Monday, December 5, 2011

Child-Friendly Staging Tips for Realtors

If you are a realtor with a home for sale, you need to think about who the most logical buyers are going to be. This will help you when you go to stage the home, which will ultimately help you sell it faster. Staging is one of the keys to being a successful realtor, and it is a career how-to that you need to learn from the start. If the potential buyers will likely have children either with them for a tour or living in the home, you need to think of some child-friendly staging ideas that can make the home presentable for everyone. Here are some tips that may help you make a quick sale.

1 – Child-Friendly Does Not Mean Toy-Filled

Do not assume you have to have tons of toys cluttering the house to make it seem child-friendly. In the end, you still have to make the home look as clean and inviting as possible. You can set out a few toys in select rooms of the home, but you need to keep this to a minimum. That way if someone comes in that does not have children, you can still have an easy way to explain the features in the space.

2 – Backyard Play Sets

A play set in the back yard can make the home seem more conducive to children. You should still have a well manicured lawn and proper landscaping all around, but there is no reason why you cannot have a small swing set if your yard is large enough. This does not mean that the whole yard needs to look like a school playground. Keep the additions tasteful but still suggestive of children.

3 – Setup a Kid's Room

Since every room in the house will need to have a theme, one of the rooms could be designated as a kid's room. You could put bunk beds in there or have a twin bed that would suit a child, and then you could hang a few pieces of art that may be seen in a child's room. You need to still keep the walls a neutral colour in case someone without kids wants to move in, but you can put fun bedding and furniture in the room that is more likely to suit children than it would suit adults.

4 – Soften the Floors

Beautiful hardwood floors are great in any home, but they may be trouble for a family with small children. If you need to install new floors anyway, you may think about putting carpet down to make the home a little warmer and better suited for a running child. You do not have to replace your floors if you don't want to, but you need to keep these ideas in mind. Place large area rugs in the rooms to provide a sense of softness for worried parents, and then you can keep your hardwood floors for other buyers. Rugs can cover up problems in the floor anyway, so you may have to use one regardless of the situation. Think about what you would want your child to run on and you should be just fine when planning for your buyers.

5 – Plan Your Sales Pitch

When you finally have the home staged, you need to come up with a sales pitch that is going to reel the buyers into purchasing the home. If the people bring the kids along with them for the walk around, address the kids just as much as you do the adults. If you can get the whole family on board, you will have a better chance at selling the home. Plan like an elementary school teacher and a real estate agent at the same time. Then you'll have a perfectly staged home that you can make a quick, family sale on.

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