Meet Expert Rose Miller – Why Home Staging Can Help Your Home Get Sold

When buyers shop for new homes, most are drawn to uncluttered spaces with neutral tones so they can see the furniture. But sellers often forget this fact when listing their homes for sale. A well-staged home sells three times faster, according to certified professional organizing specialist, Rose Miller. The award-winning founder and CEO of Rose Knows Where It Goes is renowned for home staging that yields maximum profit in minimal time on the market.

Miller is a highly sought-after public speaker and recurring guest on local and national media outlets. Her tips are not only eye-opening and life-changing, but they’re also easy and affordable to implement. Rather than taking dramatic steps, she encourages homeowners to “gently lean into editing,” starting with discarding things that no longer serve them.

Here are Rose Miller’s five tips for home staging for a quick sale.

1. Simplify Your Decor

Reducing visual clutter cuts the days your house sits on the market by up to 73%. Removing knickknacks makes homes look cleaner and visually enlarges the space. In addition, decluttering increases offer prices, often resulting in bids that exceed the asking price. Start by clearing off countertops and tabletops, so the buyer’s eye pans the room, rather than landing on individual objects. A good rule of thumb is three or fewer items on each surface. For instance, try three sofa pillows, a cluster of three accessories on your coffee table, and a toaster, coffee maker, and fresh flowers on your kitchen counter. If it still looks cluttered, simplify it further.

Once you’ve decluttered your surfaces, survey your floors. When you pile up things on the floor, it shrinks the usable space and makes the room harder to navigate. Miller suggests using your “up space” to enhance your home. Place your shoes in hanging organizers on the back of your closet door. Tuck gift wrap and odds and ends into clothing bags and hang them in a storage closet. Donate food items you’re unlikely to use and move items on your pantry floor onto a shelf.

2. Purge and Pack Before You List

Sometimes a move is sudden. But if you’re able, do some packing and purging before you take the photos to list your home for sale. You’d be surprised how many things are just taking up space and haven’t been used in years. Box up clothes that aren’t in season, garage gadgets you rarely use, and decor that doesn’t serve a purpose. Miller advises, “If it doesn’t matter, get rid of it.” Be decisive and toss or donate items that aren’t meaningful or won’t be necessary for your new home. You’ll appreciate having fewer things to unpack when you move in.

3. Depersonalize Your Space

Start by preparing yourself mentally to remove personal items. If your children’s photos have occupied your mantel for a decade, remind yourself that you’re taking beloved items with you to personalize your new home. This will make it easier to remove as many things as possible. You want buyers to envision themselves in your home, not envision you living there. Remove photos, to-do lists on the refrigerator, athletic gear, and your pet’s food bowls when possible. Trophies, awards, and certificates are also considered personal. Even colors can be too specific for some buyers, so give your teenager’s lime green bedroom a coat of beige paint.

Don’t leave dirty laundry in the laundry sink or trash in open cans. Clear dirty dishes from the kitchen sink, but don’t leave the dishwasher running, if possible, since that signals that someone else lives there. Avoid cooking anything with a strong scent right before the home tour. Resist the urge to light your favorite candle or spritz the home with your favorite scent. While it might smell welcoming to you, everyone has different tastes and allergies, so keep your home’s aroma neutral too.

You want the house to look like a home without looking lived in. So, stow personal hygiene items in the bathroom and take your iPad and reading glasses off your bedside table. If this sounds like a lot to pull off, you’re right. But the bulk of it happens in the beginning, and then you maintain what you’ve designed.

4. Enhance the Home’s Flow and Function

Life is busy. So, sometimes we step over a poorly placed ottoman for years, without thinking to move it. We squeeze past the china cabinet to get to our seats at the table without considering moving the cabinet to another wall. But when you list your home, you want to analyze the flow of it, so buyers can tour it easily. This will make the home seem more functional and inviting. And you’ll probably wonder why you didn’t do it years ago.

Enhancing flow and function doesn’t come naturally to most people, since it’s hard to envision a room in a different configuration than the one it’s in. That’s why it’s so helpful to enlist a pro like Rose Miller, who restages homes daily. She brings a fresh perspective and original ideas to make your home stand out from the rest.

5. Delegate Wisely

Moving is a monumental job that can’t be done alone. Too many homeowners try to tackle it all themselves for one of three reasons. They either want to save money, or they don’t trust someone else to do it right, or they don’t have time to wait for repairs. But delegating wisely actually saves time and money since it helps your home sell faster at a better price. You can’t assign tasks to just anyone if you want a positive outcome.

Partner with a certified professional organizing specialist like Rose Miller for a smooth, affordable process. Miller offers several helpful services like organizing, home staging, decluttering, redesign, wardrobe editing, clean-outs, relocation services, and senior downsizing. She employs sustainable tactics that are easy to maintain and also coaches clients on deciding what to discard.

Rose Knows Where It Goes is a full-service home and life organization company led by an extraordinary talent in Rose Miller. Her home staging solutions are affordable, insightful, and easy to implement. She looks at your home with a fresh set of eyes and sees what the buyer wants to see. For more tips on staging your home for a quick and lucrative sale, contact Weidel Real Estate today!