: Yes, I know we have all heard it before, but you must do this! And you must de-clutter the exterior of your house as WELL as the interior. Remove old bikes, pots, bins, rakes/brooms, old bits of wood etc.

When you are done, you will be amazed at how spacious your ‘new’ garden looks…

Get Your Green On! A freshly-tended garden bed can bring tons of appeal to the exterior of your home. People may not notice the specific details of your garden, but they will feel it. Overgrown gardens will make buyers feel that

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your home has not been well-maintained, and makes them wonder what else may be wrong with it...

My hot tips: 1. Order a meter of mulch and spread it over your existing garden beds.

You can bury the weeds and make your existing garden look 10 times better in about 2 hours.

2. Remove any plants that are dead or dying 3. Look for any bare patches in your garden and fill them with large plants in pots. It instantly fixes the problem spot and then you can take the potplants with you to your new home! But make sure that you use large, bold planters (up to 1 metre high), bold, broadleaf plants, and stick to pots in neutral colours (white, terracotta, charcoal or black work best). Otherwise your pots might look too small and distracting and even start to look like that awful enemy – “clutter”!

Remember Your Driveway: Driveways can often be neglected. If they are stained and dirty, a simple solution is to invest a few hours of your time and give them a power-wash – this will make a huge difference (and you’ll wonder why you didn’t do it before)

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Clean Your Windows: Clean windows add to the sparkle of a well-presented house. Buyers may not even notice them - but they certainly will if they are dirty.

Most Importantly – Create a Living Room Outside: EVERY outdoor living space deserves beautiful furniture. SHOW your buyers the fabulous living space your deck offers. In some cases this will ‘double’ the living space your home offers, and of course this increases the value of your property.

Showcase your deck by adding a beautiful dining setting, or add a big, rattan lounge complete with colourful cushions and lanterns. Even if you just have a small patio, why not add a cafe table with two chairs...add a pot plant and a few well-chosen accessories and you have created a cozy spot for a morning cup of tea.

CASE STUDY: Inner-City Worker’s Cottage Let me tell you about a client I worked with who understood all of these principles perfectly – and used them to get a great sales result!

I got a call from an engineer called Paula when she was about to put her

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home on the market because she was moving to New Zealand. On the phone she told me that she really ‘wasn’t into interiors or design’ and that her house was full of old, run-down furniture. But she also said that she was committed to selling, and knew she had to create a great-looking presentation for sale… she just didn’t know how to go about it…

I said that wasn’t a problem, because I really WAS into interiors and could work with her to show her EXACTLY how to present her home for sale (after all, that was my area of expertise!). So we made an appointment to meet at her home so I could see what she needed, and discuss it further.

She lived right on the edge of the city in an original, weatherboard worker’s cottage. These small cottages really appeal to young professional couples because of their proximity to the lifestyle that offers (cafes, shopping, biketracks, close to work etc.) and they are really low-maintenance. Small cottage gardens which don’t need much work, so you have lots of time to ‘do coffee’ on the weekends instead.

When I arrived at Paula’s house, my heart sank. She was right! She really WASN’T into interiors. The first thing I noticed was that her cottage had peeling paint and a front deck littered with old cardboard boxes, broken chairs, a petrol tin and a pile of old mops. When I stepped inside things got worse! The room was totally cluttered with mismatched furniture, a vacuum

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cleaner, books, suitcases, plastic crates full of paperwork and an exercise bike. The walls were bright yellow, there were old sheets instead of curtains on the windows and there was no art (or ANY kind of decoration!) to be seen.

I really thought I had a big challenge ahead.

But after chatting with Paula for just a couple of minutes, I could tell I was completely wrong. It turns out she was a very busy engineer by day (working for a large, corporate company) and her big passion was share trading by night (in her cluttered sleep-out). She didn’t entertain at home, and in fact was hardly ever there.

However, she totally understood that this was NOT the lifestyle her buyers would be looking for, and immediately began to explain that she was 100% prepared to move all of her furniture and clutter out, re-paint both inside and out (to get rid of those bright yellow walls inside and the old, peeling paint outside), give the courtyard garden a complete makeover, and do whatever else I suggested.

She totally understood the principles. She was committed to selling for a great price so she could move to New Zealand. And it turns out she was a dream client.

Paula did everything we originally spoke about, and three weeks later I came

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back to a freshly-painted, completely clean and vacant home – complete with new paving in the courtyard garden and potted palms along the fence for privacy. She had created the perfect blank canvas. Cream walls, polished floorboards and sheer, white (inexpensive) curtains on the windows.

My job was then to style it with furniture and accessories that were going to appeal to her buyers – young professionals. And that is exactly what I did.

I used contemporary sofas, crisp linen, funky artwork and added simple warmth with rugs, lamps and accessories. Everything I put in there was designed to appeal to her target market.

We styled every room, even down to a stack of fresh towels in the laundry.

And the result? It sold in 4 hours. The first buyers to turn up at the open home on Saturday were in fact a young professional couple – they had seen photos of the new, gorgeous living room on the internet and were excited to see it in real life. The ‘lifestyle package’ we had created was perfect for them.

They could see themselves living there, and put an offer in on the spot – before anyone else could.

I call this ‘nailing the demographic’.

Now this is an extreme example, and I’m not suggesting that in order to prepare your home for sale you will need to move all your furniture out and

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paint both inside and out!

But I want you to understand that if Paula had not invested some time and money into the presentation of her cottage, and simply left it the way she lived in it, she would never have achieved that result. She would only have attracted bargain hunters and low offers.

Instead, she changed the ‘packaging’ of her product and sold for list price in one day.

She was ecstatic, and super-ready to move to her new life in New Zealand.

Your Step-By-Step Home Staging System On the following pages I have put together a fantastic resource for you – a step-by-step system to presenting your home for sale.

Of course I can’t teach you every design principle I know, or share every professional styling trick I have learned over the last 5 years while working with clients and home sellers.

But what I CAN do, is share some very important guidelines with you…

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and walk you through a simple system that will make sure you layer in the emotional appeal, show your buyers the perfect lifestyle, and maximize your profit next time you sell.

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5 Key Styling Principles You Need To Know To Sell For More…

Principle 1: Choose A Theme (And Stick To It!) Earlier, I talked about how important it is to know who your likely buyer will be. (That way you can present your property in the exact way that appeals to them.) Well the next step is to then select a styling THEME and use it throughout your entire home – so that you present one, specific, cohesive ‘product’ to your buyers.

I do not believe in ‘one-size-fits-all’ styling. There is a common misconception out there that you want to present your home in a way that appeals to ALL buyers. I don’t believe that is even possible.

Imagine that back when I was designing marketing material for Gillette Mach3 razors, I would try to make my designs appeal to EVERYONE – women, children, executive men, factory workers. My designs would end up appealing to NOBODY. I was designing for a very specific ‘niche market’, and always had them in mind when making design decisions.

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It’s exactly the same when selling property. You need to know who is likely to buy your home and keep them front of mind when styling for sale. Then when they walk in, they go ‘Ahh…’ and feel like they have come home.

I can’t go into it in full detail here, but this is the essential formula: THEME = BUYER + LIFESTYLE + ARCHITECTURE Let me give you a simple example. Let’s imagine you are selling an inner city apartment.

Buyer: a young professional couple without kids Lifestyle: busy social life, aspirational, trendy, savvy Architecture: the apartment’s architectural style is slick, minimal and mostly white.

So when choosing our styling THEME, we use furniture, artwork, accessories and colours that tie together those three elements.

• • •

The furniture will be clean and contemporary, NOT country décor.

The colours will be cool whites with crisp accents, NOT soft pastels.

The artwork will be bold abstracts, NOT old, traditional masterpieces.

Once you know the THEME for your home, use it in every part of the property – think of your home as a series of spaces linked together by halls

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• •

The accessories will be chic magazines and stylish planters, NOT traditional silver candelabra.

The room layout will be minimal, including a home office, NOT kid’s playrooms with books and toys.

and stairways. Make sure that your home tells a consistent ‘story’ from the front entry, through all the living areas, including the furniture style you use, the colour cushions you select, the artwork you hang, right through to the accessories you put on the coffee table.

You don’t want your buyers getting a surprise every time they walk into the next room, because the style is inconsistent and the colours, furniture and accessories are mismatched.

Principle 2: Know The Selling Point What is it about a room that you notice when you first enter it? Is it the fireplace? Is it the great view? Perhaps, it is a beautiful piece of artwork.

Have you ever walked into a room and noticed that you didn’t know where to look…it felt either bland (because there was nothing to look at), or overwhelming (because there was too much to look at)? If this is the case,

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then the room probably lacked a good focal point.

In interior design the focal point is a key principle all designers use when creating a room. When you walk into a room there should always be a focal point that draws you further in. If there is none, the eye is confused and doesn’t know where to focus.

In Home Staging, I believe you should be creating a selling point for each room. Ask yourself “What is the best feature about this room?”

This is what you want your buyers to notice as soon as they walk in — it is the most interesting or attractive feature of that room and by emphasising this you will showcase the potential of that room AND create the all-important emotional connection with the buyer.

A Selling Point can be: 1. Natural: Such as beautiful scenic views seen through a window 2. Architectural: Such as a large fireplace 3. Created: If it is a simple, square room with no outstanding features, create a focal point with furniture and colour

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Principle 3: Create Space What is one thing that all buyers seem to have in common? Overwhelmingly, they want homes that feel spacious. They want spaces with room to move and that feel open and inviting. They DON’T want rooms that feel cramped and claustrophobic.

So when staging your property it is important to position your furniture correctly to create a sense of FLOW and SPACE through your home.

Remove Excess Furniture As I mentioned earlier, the way you live in a home is very different from the way you present it for sale. This particularly applies to the amount of furniture you have in each room.

When living in a home, you have lots of pieces of furniture that are very functional and useful, that serve you well in your daily life. When staging your property REMOVE all of these excess items. They can make rooms look uncomfortably cramped and reduce the overall sense of space. You don’t want your buyers to bump into knick-knacks as they inspect your property.

Only leave the larger, purpose-specific furniture in each room and remove the rest.

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When staging your property, it’s important to position furniture correctly to create a sense of FLOW & SPACE through your home.

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Remove things like: • • • • • • •

Small side tables for storing piles of magazines ‘Spare’ chairs in the corner of your dining room for the extra large dinner parties Bar fridges on the corner of your entertaining deck Folded clothes airers propped against the wall of your laundry Washing baskets full of clothes Small bookshelves full of extra books and bric-a-brac Hat stands full of old hats and scarves

If your rooms still feel a bit small, it is better to remove another one or two items. This will open up your spaces, allowing buyers to easily walk around the main pieces of furniture you have in the room while also visually increasing the size of the room at the same time.

Don’t Use Oversized, Heavy, Dark Furniture Remember, we are creating rooms that feel spacious. If possible, use furniture that is: • • •

Mid to light in colour (if it is dark, use a light-coloured throw to soften it) Small to average in size Not too bulky

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Arrange Furniture So It’s Easy To Walk Around Do you know that buyers only usually take only 6-10 minutes on average to view your property? That makes it so important for you to make sure they can easily move from room to room and see the best feature each room has to offer. This is one of the most important ways of maintaining a sense of spaciousness.

Principle 4: Make It Light And Bright What else are buyers looking for? Overwhelmingly, they want homes that feel light, fresh and airy. Homes with plenty of natural and artificial light will seem more open and inviting.

Any room will look larger if it’s well lit – either by natural light or artificial lighting. And rooms with lots of light make us feel more energised.

Have you ever looked into a department store before they turn on the lights?

In the shadows, the merchandise doesn’t have much appeal, but when the stores are open and the bright lights are all turned on it becomes much more exciting and actually ‘feels’ better.

It’s the same in your house. Bright lights and lots of daylight enhance the attractiveness of your rooms. It’s almost impossible to have too much light!

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Therefore, as part of every staging job, I look for opportunities to create more light (and therefore spaciousness) in each room.

The smell of fresh air and the enjoyment of natural light can’t be bought at any price. So, throw open the windows, open up the doors, draw back the curtains and blinds and let the light and fresh air flow through the home.

Maximise Natural Light Let all the natural light that’s available flow into the room for every home inspection. Bring it into your home through windows, glass doors and skylights.

If you have dark, heavy curtains in a room, make sure they are pulled back to the sides of the window. If they are not needed for privacy, you can remove them completely and your room will instantly feel larger. Or alternatively, if privacy is an issue, replace them with window coverings that are sheer. This will let the natural light flow into the room while still providing privacy.

Another great window covering option when selling a home is to install venetian blinds. They are cost-effective, available in a wide range of neutral colours and have a sleek, contemporary style that matches most interiors.

Importantly, if your room has no view (or an unsightly one) you can turn the blades so that they allow the light in, but not the view! Many professional

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developers install venetian blinds in their investment properties for this reason, and I would strongly recommend them as one of the best solutions if you need to update window coverings for your property sale.

Maximise Artificial Light If you do not have a lot of natural light, you will need to rely more on using artificial lighting. Here are a few things to bear in mind: • • • •

Check that all lights are working Increase the globe’s wattage to the maximum allowed Ensure you turn ALL lights on for every home inspection — even on bright days Make sure all fittings are clean — this will make a big difference to the amount of light given off

Add Accent Lighting Add additional artificial lighting features for extra effect, such as table and floor lamps. You will be amazed at how this small addition will make a BIG difference. Lamps make rooms appear larger and focus attention.

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Consider Your Furnishings If you need to lighten a heavy room, you can also do this by changing your furniture. Here’s what I recommend: •

•

Use light-coloured furniture and accessories rather than lots of dark and heavy pieces as this will reflect the existing light around a room, making it appear larger Select furniture that has a ‘lighter’ design. You could choose a sofa and chairs with open arms and exposed legs. This allows light to filter under the furniture, making the room appear airier

Principle 5: Colour That Sells Colours evoke emotion and leave a lasting impression. Many studies have shown how strongly human beings physically react to different colours; these findings have been used by marketers and advertisers for many years to sell products (in fact, I completed a university thesis on this subject while studying design). I won’t go into all the findings here, but the important thing to know is that all human beings react strongly to colour, so when staging your property you do NOT want to alienate any buyers by using the wrong colours…that some buyers will love but others will hate.

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The basic Property Styling Colour Formula is: NEUTRAL BACKDROP + HIGHLIGHT ACCENT COLOURS Neutral usually means without colour. In the world of design, when we say ‘neutral colour’, we mean colours such as beige, cream, taupe, white, black, stone, brown, chocolate, silver, gray or white. These colours create a calm response in the vast majority of people. They will feel comfortable in predominantly neutral rooms.

TIP: I did NOT just say to use beige! This is NOT the only neutral colour there is, and in fact it can be very tricky to work with as often ends up looking boring. Do NOT fall into the trap of thinking an all-beige room will help to sell your house – in fact, the opposite is probably true.

Step 1: Use Neutral Colours for Walls, Floors and Large Furniture Pieces Step 2: Add Highlight Accent Colours

STEP 1: NEUTRAL BACKDROP Wall Colours As we discussed earlier, re-painting some or all of your property will create a massive change and certainly give you the most ‘bang for your buck’. If you have assessed your property and decided that you do need to do some

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painting before selling, you will sooner or later ask yourself, ‘What colours do I use?’

When choosing colours for large areas like walls, ceiling and floors, always stay with neutrals. Although dark colors are popular among interior designers, home staging will require that you select light, neutral colours such as grey, stone, taupe, white, off-white, caramel or cream.

Avoid strong, individual colours and feature walls – some buyers may like them, but the vast majority will be turned off by them.

WARNING: Regarding white walls, it can be tempting to paint everything white as it is ‘neutral’. I know sellers who have decided this was a good idea and purchased plain, old ceiling white in bulk. They thought they would save a bit of money AND having to make a colour selection. However, this is definitely not a good idea. It will look cheap and cold. It is far better to select a white shade from a colour chart as the very slight tint in the paint will make the rooms look warmer and intentionally more expensive. Select a white that will compliment the existing colours around the property (for instance the exterior walls). If the existing colours are warm browns and beiges, select a white with the same warm undertone. And if the existing colours are cool blues or greens, select a white with the same cooler undertone.

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Floor Colours If you need to upgrade your existing flooring, once again it is important to select a neutral colour. Even if you personally love green, you don’t want to spend thousands of dollars on an upgrade that turns some of your buyers off.

This applies to all flooring options, be they: • • • •

Timber Vinyl Carpet Tiles

Buyers love timber floors, so if you have the opportunity to remove worn or damaged carpet and polish the floors, I would recommend that you do it. It will add instant appeal to your property and add thousands of dollars to the sale price.

If you aren’t going to invest in updating floor coverings in your property but have some strong colours that need updating, a fabulous and cheap solution is to add an area rug. By selecting a neutral rug colour you will be able to cover a lot of the offending colour and create a calmer room.

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BONUS TIP: If you are replacing floor coverings, here’s a great tip for selecting colours. It’s important to know that the colour you choose will always look lighter once you see it in a big area (when its been laid on the floor) than it does on the sample swatch. So make sure you select a colour one shade darker than you want. Naturally, discuss this with your experienced supplier.

Furnishing Colours When selecting large pieces of furniture for selling a property (eg. sofas), once again, you should generally use neutral colours. It is pleasing and restful to the eyes and creates an overall consistent story for buyers as they walk through your property.

Step 2: ADD HIGHLIGHT ACCENT COLOURS Now that you have created a neutral backdrop you have an immense amount of freedom when it comes to adding accent colours.

Introducing accent colours creates warmth, energy and interest in your property.

What is an accent colour? It is a bright, punchy colour that you add to the room by introducing coloured cushions, bedding, artwork or accessories

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that will really create the finishing touches that buyers love. Simply by adding a small jolt of colour (such as red, for example) as an accent color, it will create a sense of energy and interest in the room. A pair of small red pillows, a red front door, a red lampshade or artwork with a splash of red will add a punch of colour to your neutral room.

How Do I Select My Accent Colours?

To select an accent colour palette, ask yourself these three questions: 1. What are the existing colours in and around the property?

Work with what is already there. If your existing colour scheme is creams and caramels, choose warm accent colours that will work in with these. If the existing colour scheme is crisp white and charcoal gray, choose cool accent colours that will work in with these. If the property is surrounded by lush, green gardens you might select green as one of your accent colours as this will highlight this beautiful natural focal point. Similarly, if your property overlooks water or the ocean, you might select blue as one of your accent colours for the same reason.

2. What is my theme?

Select the accent colours that match your property’s theme (refer back to

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that section for a reminder).

3. Who is my buyer?

Select colours that will appeal to your target market.

Some Great Rules For Adding Accent Colours: 1. Select an overall accent colour palette for the entire property. This creates a cohesive story and is not confusing when buyers walk from one room to the next. We don’t want to use orange in the dining room and then shock them with bright purple as they walk into the living room!

2. Select three or four accent colours only in your palette. You will use these throughout the entire house. Don’t be tempted to add too many colours.

Four basic colours creates enough interest and variation without creating a kaleidoscope effect. KEEP IT SIMPLE and you will always achieve the best result.

3. You will use these colours for bedding, cushions, throw rugs, art, accessories, rugs and lamp shades.

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TIP: Stick to your essential accent colour palette, but don’t use them exclusively or your house will look ‘fake’ and a little strange… nobody in real life has only four accent colours in their entire house! (Sometimes when I see a property for sale that looks like this, I know the house has been ‘over-staged’ and it is distracting and a bit weird.) Use your basic accent colour palette, but make sure you add a few other colours in there too.

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Your Room-By-Room Guide To Success THE ENTRANCE:

MAKE THEM SAY ‘WOW’ IN UNDER 10 SECONDS This is one of THE MOST important spaces in your property, as you only get one chance to make that all-important first impression. You want to excite the buyer, and create a real eagerness to see the rest of the property. Use only one strong, simple focal point, and ensure there is no distracting clutter around.

Step-By-Step • • • • • • •

Make it MEMORABLE! Make it appear spacious Ensure it is welcoming, light and bright If space allows, include a hall table with only a few BOLD accessories Make sure there is only one strong focal point and there are no other distractions I would recommend only using ONE piece of artwork in the entry area, and removing all additional pieces of art from the walls If the entry is small and/or dark, use a well-positioned mirror to make it

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appear brighter and more spacious NO extra clutter Make sure the front door is in perfect condition & exceptionally clean Ensure the paintwork is in perfect condition

THE MASTER BEDROOM: THE SANCTUARY

When staging the master bedroom, you are really creating a sanctuary for your buyers. Look at your master bedroom like a luxury hotel suite. A room they can come home to…relax, unwind and enjoy as their own personal haven. Think luxurious and calming. And keep it simple.

Step-By-Step •

• • •

Determine the best position for the bed – the one that will make the room feel most spacious (large master suites are a great selling feature).

Don’t just assume that its current position is the best one Choose calm and restful colours for the linen Make sure the bedding you select appeals to BOTH sexes (a common mistake is for it to be too floral & feminine so it only appeals to women) Add colour, texture and interest by layering with a throw rug,

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European pillows, and well-chosen scatter cushions (TIP: A common problem I see when people are styling their homes themselves is that they ‘over-style’ the bed, and almost the entire surface is filled with cushions. This can look odd and make the bed feel uninviting.)

Always use a valance (sometimes called a bedskirt) around the mattress base. Use white, stone or black, depending on the linen colour Always use two matching bedside tables in a double bedroom (if there is enough room), as it looks and feels more grand Use two bedside lamps. Make sure they are not too small – remember you are creating an opulent haven that is luxurious and desirable The usual position for artwork in the bedroom is above the bed – it strengthens the selling point of the room (the bed). A horizontal format works best as it will be in proportion with the bed, and ensure it is not too small. Two-thirds the width of the bed is a good rule of thumb.

When selecting the art, it is a good idea to match the colours used on the bedding – but make sure the colours don’t match ‘too well’, otherwise it can look a bit ‘fake’ Make sure wardrobes are free from clutter – your buyers will almost certainly look in there. Have cupboards only half-filled to capacity (remove clothes not being worn in the current season). Have all your shoes on racks and nothing on the floor. Ensure the top shelves are perfectly clear as this creates a sense of space. If you are dedicated

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•

and want to really ‘wow’ your buyers, colour-code your clothes, and hang by garment type (ie. all the suits together, all the business shirts together etc.)

If size permits, add a corner armchair (or two) and a small side table to create a reading nook. You can also add lamps, scatter cushions and a small pile of books – you have created a multi-purpose master suite that adds value in your buyer’s eyes

BONUS STYLISTS TRICK: To create a luxurious-looking bed use linen that is one size larger than your bed. For example, on a Double-bed you will use Queen-sized linen, and this will make it look larger, softer and more desirable.

THE KITCHEN: THE COOK’S ZONE

Of course, the kitchen is often considered to be the ‘heart of the home’, and to many people is THE most important consideration when buying property.

There is no doubt that a shabby kitchen will prevent even interested parties from making an offer on your home, while a spotless, organized and updated kitchen will have offers rolling in from multiple prospective buyers.

The biggest part of staging a kitchen for sale is ensuring all the minor

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upgrades and maintenance is completed. Like the bathroom, money spent here is money well spent. Styling the kitchen with furniture and accessories is all about creating a fresh, clean up-to-date space that your buyers will enjoy using every day.

Step-By-Step •

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Make sure the kitchen is as light as possible. Remove any heavy, oldfashioned or lace curtains and old, broken blinds. Ensure all lights are working, and consider adding under-shelf lighting for even more impact It must smell, look and feel immaculately clean Remove all magnets/stickers from fridges, dishwashers and ovens Remove all clutter from open shelves and countertops De-clutter and tidy all storage cupboards and pantry areas. Remove excess/out-of-date products and unused utensils. Sort all remaining cupboard items so they are neat, ordered and functional. Remember, buyers WILL look inside your cupboards, and storage space sells!

Add bar stools to a kitchen bench if you have the option. This creates more seating/living space Remove or store all the small appliances that you can (microwaves, toasters, kettles, knife blocks) as they take up valuable bench space – and buyers look for lots of cooking and preparation space

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Remove the draining tray and all dishwashing liquid, sponges, soaps, plugs Add a few well-chosen, simple accessories to the countertop – but not too many! I would recommend no more than three groupings.

Accessories can include: - Vases - Chopping boards - Small plants - Recipe books - Fruit bowl - Wicker baskets - Small tray, coffee pot, mugs

THE BATHROOM:

THE 5-STAR HOTEL EXPERIENCE As with the kitchen, the bathroom is a top priority with potential buyers.

Everyone loves the enticing allure of a beautiful bathroom, so when styling it, re-create a five-star hotel experience. When styling a bathroom, you need to clear off all the everyday clutter, clean everything to within an inch of its life, and place a few well-chosen accessories on the countertops instead.

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Remember, everything MUST be spotless and immaculate… ESPECIALLY in the bathroom!

Step-By-Step • • • •

• • • •

Make sure you clear all surfaces of ALL old, half-used toiletries and unnecessary items Remove all items that imply housework and maintenance, such as toilet brushes, sponges, cleaners, wastepaper baskets Remove bathroom scales, shower caps and bathmats Hang thick, white, luxury towels on the towel rails. If there is a lot of extra benchtop space, you can also place a neatly folded pile of 2-3 matching towels on the vanity or side of the bath. Use these towels for display ONLY. Pack them all away when the house is not being viewed, and reinstate your regular towels for everyday use Place a luxury soap bar in the shower (brand new) If there is space, add a feature mirror – it will make the room appear lighter and larger Ensure all cupboards and cabinets are only half to two-thirds full, and well-organized If you need to store toiletries out of sight, keep them in a box or basket with a lid to avoid a tidal wave of trinkets taking over the counter

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Keep accessories simple and luxurious. Here are some tried andtested examples: • • • • •

Simple white candles in a stylish candle-holder A small plant A few well-chosen luxury soaps and/or bath products (eg. bath oils, bath salts, natural loofahs) A large orchid (there are very good reproductions available) A simple wooden tray to display a selection of beautiful bath products

THE LIVING ROOM: FOR ENTERTAINING

The Living Room is also very important to your buyers, as many people feel this is the heart of the home. Buyers look for a room that is warm, inviting and spacious. They want a lovely place to entertain, have great conversations, or just spend time with the family. Create a room that offers relaxation, comfort and rest. A place that makes your buyers go ‘Ahhh…’.

Step-By-Step •

Keep the furniture layout simple and functional

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•

• • •

Do not use oversized furniture and remove all small excess items to create a sense of space and ‘flow’ I recommend using a large rug in the Living Room to add softness and warmth Add scatter cushions and throw rugs to your sofa as they are inviting and make buyers want to sit down and linger in the room Bookshelves should not be filled entirely with books! Fill up only 50% of the available shelves – and don’t only use books. Add some small picture frames, simple vases and décor items If you have a fireplace, make sure the picture or mirror above it is in proportion (ie. not too small so it looks lost, and not too large so it looks squashed) Remove family photos Remove small ‘knick-knacks’ and replace with a few well-chosen larger accessories Coffee tables complete a living area as they make the room look lived in and more ‘usable’, and I would always recommend using one if you have the space. However, I often see coffee tables that are either too large, heavy and dark OR too small and looking ‘lost’. Make sure you consider the proportion, colour and style of this important piece, and add a few books or magazines and some accessories to create instant appeal

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•

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If your living room is small, another option is using one or two sidetables instead of a coffee table (positioned at the ends of the sofa) as they will take up less floor space and make the room appear more spacious Remove or conceal your electronic equipment such as Playstations, remote controllers and old video machines (and make sure all cables are neatly hidden away too!). The only exception to this rule is the big-screen HD Television and surround-sound speaker systems, which buyers love. (If your TV is old and outdated, you might want to consider replacing it with a prop Plasma screen for the duration of the sale. They can be rented from any furniture hire company, are very inexpensive and create a much more upmarket perception of the lifestyle your property offers in your buyers’ mind) Use simple, strong pieces of art that match your chosen colour scheme. Limit art to one or two pieces in the Living Room

THE DINING ROOM:

THE FAMILY-FRIENDLY DINING ROOM The Living Room is also very important to your buyers, as many people feel this is the heart of the home. Buyers look for a room that is warm, inviting and

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spacious. They want a lovely place to entertain, have great conversations, or just spend time with the family. Create a room that offers relaxation, comfort and rest. A place that makes your buyers go ‘Ahhh…’.

Step-By-Step •

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Make sure you have the right amount of seating in your dining room.

Think about how many bedrooms your home has, and how many people live there. For example, in a 4 bedroom home, it wouldn’t make sense to only have a small dining table and 2 chairs. Show your buyers that your dining space can accommodate a beautiful, large table and have 6-8 chairs (this will depend on the size of your room) The table and chairs will be the focal point of this room. Keep it clean and simple, and do NOT clutter the room with excess bits of furniture The table size needs to be consistent with the size of the room. NEVER put a large dining table in a smaller room as it will look cramped and uncomfortable. If in doubt, always select a smaller size table, as this will create that all important ‘flow’ and your buyers will be able to move around the room easily (…and on into the next room!) It will create a sense of space.

I recommend using simple dining furniture – nothing too ornate or heavy. I usually use white (especially for more contemporary homes), glass, black or plain timber. If using timber, ideally match the timber

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colour to the nearby furniture – ie. if the dining room adjoins the lounge, which is furnished in a light beech colour, continue the beech theme through to the dining area Often ‘dining rooms’ are part of an open plan living area and adjacent to the kitchen now (as opposed to the very formal room I mentioned above). If this is the case in your property, DEFINITELY keep it simple and family-friendly. This means no formal crockery settings, silver candelabra and napkin rings. This would look far too contrived and stuffy. Instead, use something that looks more ‘real’ – perhaps a bunch of flowers, some simple candles and a pot plant, a tray loaded with a jug and some tumblers, a bowl of fruit or an arrangement of simple vases If the dining space is quite large and plain, consider adding a console table or buffet at one end of the room. Add a canvas or mirror above it, some well-selected accessories, and you add a lot more interest, warmth and personality into the room When hanging art in the dining room, I recommend you use only one large, bold canvas. In a room where you generally sit down, make sure you don’t hang pictures too high (as is often the temptation). Instead, they should actually be hung a bit lower - so they can be enjoyed from a sitting position, AND look comfortable next to the furniture. I usually leave a 15cm gap between the top of the dining chair and the bottom of

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• • •

the frame.

A floor lamp in a dining room works really well If you have pendant lighting hanging from the ceiling, ideally the table will be centred underneath When staging a dining room table people can tend to get overexcited and overload the table full of ‘stuff’. This can be distracting to homebuyers and breaks one of home staging’s most important rules – “de-clutter”. Just remember, “if in doubt, leave it out”

THE RUMPUS ROOM: THE KID-ZONE

If your target buyers are families, they will LOVE a second living area! Style the second living area, or the ‘rumpus’ as a kid-friendly zone. We still want to create a stylish, aspirational space, but here is an opportunity to show your buyers the ‘zoned living’ that your property offers – a more informal living space, where the kids can watch TV, play games or just hang out with their friends.

Step-By-Step •

When styling an informal living area, I recommend you create a more

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• • •

casual feel. Use furniture that is more ‘relaxed’, eg. instead of formal, white leather 3-seater sofas, you might select a more relaxed modular sofa in a soft linen with a matching ottoman.

Create a functional seating area, like the more formal living rooms, but add a couple of fun elements!

Use brighter colours to define the area as more kid-friendly. Add a bold rug, or orange cushions, or a large piece of colourful, artwork.

You might add a couple of large, square floor cushions, to add a bit of fun (but make sure you do not add too many and overcrowd the area.)

This is the perfect place for a large TV – away from the ‘grown-ups zone’. Families will love the fact that the kids have their own TV viewing space. Plasma televisions immediately tell the buyers this is a modernized, updated “impressive” home which will be perceived as more valuable.

However, ensure all electronic cables and cords are hidden, and DVD and CD collections hidden away.

Remove any other collections from bookshelves or counter-tops.

These knick-knacks crowd rooms and make them look smaller.

Remove family photos and replace with simple, bold artwork

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THE FORMAL MEDIA ROOM: FAMILY MOVIE TIME

If your target buyers are families, they will LOVE a second living area! Style the second living area or the ‘rumpus’ as a kid-friendly zone. We still want to create a stylish, aspirational space, but here is an opportunity to show your buyers the ‘zoned living’ that your property offers – a more informal living space, where the kids can watch TV, play games or just hang out with their friends.

Step-By-Step •

•

When styling an informal living area, I recommend you create a more casual feel. Use furniture that is more ‘relaxed’, eg. instead of formal, white leather 3-seater sofas, you might select a more relaxed modular sofa in a soft linen with a matching ottoman.

Create a functional seating area, like the more formal living rooms, but add a couple of fun elements!

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KID’S BEDROOMS:

FUNCTIONAL AND SPACIOUS When staging your property, why not make THEM fall in love too! A couple of very excited kids jumping around in ‘their new room’ can only help to persuade family buyers to make an offer on your property.

Step-By-Step •

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Kid’s rooms obviously collect loads of toys, mountains of precious art and craft that they have created and piles of treasured possessions.

Make sure this is sorted, before beginning to style this room. I usually put most of their toys into storage, and only display a few well-chosen toys that will add to the charm of a child’s room.

All storage areas (wardrobes, desks etc) must be organized and tidy.

Storage space sells!

Bright colours can work really well in kid’s bedrooms, as they do inject a sense of fun and portray a warm, family lifestyle. Again, if you have a choice I would recommend using neutral colours on walls and adding some bright accent colours into the bedding, cushions, artwork, rugs and accessories. If, however, you have a kid’s room that has the classic pink (or blue!) walls, it would not be essential that you re-paint. Buyers expect to see kid’s rooms that come with a sense of fun and love.

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It’s a good idea to select colours that are NOT gender-specific (ie. will appeal to both boys and girls) as this will not put off any potential buyers. I like to use colours such as red for this reason.

If the room is large enough, show some versatility: 1. Add a desk: Style a small desk area. Add a chair and accessorize with a table lamp and a few books/toys. This will allow potential homeowners the opportunity to visualize their kids doing their homework or reading in that space.

2. Add a play space: Put down a small rug and a couple of ottomans to show off the size of the room. A kid’s bedroom that also doubles as a play area is always an attractive feature to family buyers.

•

Add some cute toys and accessories: -

A teddy or two on the bed A pile of classic children’s books on the desk Traditional wooden toys on the floor Try to avoid the latest fad toys (ie. plastic figurines, popular superheroes, Star Wars themes etc ) and instead select more traditional toys with timeless appeal

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THE HOME OFFICE: SIMPLE AND ORGANISED

With more and more people working from home, a home office is a popular selling feature – in fact a home workspace has become the norm. People use their computer everyday…for internet shopping, banking, browsing, playing games, study, and of course catching up with family and friends. It really has become an everyday part of life.

So if you can show your buyers a well set-up office space, they will instantly see the benefit, and look forward to enjoying a simple and organized office space every day.

Many existing offices are bursting at the seams with mountains of paperwork, books, files, old boxes, excess filing cabinets etc etc. They tend to become the ‘junk room’, full of stuff that doesn’t fit anywhere else.

And sometimes, there is no space for a home office in its current layout – traditionally homes weren’t designed with a working computer space in mind, and people end up using the kitchen table or coffee table and have nowhere to store their paperwork, printer etc.

The key to styling an office, is to keep it simple. In fact, it doesn’t need to be

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fully functional…you only need to show that this space can be used as an office.

Step-By-Step •

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If you don’t have a dedicated room for this purpose, you can find a small nook to use (I have even created an office nook on a very large landing between two flights of stairs before!)

Overcrowded office areas must be completely overhauled and decluttered In a dedicated office room that is of a medium to large size, place the desk in the middle of the room, facing out towards the door. This makes the desk the focal point of the room and looks more appealing… rather than looking at the back of a desk and chair. It looks more imposing and impressive.

In most cases, I would add a single office chair behind the desk, but if it is a very large room, you could place chairs on both sides of the desk In a smaller office room, you might need to position the desk against a wall, to maintain a spacious feel in the room I would recommend using only one piece of simple, bold, artwork in an office space. Artwork positioned behind the desk always works well (or above the desk, if it is against a wall) Add either a desk lamp or a floor lamp. It makes the room lighter and

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adds a sense of purpose and style Add a few well-chosen, simple accessories. These can include: -

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Laptop Flowers Small plants Books and magazines Pencil box/holder Wicker baskets Small photo frames

If you have open bookshelves in your office space, MAKE SURE they are clutter-free and well-organized. They will tell your buyers a story about who you are, what you do, and how organized you are! Remove any books that you don’t want on the shelves and store them away.

Arrange the remaining books in a cohesive manner. For example, from large to small and in colour groups – ‘blocking’ them together. If your bookshelves are stuffed with collectibles, figurines and small pieces of stuff you have slowly collected over the years, make sure these are all put away.

As a rule, I fill a bookcase with one-third books and one third accessories (such as vases, art, baskets etc). These items will add to that lifestyle design aspect while maintaining a professional, business

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feel. The remaining third is left blank – again to maintain a sense of spaciousness in the room.

THE LAUNDRY: SIMPLE AND CLEAN

The laundry is often the utilitarian space that gets stuffed with the things that we don’t know where else to put! But this is not an attractive proposition for buyers…who DO NOT want to see a collection of odd socks, half-empty bottles of cleaner, shoe polish containers or bags of dog food! You don’t have to go crazy with staging the laundry – BUT you must remember that you are selling this room, just like every other room in the house. Therefore it should be kept minimalist, brightly lit, fresh, clean and functional.

Step-By-Step • • •

Remove everything that does not belong in the laundry area. This should not be a dumping ground for unused items.

Everything that is left should be arranged neatly and all cupboards organized.

If needed, brighten up the laundry area by additional lighting or increasing the wattage of the existing light globes.

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Put detergent and other cleaners in cupboards or attractive canisters.

If there’s a window with a drab view, hide it with a simple sheer white roller blind or curtain – one that is light enough to allow light to pass through it.

Don’t let your washing pile up. Potential buyers should not see dirty laundry waiting to be done… Your goal is to show the buyer an organized room that they can emotionally connect to, not how much labor is involved in doing laundry. If you need to, put all washing in a basket, and store in a cupboard when the property is being viewed.

(I have even known buyers who put it in the back of their car as they drive off for open homes!)

It is important not to over-accessorise the laundry, but I often add the following: -

A stack of neatly folded towels Luxury soaps Small planter or two Wicker basket Small cane baskets with lids Square baskets with white towels in them

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OUTDOOR ROOMS: CREATE MORE LIVING SPACE!

Anything that adds extra living space adds value to your property, and one of the easiest and most effective ways to gain space is to turn your outdoor areas (such as decks, verandahs, balconies or even a vine-covered pergola at the bottom of the garden) into extra rooms. More than ever, people look at decks and verandahs as extensions of their homes that get used every day for entertaining and family life.

Step-By-Step •

When staging outdoor rooms, I would recommend you create one of two specific settings: - Outdoor dining setting OR - Outdoor lounge setting

If you have a large outdoor space, you can create both the living and dining spaces side by side – to create the ultimate outdoor lifestyle experience! (TIP: If you have the space to do this, it’s always a great option as this sometimes doubles the living space your home offers!)

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When selecting whether to choose the living or dining setting for your

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property, there are some simple criteria to follow: 1. If the deck is immediately adjacent to an interior dining area, use lounge furniture on your deck. This is so you won’t end up with two dining tables so close to each other which looks a little awkward and odd.

2. Similarly, if the deck is immediately adjacent to an interior lounge area, use dining furniture on your deck.

• • •

If neither of the above situations apply, simply use common sense when evaluating which furniture to select.

Is the outdoor area nearby to a kitchen? If so, a dining setting would be the logical option.

Or is the kitchen on the complete opposite side of the house? Then it would be a bit unusual to imagine carrying all your food and crockery through the entire house, so select the lounge option instead.

OUTDOOR LOUNGE SETTINGS •

Create a furniture grouping for conversation. Just as you do in your living areas, put some comfortable seating in an intimate arrangement so friends can sit close and hear each other easily.

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If possible, provide side tables or a coffee table to hold drinks/snacks or books/magazines. This will paint the lifestyle picture more vividly for your buyers.

Make sure the size of the furniture is in proportion with the space, so it feels comfortable. If you are selecting between furniture which is a little large for the area and furniture which is a little small for the area, always select the smaller size furniture. (You never want to over-crowd your rooms or they will appear smaller.)

Position the furniture so it faces the garden, pool or whatever is the most appealing outlook. Is there a beautiful view you want your buyers to notice?

Always add scatter cushions to your outdoor lounge settings and even throw rugs. They add warmth and a sense of luxury. Punchy colours can work really well against the more neutral furniture colours and garden setting – and create a fabulous impact. Try orange, turquoise, lime green or hot pink.

You could add a pile of cushions to the floor near the main seating area. This will create the impression of additional seating and also add some warmth and fun to the space.

Accessories add warmth and softness to your outdoor room (just the same as they do indoors!). However, make sure you select accessories

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that are bold and simple. I use the following: -

A lantern A group of candles or candelabra (use white or cream candles) Tea candles in decorative holders Books and magazines Flowers Small feature plant on the coffee table (eg. cactus or orchid) A small sculpture One or two bottles of Italian sparkling water and glasses on a tray Wicker baskets

OUTDOOR DINING SETTINGS •

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Keep it simple and position your dining furniture so there is still plenty of room to move around on the deck or verandah (usually centred is best!)

Add cushions to the chairs if required, but I would recommend keeping them a neutral colour. Save the colour for the accessories!

I recommend that you put a central piece on the table (just like the dining table)

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•

Select from the following recommended accessories: -

A table runner or placemat A lantern A feature plant A candelabra A small sculpture Outdoor tray, jug and glasses Stacks of plates, bowls, glasses and napkins

BALCONIES AND VERANDAHS •

•

Don’t forget about the small outdoor spaces either! They can also add value to your home. A covered porch or small balcony is a great outdoor selling feature – if your buyers see it! They will think it’s just a walkway or a great spot for a pot-plant, UNLESS you show them its potential. Make sure you do, by adding some occasional outdoor furniture (and/or planters for extra appeal). A single chair and side table can become a special reading nook with a view, and a small 3-piece café setting (ie. small table and two chairs) will transform into the perfect spot for that morning cup of coffee. Inspire your buyer’s imagination…

Because the outdoor room is an extension of the house, make

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•

• • • •

•

sure you use outdoor furniture that matches the style and colour theme of the interior. For example, sleek and modern aluminium furniture would be more suited to a minimalist, contemporary home but chocolate wicker or teak furniture would be better for a more traditional home.

Add bold, simple planters to add softness to the ‘hard edges’. But DON’T use a mish-mash of small, unmatched pots – this equals clutter, and will not appeal to your buyers! Especially if the plants are half-dead or small and withered. (This is something I am always telling sellers to remove…) On a typical back deck I recommend using 1-3 large planters only (and I mean large…typically 1 metre pots!), ideally using matching pots AND matching plants. Keep the pots a neutral colour. This will create a stylish, simple effect and add a lush backdrop without the extra clutter.

Remove all dead or dying plants and replace with fresh new ones You can add mirrors to exterior walls to add light, reflect a great view and make the space visually larger Add a decorative hammock if you have the perfect spot for it Include a BBQ, but only if it is clean and in good, reasonably new condition. If it is ‘well-loved’ but not in such great shape any more, it is a better option to store it away.

Remember, that lots of lighting works well in your outdoor room just as

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much as it does inside. You can add lanterns, candles, even fairy lights to create some romance.

THE GARAGE:

ORGANISED AND SPACIOUS Potential buyers will remember a garage that is clean, well-organised and spacious. For the hobbyist or car enthusiast, a nice garage will excite them and set your property apart from the rest. Others will appreciate great storage options, some consider an expansive garage a necessity, while everyone else will just notice whether or not it is clean.

Step-By-Step •

•

•

Maximise all available space as much as you can. Clear out all rubbish and excess items, have a garage sale, give a bunch of stuff away, donate it to charity but just get it out of the garage.

For items that do need to be kept, put a pegboard up to get tools off surfaces or store them on shelving. Make sure there are no piles of clutter on the floor.

Keep the essentials like the lawnmower, bicycles and paint cans in the garage but ensure they’re organised.

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• •

• •

Make sure that you can get one or both cars into the garage.

If it’s been a while since the garage saw a fresh coat of paint and it’s looking a little worse for wear, now’s the time to freshen it up – that goes for walls and the floor.

This space needs to be completely clean for maximum appeal.

If the garage is particularly large, you can showcase a specialist hobby area, or set up a home gym area or even a wine storage area. These all add extra value and potential in the mind of your buyer.

Conclusion

WHERE TO FROM HERE? Now that you understand how important it is to ‘re-package’ your home specifically for your target buyers – and you are all pumped about extra profit you can potentially achieve – the next obvious step is to implement these presentation strategies… BEFORE you put your home on the market. You must make sure your home is ‘market-ready’ before listing, as you only get one chance to make that all-important first impression.

In this book I have taught you some of the key principles & strategies that professional Property Stylists use every day when working with home sellers.

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The next obvious question (and one I get asked regularly) is “So who should do the staging?”.

To answer this question, you need to carefully (and honestly!) consider these things: 1. Do you have the time (and energy) to invest in implementing these strategies yourself?

Are you a person who would prefer to invest less money upfront and instead spend the time working through each step yourself?

OR 2. Do you want a professional stylist to specifically diagnose what your property needs and manage the whole process for you?

Would you prefer to invest more money upfront to get a complete ‘donefor-you’ service, and pay for that experience and expertise?

Essentially you have two options.

1. DIY Styling Take the strategies I have shared with you and work through each process systematically yourself, ensuring that each one is completed BEFORE

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listing. You have the perfect blueprint to follow right here!

If you need additional furniture, art or accessories, you can purchase these key pieces or perhaps borrow them from a friend. (Just remember to make sure they are aspirational and contemporary so they increase your buyer’s perception of value!)

Many sellers who live in regional areas or smaller towns may not have access to a professional stylist, and this is obviously the best solution in these cases.

2. Use a Professional Stylist A professional Home Stager will obviously have the expertise and experience to ensure you present your property in the best possible way when you sell.

Selling a property is very stressful and can be very time-consuming. If you understand the principles but don’t want the extra effort required in doing the work yourself, then this is obviously a good option.

Professional stylists usually have access to rental furniture, artwork and accessories too. This means you do not need to purchase these items specifically for your sale, which can be a very costly exercise (especially

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if you won’t be needing them in your new home!). And sometimes it can be confusing too – not knowing exactly which pieces to buy and how to arrange them perfectly for sale.

So if you don’t have the time to invest in this preparation, and would prefer a complete ‘done-for-you’ service, then employing a professional stylist is a great option for you. But remember, like all professions, not all stylists are equal!

To choose the right stylist, look for: 1. Marketing knowledge: You want to work with a stylist who understands the marketing principles behind the process (not just a ‘cushion fluffer’!).

2. Professionalism: Do you feel comfortable working with this person? Do they return phone calls promptly, arrive on time and are they committed to getting the best result for you and your home?

3. A credible portfolio: There is no official accreditation for a home stager (unlike an interior designer), so make sure that you check out their previous work. Look for variety of styles which demonstrates that they understand styling for a specific target buyer (ie. not all homes look the same) and the quality of their work is excellent.

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Finally, I want to congratulate you for investing in yourself – the fact that you have read this book and are taking the right actions to achieve a premium sales result, puts you in an elite group of sellers. You now have the knowledge you need to ensure you don’t leave money on the table.

It means you are committed to taking control of the sale process and are part of that top 5% who are on the cutting edge of real estate marketing.

You are positioned to really influence the recommended retail price of your property. Faster sale and higher price. Which is a great place to be.

Here’s to your selling success…

Deb Lindner

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