Staging Your Home: Tips for Downsizing Seniors

Staging Your Home: Tips for Downsizing Seniors

Preparing to move into an apartment or senior living community after years of homeownership is an exciting time — it’s a new chapter in your life filled with untold adventures. Of course, in order to start on your new journey, you’ll need to sell your home, and you want it to look its best so it will sell quickly. That’s where home staging comes in.

Home staging is the practice of arranging and decorating your home so all of its best features shine, and potential homebuyers can better see all it has to offer them. And the best part is it doesn’t have to cost a fortune. Stonebridge at Montgomery has assembled a few home staging tips and best practices below to help you sell your home and get to the retirement you deserve faster.

How to Stage a House to Sell Faster

1. Clear out the clutter. The first step of the downsizing process is to remove excess clutter from your home. Not only will this help you prepare for your new life in a smaller space, but a neat and tidy house is much more appealing to potential buyers.
2. Focus on the important rooms. All rooms are not created equal when it comes to home buying. The most important aspects of the house tend to be the living room, kitchen and master bedroom. If you need to purchase any new décor to spruce up your living spaces, focusing on the most important areas will help keep your budget in check, too.
3. Don’t make it personal. Any potential buyers walking through the home want to be able to envision themselves in the space. Of course, that can be difficult when someone else’s personal items are all over. Keep family photos, clothing and personal items out of sight as much as possible.
4. Keep things neutral. You may have to budget a little extra, but doing something simple such as painting your walls a neutral color may affect how long your house sits on the market. Choose palettes like light grays, warm taupes and whites rather than bright or overly dark color schemes.
5. Address any repairs. Take a little extra time to fix any trouble spots in your house. Homebuyers can be distracted by any noticeable mishaps and miss all of the potential that you know is there. Use a foam eraser on wall marks, re-caulk the bathtub and power wash the excess grime off of the side of the house and patios. It’s the little things that will really make your home shine.
6. Don’t forget curb appeal. When you’re focusing on staging the inside of the home, it can be easy to forget the outside; but that’s your first chance to make an impression! A few simple maintenance tasks such as cleaning the gutters, mowing the lawn and adding the appropriate seasonal décor to the front door can make a big impact on possible buyers.

Come Home to Stonebridge at Montgomery

To help make your move easier, Stonebridge at Montgomery offers our Move Ahead program. We’ll be with you every step of the way, so you never have to worry — this includes home staging, packing and moving, hosting an estate sale and more. Then, when you’re ready to call Stonebridge at Montgomery “home,” we have an array of apartment and cottage floor plans that you can customize to your own tastes. And, our relaxing amenities mean you can find welcoming comfort in every aspect of our community.

To learn more about the steps you should take to make a home at Stonebridge at Montgomery, contact us today.