Staging on a budget: Selling your home while pinching pennies

Spring is generally a time when the real estate market picks up on P.E.I. But before you sell your home, you need to get it looking its best.

Often people can't afford to pay a home stager or do expensive remodelling.

Mainstreet P.E.I. frugal columnist Liz MacKay offers some frugal tips for staging your home, based on advice she received from Kyle Kickham from Exit Realty and Kellie Houston of Provincial Realty.

Fix the little things

The first thing you want to do is just walk through your house and look at everything and see what needs to be repaired, MacKay says.

"Check every light to see if it goes on and off, if the bulbs all work. Look at everything," she said.

"The doorknobs, are they working or do they break off? Does your door squeak? Do your windows open and close?"

People are coming through and they're going to check all of those things, so you might as well too.

Make sure your doorbell works. It might be the first thing they touch.

Improve the curb appeal

People will judge a book by its cover, so why not a house?

"If it doesn't speak to you when you go buying, you're going to keep driving right or clicking," MacKay said.

That means weeding the garden, mowing the lawn and keeping the yard free of sticks, toys and other debris.

"Employ the local children to come do it if you don't want to do it yourself," MacKay said.

Move some plants outside if not too cold.

Oh, and if you see any dog droppings, scoop them up.

Go with neutral colours on walls

You might really like that fuchsia wall, but a potential buyer might see it as a make-work project. So you might as well take that thought out of their heads.

"A lot of people want to walk in and not have to do anything and so neutral colours give them that background to be able to accentuate what they want to have done," MacKay said.

Freshen up the trim, too, if you see the paint chipping anywhere.

Clean and tidy up

Wipe the handprints off the doors and windows. Scrub the floors as if someone with white socks is walking through.

If your door is looking a little dingy maybe put a coat of paint on it.

"Are the bookshelves cleaned up? Are there dust bunnies behind the TV? Get all of those things cleaned up," MacKay said.

Tidy up, as well. If there are a bunch of shoes by the entrance, put them away.

Make sure your closets are organized, people will be peeking inside.

The basement and garage won't be off limits either, so make sure they can access the furnace and hot water heater if they want to see it.

Don't just look at it through someone else's eyes, smell it through their nose.

Does your garbage stink? Take it out.

And remember, some people might have sensitivities to certain cleaning products.

This exercise might take some tough love, so if you think your home is already clean and tidy, MacKay suggests finding that friend who always speaks the truth and getting them to look around.

Take the pets out

Dogs, cats, lizards, pot-bellied pigs — no matter your pet, you don't want them sniffing around potential buyers.

You might think they're cute, but others might not.

"There could be allergies or they could not be friendly towards people," MacKay said.

Also, make sure their food dishes are clean and their litter boxes are fresh.

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