While Calgary is one of the sunniest cities in the country, winter still has a habit of making everything look a little dreary. When it comes to selling your home, you want to ensure the property looks its absolute best. If you are hoping to sell during the winter, we want to give you some great tips to help your home put its best foot forward. Home staging in Calgary provides potential buyers with a positive experience to remember; here is some of our best advice to get your home ready for sale in the winter months.
Curb appeal matters.
Home staging in Calgary means maintaining your curb appeal! While it might be more painless to tend to your home during the seasons with good weather, it’s just as important to concentrate on it during the winter. If it’s recently snowed, make sure you shovel and salt (if necessary) your walks and driveway; buyers will be over-the-moon to see a well-maintained home right from the beginning. With the colder months sometimes being gloomy and grey, it can make your home look, well, blah. Use the winter season to add some life to your front porch; after all, this is one of the first things buyers will see! Simple things like adding a wreath to your front door or swapping out the dirty doormat with a new one will make a big difference. Remember to tend to the less-than-fun things, like cleaning your gutters, checking your roof shingles, etc.
Channel your inner Marie Kondo.
Do you know that area of your home with piles of winter jackets, boots, and other winter gear? Yeah, we all have it, especially if you have little ones. Boots and snow gear can take up a lot of space around the front door, which is typical for a lived-in home, but buyers don’t need to see a cluster of puffy winter jackets or wet boots. Staging your Calgary home for sale is all about getting minimal and getting organized. If you are still living in your home while it’s listed, try to streamline all of your winter gear into one closet or closed-off area of the house. Put away clutter when buyers come in and out for viewings, and certainly put away clutter for listing photos. Potential buyers value and remember the clutter-free homes that appear move-in ready. Let your beautiful house speak for itself!
Winter = cozy season!
Name a cozier season than the winter… impossible! When we think of the cold months, we think: hot chocolate; warm blankets; and comfy clothes, to name a few. These warm-fuzzy feelings are worth capitalizing on when staging your home! Add texture to your living room with a cozy rug, nice throw blankets, and pillows. In your kitchen, you can simply place a tea kettle on your stove with a comfort-food cookbook on the counter, for example. It may be cool outside, but if you give people a warm experience when they come inside your home, both figuratively and literally, they won’t forget it.
Finishing touches.
Since we’ve covered all the necessary steps to stage your Calgary home in the winter, here are a few bonus points!
- Open your curtains, pull back your blinds, and turn on your lights.
- Swap out dark curtains with a lighter shade.
- Stay away from yellow-toned bulbs and instead opt to use white-toned bulbs.
- Use rugs to add texture and colour.
- If you have a fireplace, light it up for the listing photos.
Realty Unleashed stages for free!
Realty Unleashed offers free Calgary home staging. We also offer free listing cleans, free yard maintenance, free eco-station and donation centre runs, and much more. The key to selling your home fast and for more money is to stage it before you list it. If you are considering listing your Edmonton home and are in the market for a REALTOR®, you can fill out the form below! Our team would love to help you sell your home this winter, and while you’re here, follow us on Instagram!
