8 Cheap Tips For Staging A Home On A Budget

Kyle Hiscock

Kyle Hiscock | Greater Rochester NY Real Estate | Pittsford NY Realtor at RE/MAX Realty Group

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How To Stage A Home On A Budget

8 Cheap Tips For Staging A Home On A Budget

8 Cheap Tips For Staging A Home On A Budget

Staging a home can be beneficial for home sellers, no doubt.  There are however a couple misconceptions that exist when it comes to staging that first need to be discussed.

First of all, many real estate agents will convince a seller that because they offer staging services their home will sell for more money.  Staging can expedite the sale of a home, but it’s not a magic potion that will solely lead to the sale of a home.  Unfortunately many real estate agents lie and convince a seller to hire them because they will stage their home.

Another misconception that exists when it comes to staging is that it costs a ton of money.  While staging can cost a ton of money, it doesn’t have to!  If you’re selling a home and have decided that you’re going to stage your home but don’t have a ton of money laying around, don’t worry, staging a home on a budget can be done.

In this article you’ll find out some of the best tips for staging a home on a budget.  By following these tips you can improve the chances of a quicker sale.  Understanding how to stage a home on a budget will give you a huge advantage over other home sellers in your market!

Less Is More

One of the most basic tips for those who are staging a home on a budget is to declutter.  A home that is cluttered with belongings will not show as well as a home that is organized.  When staging a home on a budget, always remember, less is more.

Decluttering a home is extremely budget friendly, in fact, it’s free other than the time spent.  It’s highly recommended as you’re staging a home on a budget that you remove as many personal belongings as possible.  This may mean cleaning off the calendar magnets on the refrigerator or taking down the family photos that are occupying your entire living room.

The primary reason to remove personal belongings when staging a home on a budget is because prospective buyers can become distracted when viewing a home by these belongings.  The less is more theory is also one of the best tips for preparing a home for showings.

There are many home sellers who believe they have decluttered their home but really haven’t.  A great way to find out if your home is truly decluttered is to ask someone who has an unbiased opinion, such as a real estate agent.

Rearrange & Utilize Existing Furniture

Just because you’re looking to stage your home doesn’t mean you need to go out and purchase brand new pieces of furniture to do so.  There are plenty of ways to rearrange and use your existing furniture when staging a home on a budget.

One basic budget friendly staging tip is to rearrange your furniture to open up traffic flow in a room and avoid making a room feel closed off.  There are far too many sellers who have large, clunky pieces of furniture filling up entire rooms which can make a room feel much smaller than it truly is.  As you’re rearranging your furniture you want to make sure you can move freely around the room and if you’re unable, remove the pieces of furniture that are preventing you from doing so.

If you have older furniture that you don’t believe is worthy of being used when staging a home on a budget, you may want to reconsider.  A great tip for staging a home on a budget is to purchase furniture coverings to make your old furniture look like new.  Furniture coverings are relatively cheap and range between $50-$100 and can provide a huge face lift to an old piece of furniture.

Use Natural Touches

Money Saving Guide - How To Stage A Home On A Budget - 8 Cheap Tips

Money Saving Guide – How To Stage A Home On A Budget – 8 Cheap Tips

Many sellers who are staging a home on a budget don’t even realize that there are some great staging pieces right in their backyard potentially.  An inexpensive staging tip is to use natural touches inside and outside your home.

For example, if you’re selling a home during the fall, you can use fall related decor to spruce up your home.  Strategically using natural items such as hay bails, pumpkins, or gourds while staging is a cheap way to show how your home can be decorated during the fall season.

Using natural touches when staging on a budget can be done anytime of the year, not just the fall.  Below are some other ideas to consider when using natural touches to stage a home.

  • Use a Christmas tree and holiday wreath when staging a home during the holidays
  • Use seashells, driftwood, and bright tropical flowers to provide a nautical theme when staging a beach home

 

 

Neutralize Rooms

Just because you may enjoy bright and bold paint colors doesn’t mean everyone will enjoy them.  One major home selling mistake that is often made by sellers is not appealing to the masses when it comes to decor.  One of the most effective budget friendly staging tips is to neutralize your homes rooms.

Paint is relatively inexpensive and it’s highly recommended when staging a home on a budget that you neutralize your rooms.  A few of the most popular neutral paint colors to use when staging a home to sell are grays, tans, white, and creams.

If you get the feeling that your room colors are boring, that is most likely a good feeling.  Using neutral colors such as grays and tans also provides an excellent opportunity to use staging pieces to accentuate particular areas in a room.

For example, a bathroom that is painted a light gray color may seem relatively boring but if you add all bright white accents such as bright white towels and a bright white shower curtain, it’ll provide a very clean and crisp appearance to your bathroom.

Improve Lighting

Whether you’re preparing your home for sale, preparing for a home inspection, or staging your home on a budget, improving your homes lighting is vital.  Improving the lighting in your home can be achieved inexpensively by simply ensuring all of your lights and fixtures are working properly.

An excellent way to test your homes lighting is to turn on all of the lights in your home while it’s dark outside and walk room to room and see if your able to see clearly in the room.  If your unable to see clearly in the room you have a couple different options to improve the lighting in your home.

The first option is to consider using brighter light bulbs in your lights or fixtures.  Make sure that when selecting the wattage for your lights or fixtures you’re not creating a fire hazard in your home by installing a light bulb that is too powerful.

Another option to consider when attempting to improve your homes lighting is to install additional lights or fixtures.  With the increasing popularity of smart home technology products, there are tons of lighting solutions that can improve your homes lighting that won’t cost a lot of money.

Clean & Deodorize

Cleaning is vital anytime you’re staging a home on a budget.  Even though cleaning doesn’t seem like a staging tip to many, it is.  Cleaning tasks such as washing windows, removing cobwebs, polishing floors, vacuuming carpets, and scrubbing appliances are all cost free but can make a huge difference when it comes time to make a first impression on a potential buyer.

Another budget friendly staging tip is to give your home the “smell test.”  Foul odors are a great way to scare away potential home buyers, which obviously is not the goal when selling a home.  Just like bringing in an unbiased third party to evaluate the clutter level in your home, it’s a great idea to ask an unbiased third party to evaluate whether there are any foul odors in your home.

If you’re selling a home with pets, you need to spend extra time and effort on deodorizing your home while staging it.  This includes making sure that all loose pet hair is removed, all floors are scrubbed or vacuumed, and furniture cushions are checked for odors.  Pet odors can kill a home sale very quickly, bottom line!

Focus On The Details

Often home sellers are too lax when it comes to focusing on the details.  While staging a home on a budget, it’s very important that you focus on even the smallest details because it can make a huge difference.

A great example of the details that you need to be focusing on while staging a home on a budget is the type of pillows that are on your furniture.  Something as simple as having attractive accent pillows can impress a potential buyer and make the difference between them writing an offer or not.

There are several other small details that you need to focus on when staging a home on a budget.  Below are some other small details to be aware of because they will make a difference.  These small details can create a more welcoming environment inside your home.

  1. Matching bath linens
  2. Matching bed set and pillow cases
  3. Adding vases of colorful flowers
  4. Displaying a book on a coffee table
  5. Displaying a cookbook on the counter

 

Don’t Forget The Curb Appeal & Exterior Of The Home

Cheap Tips For Improving Curb Appeal & Exterior Staging

Cheap Tips For Improving Curb Appeal & Exterior Staging

Staging a home on a budget doesn’t only apply to the interior of a home.  Often a buyers first impression is made before they enter a home and is based on the homes curb appeal.  A home that has overgrown bushes and weed filled flower beds typically leads to a bad first impression.

Another great budget friendly staging tip is to spruce up the curb appeal of your home.  Completing tasks such as weeding flower beds, trimming shrubs and bushes, and planting colorful flowers will improve the curb appeal of your home and increase the chances of a great first impression.

In addition to the curb appeal of your home, it’s also critical to focus on the exterior elements of your home while staging.  Staging the exterior elements of your home, such as a deck, patio, or outdoor BBQ, is a great opportunity to show a buyer the functionality of the outside of your home.  Strategically staging the exterior of a home can go a long way, especially if a prospective buyer enjoys spending time outdoors, so don’t forget the exterior while staging!

Final Thoughts

Before you spend thousands of dollars on staging your home, make sure you realize that it can be done on a budget.  Of course, if you’re selling a luxury home, spending a few thousand dollars maybe worth the investment.

The above 8 cheap tips for staging a home on a budget should provide you some great ideas.  An experienced real estate agent should also be able to provide you some budget friendly staging ideas.

Other Top Staging & Home Selling Resources


Are you thinking about selling a Rochester NY home and don’t have a ton of money to stage it?  The 8 tips above should be a great start to providing you some ideas how to stage your Rochester NY home for sale.  If you don’t have an experience real estate agent yet, contact me and I’d love to provide you additional tips for staging your home on a budget.

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About the authors: The above article “8 Cheap Tips For Staging A Home On A Budget” was provided by the Keith Hiscock Sold Team (Keith & Kyle Hiscock). With over 30 years combined experience, if you’re thinking of selling or buying, we’d love to share our knowledge and expertise.

We service the following Greater Rochester NY areas: Irondequoit, Webster, Penfield, Pittsford, Fairport, Brighton, Greece, Gates, Hilton, Brockport, Mendon, Henrietta, Perinton, Churchville, Scottsville, East Rochester, Rush, Honeoye Falls, Chili, and Victor NY.

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