Flipping Real Estate 101: How to Stage a Home to Sell

Home staging is one of the most effective tools for house flippers, which is why you should learn all the important tips on how to do it right.

When flipping real estate, one technique that people use is home staging. Home staging involves furnishing, organizing, and decorating property so that you can showcase it in an open house. You can either do it yourself or hire a professional to do it for you.

Should you decide to go through the entire home staging process alone, you should learn a few effective home staging tips. The main point of staging a home is to infuse some life and energy into it rather than showcasing an empty house.

Potential buyers who attend an open house usually have an idea of the type of house they want to live in and a price tag they are willing to pay. Their final decision will most likely be influenced by their emotions.

Remember that the faster you sell a house the more profit you make. So, home staging could be a strategic way of selling your house fast.

When Should You Stage Your Property?

As a rule of thumb, you should only stage a house that is pricier and in a nice neighborhood. You should not stage cheap homes.

We now do stage homes in the under $200,000 range, but as a general rule, you should probably do staging on pricier homes first, then branch out to the less expensive ones.

Home Staging 101 for House Flippers

1. Accentuate Strengths

Appearance is everything when it comes to staging a home. Your main focus should be to accentuate the best features of the house while trying as much as possible to hide the bad ones.

For instance, you can make your buyers imagine what they could do with an outside space such as a garden, deck or patio. Help them imagine how they could use that space by setting up a table and a fine set of chairs.

Some might visualize this space as the perfect place to host a barbecue or a great place to relax while looking up at the stars.

2. Arrange the Furniture

How you arrange the furniture can make a space look congested or spacious enough. Many buyers looking to buy a house subconsciously or consciously consider space.

One way that you can make the furniture work in your favor is by arranging it in such a way that potential buyers can see how they can use a particular room with family or guests. One way you can do this is by arranging the furniture into cornered conversational arrangements.

If you are selling a house with smaller rooms, consider pushing the furniture against the wall to create the impression of a larger space. If the house has larger rooms, consider setting up the furniture in the middle of the room to create the impression of a room that is spacious yet cozy enough for people to talk.

Another tip for properly arranging furniture is to ensure that it doesn’t create a maze that will make it difficult for buyers to maneuver around.

The last thing you want is to have your potential buyers tripping over wrongly placed end tables or having to squeeze in between large sofas. It’s better to create a fluid walking space by arranging your furniture in such a way that people will know which way traffic is supposed to move.

3. Accessorize

Accessories always give a room extra warmth and comfort. You don’t have to spend a lot of money on accessories. For instance, a fruit bowl on the kitchen counter can make a big difference. Just like the other two tips, the idea here is to make the potential buyers’ imagination run wild just thinking of what they could do with the space.

For instance, you can help them picture a room as a home office by adding a nice chair, a work desk, some files, and anything else that can make the room look like a home office. The main focus is to help them figure out what they can do with a room instead of just presenting them with an empty lifeless room.

Do you have tips to add to this list? Do you think staging is important to maximize profits and sell quickly when it comes to fix and flip properties?

Leave your comments below!

Note By BiggerPockets: These are opinions written by the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions of BiggerPockets.