One of my favorite real estate hacks has to do with the ability to magically grow the size of your house through the smoke-and-mirror use of staging. I frequently walk through a prospective seller’s home and come upon a basement playroom that was abandoned when the kids went off to college ten years ago. In older homes, there’s often a third-floor bedroom that hasn’t been occupied since before the federal government began collecting income tax. Most of the time, these neglected spaces have become catch-alls for Apple Macintosh computers, fondue pots, and unused baby clothes.
Meanwhile, I’ve had the experience of walking buyers through prospective homes with rooms nearly identical to those that I just described. “If only the basement had space for the kids to horse around in,” or “The house is perfect, however, we need a third-floor office.” Because most buyers can’t (or perhaps are unwilling to) easily visualize change, they’re not able to realize that the space that they’re looking for is available and only needs modest attention to satisfy their needs.
When working with sellers to stage their home, we’ll often suggest some fairly simple changes that can have a huge impact:
1) Remove empty boxes and other clutter from the abandoned room and get it out of the house.
2) If necessary, throw a quick coat of paint on the walls. Even if the walls aren’t pristine and paint-ready, some fresh color will go a long way toward impressing prospects. Remember, these aren’t primary living spaces. They’re smaller alcoves, tucked away for more personal and informal use.
3) Finally, stage the rooms with whatever furniture that you have lying around or can easily borrow. Place a desk with an old computer into the third-floor storage area that has now become an office. Hang something on the wall and add an old chair. Bring an old television set into the basement, throw around a few bean bag chairs, and stage a half-finished game of Monopoly on an old table.
Voila! You’ve just added several hundred square feet of additional space to your house. We’ve used this same strategy for abandoned porches. Set up an old table and chair and be sure to include this morning’s newspaper, half-read, and a partially consumed cup of coffee which you “forgot” to throw in the dishwasher before running out the door. These ideas may seem nonsensical, but I swear- they work!!