Using Storage to Help Stage Your Home for Sale or Rent
The real estate market in River Oaks is still hot. Learn how to increase your chances of selling your home quickly with staging and storage.
If you’re thinking about selling your home near River Oaks or the Galleria, you’re not alone. Real estate trends estimate that it’s possible to see more than a 6% increase in the value of homes within the next year. This hot real estate market—combined with reduced interest rates—is opening up home ownership and creating the potential for a lot of growth.
Selling your home is a lot harder than simply sticking a sale sign out in the front yard, however. There are plenty of variables to consider, including real estate agents, attractive photography, and ensuring that potential buyers can envision their new lives in your home. One thing you can do that has a big impact on not just your home’s perceived value but also the likelihood of selling quickly? Proper home staging. If you’re in the process of selling your home, there’s a pretty good chance that your realtor has already discussed staging it for sale, whether that means packing up some of your belongings, rearranging furniture, or even getting rid of some of it. The best way to help with that, of course, is to find a convenient location for temporary storage. At Advantage Storage, we’ve got you covered.
What is home staging?
Home staging is the act of preparing a house for viewings by prospective buyers. The process might look different, depending on how much stuff you have, the condition of your furniture, and whether or not you are currently living in the home. Staging can involve several steps, including:
- Replacing and/or rearranging furniture in the home
- Paring down bookshelves and decor
- Removing personal photographs and artwork
- Storing unnecessary items
Storage units play an integral part in the staging process. Even if you pack up the contents of a room, for example, you simply can’t leave boxes stacked against walls or out in the open while trying to sell your home. With a storage unit, you get the peace of mind that your belongings are out of the way.
Using Storage to Stage Furniture
If there’s one rule when it comes to taking photographs and trying to sell your home, it’s that the appearance of bigger rooms often have a major impact on buying decisions. One of the best ways to make a room look bigger is to remove excess clutter, including furniture. If your living room contains both an oversized sofa and a couple of chairs, it might make sense to remove the chairs from the room.
Sometimes, a real estate agent and their staging company might suggest replacing your existing furniture entirely. If that’s the case, you’ll need to find a new home for your existing pieces. A medium-sized storage unit is the perfect solution.
If you’re storing furniture, be sure to follow the best practices for furniture storage. A climate-controlled unit may be required, especially if the furniture is wooden and the weather outside is hot and muggy. Climate-controlled storage keeps temperature and humidity regulated and protects these items from damage due to warping.
Removing Photographs for Staging Purposes
In addition to creating the illusion (or the reality) of more space in your home, staging involves removing elements from the home that could interfere with buyers seeing themselves living there. One item that tends to get pulled down pretty quickly? Personal photographs. While it may not make sense to remove all photos from a home, the idea is to allow the potential buyer to see themselves there. That includes their own art and photos.
Cutting Down Clutter in Closets and Bookshelves
Depending on your moving time frame, you probably don’t plan on watching many movies or wearing clothing that’s out of season. Get a jump start on packing (and effectively stage your closets and bookshelves for sale) by putting away those items you don’t immediately need. For bookshelves and entertainment rooms, this means packing up some—though not all—of your books. You’ll want to keep enough items on a shelf for appropriate, inviting photos. Consider packing items that you know you won’t use any time soon. That includes any knick-knacks or questionable decorations.
When it comes to closets, cutting down on clutter is even more important. Given that closet real estate is often top of mind for potential buyers, ensuring that your closet looks sizable enough for their belongings is key. Pack away anything that you won’t wear within the next few weeks (or even months). Given that peak home-buying seasons can fall during the spring and summer months, leaving a bulky winter parka hanging up in the closet probably isn’t a good idea.
As we’ve seen with furniture and photos, climate-controlled storage may be your best bet for keeping your clothing, DVDs, and books in the best shape possible. While drive-up units give you the ease of quick loading and unloading, you should store items in an interior unit when you can.
Clearing out Kitchen Appliances
Even if we all assume that kitchens are going to be one of the most-used rooms in any home, there’s still an expectation during the home selling process that it doesn’t look used. To that end, clear out those countertops and stow, stash, or store any major items or small electric appliance that isn’t used every single day.
Your toaster and coffee pot can probably stay, but you should consider finding a new home for your Crockpot or pressure cooker. In addition, don’t forget to clear off the refrigerator. While it might be disappointing to temporarily remove your kids’ artistic achievements, the whole idea is to present a clean, functional kitchen with minimal distractions.
Storage as a First Step to Great Home Staging
The number one rule of home staging is to find a space for all the items you’re moving, and the best place to put it all just happens to be a storage unit. At Advantage Storage, we know just how to help. In addition to storage units, moving and packing supplies, and the carts and dollies you need to get your items loaded into a unit, our facilities feature plenty of other great features. The friendly team at our River Oaks area facilities can even help point you in the right direction when it comes to finding a moving company.
If you have questions about how much storage you need or even how to get your items here, reach out to us. To get started with storage, visit our facility or use our contactless rental and reservation options to choose your storage unit today!