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It’s time to take out the personal

Certified home stager and redesign expert Joanne Motta says a secret to getting a house to sell is to create the look and feel of a hotel throughout the home.

“The perspective buyers coming through really want to envision themselves having a great life there,” said Motta, the owner of midtown-based Align Staging and Design. “They don’t want to see a full basket of laundry and all of the drudgery of daily life.”

She recommends cleaning and depersonalizing rooms by getting rid of items such as family photos from the walls and shelves.

“Go through, removing anything that would be distracting, so that the person can solely envision themselves in the house rather than trying to imagine themselves in the house with your things,” she said. “Really, just taking that personal piece out.”

De-cluttering includes clearing items like coffee makers, microwaves and toasters from visible counters and storage areas to reveal more free space.

Once rooms have a streamlined look, it’s time for repairs, she said. Depending on the size of the available budget, these renovations can range from minor repairs such as changing handles on kitchen cabinets or door handles throughout the house to major upgrades like knocking down a wall to create a larger common area.

“Lighting fixtures can be $100–200 and can change the entire look of a room for relatively small costs,” she said.

She also suggests putting out new quality linens in bedrooms and sticking to a colour scheme or theme for accessories like pillows, throw blankets and window coverings. Making sure the house smells nice is also important before viewings, and can be achieved with scented candles, non-pungent air fresheners or air-purifying machines.

For Motta, staging homes is about trying to highlight the features of any given room, whether it’s the light, the windows, the size or the design.

“You want to have bidding wars,” she said. “You want to have people coming based on how the photos look that your real estate agent puts out, so if there’s anything you can do, try and help make that happen.”

BEFORE Master bedroom government 2014-08
BEFORE…
AFTER Master bedroom government 2014-08
AND AFTER: Shots by Lori Howard of Hope Designs reveals how staging can change the look of a bedroom.

Lori Howard, the owner and principal of North Toronto-based Hope Designs, believes a properly staged home can increase the list price of a house.

“Buyers will tend to pay much more for a house that’s move-in ready than they will for a house that requires a lot of upkeep,” said Howard, whose firm focuses on interior decorating and home staging. “In other words, the more the seller can do to prep their house, the better they will do on the real estate market.”

She said sellers should be prepared to paint the house, replace carpets for hardwood floors, fix cracks, leaks and any areas with water damage, change out light fixtures and re-caulk the washroom.

“When you are selling, the big thing right now is how the home looks in photos, because the MLS listings become the biggest draw for people,” she said. “In the GTA the average list price is well over $800,000, so if you are trying to get that price your house needs to be presented in the best light, and often that means prepping the house.”

Howard says clean and organized homes give potential buyers the impression that the house has been well maintained, and updating paint colours from bold choices to more neutral tones can make a house have wider curb appeal.

“People are very judgmental if they see bright purple walls… that’s a turn off for people because all they see is work,” she said. “Take the house from being quite dated, update it and make it much more current.”

Since homes usually reflect the homeowners’ styles and personal belongings, Howard believes it’s important to stage and prepare a house going on the market.

“The biggest mistake is thinking your house is great,” she said. “It probably is absolutely amazing for you to live in but there’s a huge difference between how you live in your home and how you present your home to sell it.”