So your Doctor Phillips home is on the market and looking a little rough around the edges with the kids being out of school for the summer. What do you do when you get an unexpected call from your agent saying they want to show your home in an hour? Before you panic, here are some tips to stage your house in a hurry to make sure your house will shine. Keep them handy so you may implement them quickly and train your family to leap into action when necessary!
- First, freshen up the air by opening a window in each room.
- Make your home smell inviting by lighting a scented candle or spraying a few air fresheners throughout the house.
- Grab a container, (a laundry basket works nicely) and make a quick sweep through each room for any unsightly things cluttering up space, such as shoes, toys, laundry, paperwork – tossing them in the basket and then popping the basket out of sight inside your car.
- Keep a nice new set of fluffy white towels put up especially for viewings and quickly swap them out in the bathroom.
- Keep new bedding to throw on for viewings…at least for the master bedroom. You can just throw them right over top of your usual ones!
- Create the right atmosphere to encourage the prospective buyers to linger and take their time with their viewing. Set the mood with low, relaxing music.
- Turn on your lamps and a mixture of overhead and low-level lighting to create ambiance throughout your home.
- Cut some fresh flowers from your garden and arrange in vases to give your home some color.
- If your home has a fireplace it’s obviously too hot in the summertime to have a fire lit, but a good way to present a cozy glow and show off that fireplace to fill the grate with lit church candles.
- And finally, make sure you look well-groomed by giving yourself a quick mini-makeover. After all, your image reflects what others will think of your home. Ditch the slippers and put on shoes and a clean, neat outfit.