Home Staging Article

Home Staging with Design Psychology for Real Estate Investors

What Do You Do with a Vacant Home?

After you've filled dumpsters with trash, cleaned filthy toilets (when you have a housekeeper at home), and done other chores you never thought you'd do, you deserve a BIG check. Don't let buyers, appraisers, and real estate agents tell you that you can't expect to make $50,000 in a month.

Assuming you've bought your investment house at a discount and then you turned the doghouse into a dollhouse, you need to finish your job with home staging for a top-dollar sale. I'm not suggesting you rent furniture or hire expensive home staging services.

However, you want to make a home buyer think they can't live another day without paying you what you're asking. Also, you need the buyer's appraiser to see the added value from your work. One appraiser at a home we sold for $20,000 more than any other home in the neighborhood had ever sold for, and this was a two bedroom, remarked that he'd never been in a home that made him feel like he could move right in before. He said this as he rubbed the front door's copper-painted finish. If you're an experienced investor, you know how non-verbal appraisers are.

What made this particular house feel so good? Here are some tips from our transformation.

Water fountain next to front door on the wall made from wood scraps, broken tile, and $10 pump
Stained glass insert next to front door made with glass bevels found in junk shop
Large chandelier hanging in entry hall from ReStore (Habitat for Humanity's Thrift Store)
Lush plants in pots on either side of door (we used these again)
Huge mirror in entry from Costco
Leopard print sofa in living room, two side chairs from our home
Round wood table in dining area from Goodwill ($20) painted white
Flowers from garden on table in crystal vase
Copper colored ceramic pots filled with ferns on kitchen counter
Antique mirror in bathroom (hung like a painting--we took it with us)

To stage your vacant house, add suggestions of furnishings, while leaving a lot of vacant space for the buyers to see their personal treasures. Just a few accessories make an otherwise cold -feeling, vacant home feel like home.