Staging Tips for Selling Your Condo

There's never enough storage!

Storage is perhaps one of the biggest issues with condo living.  There just isn’t enough of it.

That, and daily living, brings clutter – from food packaging to clothes to outdoor boots and shoes, to paperwork.

There’s just lots of that – and we need it for daily living.  However, in most condo’s there’s just not enough room to store it all.

If you’ve got a storage locker in the basement of the building, you’re one of the lucky ones – but if you don’t have proper storage solutions there it usually isn’t big enough.

When you are living in your condo you find clever hacks for clutter…. but when you are selling lack of storage becomes a big issue.

If your condo looks full it will signal to buyer that it’s too small and won’t fit their needs.

De-clutter

If it’s too cluttered prospective buyers will be distracted by the individual items (and their volume) and will miss that great countertop in the kitchen or the wonderful view of the lake or downtown.  It’s worth remembering that your condo is likely not the only one they will see that day when out viewing so you want to make the showing one worth remembering.  You can do this by highlighting the feature that made you buy it in the first place.  What was that?  How can you make this a memorable feature?  If you can’t be there anything else, you can highlight.  Sometimes being the most organized or cleanest makes it memorable.

If you’re not able to sell/donate/throw out items I do recommend renting a storage locker off-site – even if it’s only for a few months.  It’s usually not that expensive.  Besides, once you start paying for extra space you start evaluating whether you really want to pay to store and then pay to move these items.

The cost of renting storage space is far lower than accepting a lower sale price for your suite. 

Don’t let clutter affect the selling price of your home!

One great way to reduce the look of clutter is by purchasing a number of similar storage boxes.  The trick is to ensure that they are all the same size or at least the same colour.  This makes your items look neat and tidy and easier for the eye to read.

What is she talking about you ask?  Yes, I hear you asking!

When your eye sees a collection of items – boxes in this case – if they all look the same, they register as one.  If they are all different it registers as many – they are more visually distracting which a buyer will see as clutter.

Tidy your space, keeping similar items together then “package (sort and organize)” your belongings into boxes that all look alike.

Smells

Condo buildings are often sealed quite tight, especially in winter in Canada which means cooking smells linger.  Prospective buyers can easily be put off a suite if the smell of cooking lingers.  Some spices and herbs have a tendency to linger longer. 

As a big fan of onions and garlic I know my own space often needs a spray of Febreze or a container of vinegar.  Just remove the lid while you cook to let the vinegar absorb some of the smell of cooking.  Replace the lid when finished.

Nothing says “this is not my house, and I can’t see myself living here” than a stale food smell to buyers. 

Don’t let your home’s unique smell be the reason prospective buyers don’t come back.

Clean, clean, clean!

It doesn’t matter what you are selling – it needs to sparkle!