The kitchen is one of the most popular rooms in the home, when selling it is important to pay special attention to this area. The beauty of staging a home for sale – it gives buyers the perception of “impeccable and perceptions sell. You don’t need to be the world’s best housekeeper when getting your kitchen ready for sale. Here are a few tips to help you ‘stage’ your kitchen for the market.
Declutter
We need to look at the kitchen like a product you are selling and make sure it’s ready for sale. We want it to be as easy as possible for the potential buyer to imagine themselves making dinner and using the kitchen, where they might keep their coffee machine and bread maker. Think of something you might sell, a car perhaps. You would make sure it was washed on the outside, shine the tires, vacuum out the interior and give the windows a clean. You wouldn’t dare sell it covered in mud, full of takeaway wrappers lying around or mud from the kid’s sports shoes on the floor and upholstery. Nor would you be very impressed if you went to view a car for sale in that state. Keep that in mind while we work on the kitchen. Here are some simple, but easily overlooked, tips to get you started.
- Remove everything from the top of the fridge. Give it a wipe down and feel free to put one decorative item back, if it complements the kitchen. Take all your fridge magnets off holding photos, kid’s art work and newspaper clippings.
- Remove everything off the countertops, completely. Put your small appliances away in the cupboard and out of site. Displaying a few decorative items is acceptable.
- Keep your sink area clean and tidy. Dish cloths, scrubbing brushes and dishwashing liquid can all be kept under the sink.
- People will open cupboards and draws and so see how much room and what storage options are already in place. Have things clean and tidy in there, plates all stacked nicely and food in airtight container. Pegs on packets is not a good look and will catch the attention of the perspective buyer rather than focusing on what they need to be paying attentions to. Consider rearranging things and making more room, this can make a small cupboard look larger.
- If your kitchen rubbish bin is out in the open in full view, consider putting it in the bottom or the pantry or buying one that will fit under the sink. It will not only make your kitchen look larger but also won’t give the impression you don’t have enough cupboard space in the kitchen.
Paint
Kitchens can get a hard time and walls become stained with splattered food or small knocks to the paint from general use. A fresh coat of paint can do wonders for your kitchen and give it back a fresh feeling. Certain colours can add warmth to a kitchen with slightly less natural light and really brighten things up. The ‘in trend’ colours change every year so a visit to your local paint store will have you on the right path in no time. Some brands even provide free colour swatches including delivery, how’s that for convenient.
Make Investments
If you have a few extra dollars to invest into your kitchen, consider upgrading some of your appliances. Lighting is another key area to consider. Do you have enough lighting? Task lighting can help in those areas you need a wee bit more but overhead lights just won’t do the trick. LED lighting upgrades are worth the investment. Feature lighting can be a real point of difference, adding in some lights under the cabinets or in the pantry and even upgrading the light shade to something modern and fresh if you have one. How are the kitchen taps and faucet, free from drips? Have a look at the curtains or blinds. Are they rip free and in good working order? If they could use upgrading keep the design or pattern’s simple.
Clean
Time for the fun part……cleaning the kitchen, the whole kitchen! It’s going to need to stay like this the whole time the house is on the market. Rather than having another big cleaning session before open homes or arranged viewings, make a small effort every night after the evening meal to give it a quick once over. This will ensure it is looking immaculate all the time.
To sum things up, we want an uncluttered, clean and tidy kitchen. The trick is to make it as easy as possible for the potential buyer to imagine themselves using it every day.
Brent Palmer – Professional Real Estate Consultant
About the Author: The above article on how to Stage Your Kitchen to Sell was written and provided by Brent Palmer, a local leader in the field of Richmond and Nelson Real Estate sales, marketing, advanced technology for home selling, and social media. You can contact Brent Palmer here, or at 027 544 9921.
He has helped many people buy and sell homes in the Nelson, Stoke and Richmond areas for years, and would love the opportunity to help you as well.
Thinking of selling your home? I have a real passion for helping people sell their homes in our Nelson and Tasman Region, as well as the marketing, social media & advanced technology for home selling that goes along with it. I’d love to have the opportunity to sit down with you discuss how we can work together to get you the best price.
I help people buy and sell real estate in the following Nelson and Tasman towns & neighbourhoods: Wakefield, Brightwater, Hope, Appleby, Redwood Valley, Mapua, Stoke, Tahunanui, Atawhai and of course, Richmond and Nelson City. Connect with Brent on Facebook and pretty much everywhere else.
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