Does Styling Boost Your Sale Price?

To style or not to style your home when selling, is a question we are often asked. We all have opinions, but we put this to a panel of leading real estate agents to find out if it really does make a difference. Learn what styling means, if it does really pay to style your home, what the benefits are and where you can get expert advice to make the most of your property.

Does it pay to style your home?When, Why and How to Style Your Home

Styling your home to look its best will boost final sales price between 7.5-12.5 per cent, according to a survey of the top agents in the LJ Hooker Network in Australia.

The surveyed agents were strikingly unanimous in their opinion of how much styling can impact the sales price. The agents surveyed represent the best real estate knowledge available in Australia, and consist of 23 members of LJ Hooker’s elite Innovation Team.

What Does Styling Mean?Styling means to decorate and organize your home and garden to look its best on inspection days.

It takes a bit of work and time to get it your property looking its best. Vendors can style their own property, but LJ Hooker agents agree it is far better to consult an expert who has decorating experience and knows what is the most persuasive for buyers.

Not everyone can afford to pay for an expert to come to their home and that is why LJ Hooker has created an in-depth guide to styling your property when selling. The guide is full of tips, tricks and strategies that you can use to make a memorable first impression on potential buyers. To find out more click here.

Our surveyed agents believe it is much more important to remove smells than to install new fixtures and lights, according to top agents surveyed.

The Top Benefits of Home Styling

Selling a home is never an easy task. Let’s be honest – it takes a bit of work and a lot of patience! But according to our panel of leading real estate agents taking time to style your home to sell will make a big difference to how many buyers you attract, how quickly you sell your property and the price you achieve.

When Does it Make Sense to Style a Property?

It goes without saying that it’s important to style when the property is empty, messy, dirty, crowded or poorly decorated. However to make the most money out of ANY property it is important to spend time styling it – from making a good first impression, to clearing the clutter, to depersonalizing rooms so potential buyer can imagine themselves living in your home….the list goes on.

Ways to Prepare the Outside of Your Home to Sell

We all know the importance of good herb appeal. It draws people in off the street and can make your home a bright star in your neighborhood. But what about when you live in a flashy area, or are struggling to get traction during the sale process, even with what you think is herb appeal maxed out to the limit?

Not everyone can find instant success with the standard moves for improving a home’s herb appeal, so here we have compiled some more unorthodox methods that might get people talking about, coming to see and laying bids on your home for sale.

Water blast

Without spending too much money, hiring a water blaster is a great way to clean concrete areas of the front of your home. Sealing and hosing is well and good, but if you’ve been living there for quite a while, grime can build up a great deal.

A water blaster will brighten a grimy driveway significantly more than a regular hosing, by blasting away layers of grime. Just remember to check the safety manual before you turn it on . Then have a go, and watch your driveway gleam.

A paint refresh

If you want a quick fix to grab attention, a brand new paint job won’t go astray. But think outside the box with the color you use, and maybe target only one area of the home. For example, the door, or wooden blinds, or even the post or frame for your letterbox. Something to grab the eye, but not enough to dominate the view of your home.

Sometimes the wandering eye of a home buyer just needs a little push in the right direction, and adding a tiny touch of bright red can do just that. From there, the eye can wander to the rest of your beautifully laid out property facade and – who knows? – maybe even all the way to a sale!

Color Creations to Attract More Buyers

The garden is one place you can have fun with color but rather than introduce lots of different colors into a small garden bed, try sticking to one shade, perhaps using varying tones. You can add instant color with pots of whatever is in flower from the nursery.

Neat and Trim

Just like inside your house, your garden should be neat, tidy and clear of clutter. Weed your garden and keep the lawn trimmed when opening you home for inspection. Consider your plants – remove dead plants and replace with new specimens, but make sure they suit the conditions in your garden: you don’t want them to die before you sell.

Styling your Garden

You can give your garden a simple makeover before you sell by adding defining borders to your flower beds and adding a focal point. Timber borders are popular, or you can outline your beds with small shrubs or grasses. Add a few larger plants as focal points but keep them in proportion to the size of your garden. Home buyers in Olive Branch

Creating a Courtyard

Many houses today, particularly in the inner city, don’t have large gardens. Often there is only a small courtyard so it is important to maximize this space. The first step may be to create a focal point like a water feature, statue or urn. This should be placed at the furthest point from the entrance so your buyers vision is drawn a distance, giving a sense of space.

You can also give an illusion of space by paving the entire area with large pavers (500x500mm) to make the ground look wider and less busy. Don’t use any dark colors in your courtyard structures as these reduce the perception of space.

Trim and Slim the Trees

It’s a strenuous job, but those loose tree branches can be hazardous, especially with kids running around in the summer. Any low-hanging branches or parts that are blocking sunlight you want on your home should be cut back, but check with neighbors and local councils if they reach over a fence – you may need to get a permit!