Keeping a strict home staging timeline is crucial to maximize the value of the money that is invested in any property enhancement effort. Creating a timeline of necessary tasks is also a fantastic way to stay organized, efficient and calm during the staging process. Each step involved in the staging plan should be completed at a certain point in the home sale process, for best results. Remember that staging must be performed properly in order to reap all the potential benefits.
This article will help detail the exact chronology for ideal home staging.
Planning a Home Staging Timeline
The first aspect to consider is how to get the home ready to be staged:
It is crucial to declutter the home and remove as many of your personal possessions as possible. I usually recommend packing up seasonal items and anything which is not crucial to everyday life. Put these items in storage and you will already be well on your way to a successful move, once the property is sold.
Next, depersonalize any taste-specific colors or other off-putting features inherent to the home. Repaint all surfaces in a neutral palate and perform any minor interior and exterior repairs which need to be completed.
Make sure that all the appliances work and that the home is clean prior to decorating and staging.
All of these things should be done before even contacting a real estate agent or listing the property on the competitive market.
Completing Your Home Staging Timeline
Next, you must actually stage the home. You can choose to use a home staging service to do all the work for you or you can use the DIY staging approach. Just remember that if you do it yourself, you may want to consider splurging for a home staging consultant, since this will bring expert design elements into the mix.
Once the basic staging design is in place and the home looks fantastic, then you can formally list the property for sale. Do not list the home ahead of the staging being completed to perfection. This will lower the asking price and certainly not serve to get you the most profit from the sale. Instead, hire your listing agent to show the home when it is in showroom condition and ready to receive prospective buyers.
Home Staging Timeline Notations
Remember that once the staging is complete, it must be maintained until the home is sold. This may take days or months, depending on many individual factors of the present real estate market.
I advise most clients to schedule twice daily clean-ups just to be sure that the home is always ready to receive visitors. Additionally, a once weekly professional cleaning is a great idea, especially if potential buyers come to see the home in bad weather and may dirty the premises while taking a look around.
Usually, some simple maintenance will be all that is needed to keep a properly-staged home looking perfect. Make sure to invest this time to protect the monetary expenditure you already committed to the staging job.