Home Staging - a few pointers

I'm always searching for my next project and just this morning I saw a few photos of properties, I'll explain as I go along, but firstly will say that I don't own any of these photos, they are all images on the internet*.   

Firstly, if you have a bedroom which is a little small, an oversized teddy bear does not help.  I'm not in any way advocating misleading buyers about the room size, but a small teddy would help to add scale to the room.

At first glance, there is nothing really wrong with this picture, my problem is that it is listed as a dining room.  I'm sorry, but if it's got a front door and the stairs, and other rooms off it, it's a hall (unless it's a traditional style terrace where the front door opens straight onto the front room).  

Also, a table pushed up against a wall just screams about a lack of space, I would suggest buying or borrowing a smaller table or removing the table and replacing with a large rug for a really welcoming large hall.

I'm not saying don't put up Christmas decorations if your house is on the market, but it's February and really your agent should have been back to take new non-Christmassy pictures.  Same goes for snow.  I saw a picture on rightmove last August that had snow, it just didn't give the right impression.  Of course there are now websites which anyone can look at to see how long a house has been on the market (or most agents will tell you) but it certainly doesn't make me think, "Wow, I need to go and see this property today before anyone else snaps it up!"

Remember that you are paying your agent a lot of money and coming out a couple of times to take new photos is minimal work for them.  If your property is on the market for more than 6 months, I would strongly suggest a new set of images anyway, maybe following some rearranging or decorating, and taken from some new or different angles.  If a buyer has been looking for a long time, maybe a fresh look would make them interested.

*If one of the pictures is your house and you would like me to remove it, please get in touch and I will immediately.  I will also offer you a free consultation to see if I can assist you in styling your home to its full potential.

"Only put rubbish in a rental"

Although typically I only do property renovations to sell on immediately or style other homes, a client asked me to manage a renovation on a rental property.  Now that I'm nearing the end of the project I Have been reflecting on the differences between buy to sell and buy to let.  

The biggest thing that has really shocked me is the attitude of suppliers, even suppliers who know me and know that I will not cut corners or in any way compromise quality on a project, tried to push me into buying really low end items when they heard it was for a rental.

Now don't get me wrong, when I say quality, I don't mean I'm gold plating everything, everything is still on a budget.   Using a supermarket as an example, on a buy to sell, I tend to buy more "finest" products, on a rental I am buying mostly "own brand" and only a few items are "value".  

Having been a landlord(lady) before and seen first hand the devastation that a tenant can cause (smashed toilets, beige carpets turned black, crayoned walls and the most shocking - a broken electric shower which had been "fixed" with a knife!) so I know that there is a chance things will get damaged and not looked after as you would hope.  But it seems to me that if you only put in the very low end items, not only will then not last as long anyway, but the tenant will be far less inclined to look after them.

Not only will good quality last longer (unless the tenant is really terrible) but also the property is likely to be snapped up much more quickly between tenancies.  Say the rental is £500 a month, I'd rather spend an extra £1000 on a quality kitchen than put in the same cheap kitchen as everyone else and have the property sit unoccupied for 2 or more months.

The most shocking supplier was the flooring supplier, who was happily pricing the "normal" range for me until it came up in conversation that it was for a rental, at which point he said, "only put rubbish in a rental, you don't even want underlay".  It's a solid concrete floor, so yes, I really do think underlay would be a good idea. When I decided that none of the cheap vinyls were in any way attractive or a match for the bathroom tiles, I started looking at the more expensive (but still well within budget) range at which point I was given a severe telling off that I was "being too personal". Well, if being personal is wanting a nice looking house for a tenant and be good quality, then I am proud be be too personal!

As it happens, the house is not yet completely finished but already has a tenant signed up on a 2 year contract.  Since there are 4 other vacant rentals on the same and adjoining streets, this isn't just because it is in a nice area.  Clearly tenants are just as bored of the same old cheap kitchens as I am!

Not quite finished but here is the kitchen I put in.