Home staging tips: 6 reno-free ways to 'zhng' your house and enhance its value

For most, the property/house that they own will likely be the most valuable asset they own.

But regardless of whether you are living in a Housing and Development Board (HDB) flat, Executive Condominium (EC), private condominium or landed property — you’ll want to get the best price for your property.

In order to do so, I am sure you know that will need to make your property look as appealing to potential buyers as much as possible.

But how exactly?

Here are some of the best renovation free ways to zhng (hokkien for modify/upgrade) your property to make it stand out.

This will possibly help you sell your property faster and at a higher price.

TL;DR: Home stager: 6 reno-free ways to ‘zhng’ your house & enhance its value

1. Declutter your house so that it sparks joy for potential buyers

The first thing you should do is to declutter your property as clutter will hide the property’s plus points from prospective buyers.

By simply decluttering your property, it will make a substantial impact as it will make the house seem bigger and more attractive to potential buyers.

A house that is free of clutter will also give potential buyers confidence that the property is well maintained .

What you can do:

• Declutter your home by throwing away, recycling or give away things that do not spark joy for you.
• Do some rearranging to ensure that the furniture is appropriate for the room.
  For example in small rooms, you will want to avoid putting bulky furniture as it will make the space seem more cramped. In addition, if there is anything obstructing traffic flow, you should either move it away, change it out with something smaller or get rid of it.
• Put away countertop appliances in the kitchen and the bathroom.
  When you want to sell your property, only the bare necessities should remain on your kitchen and bathroom countertops. You should put away countertop appliances like coffeemakers, toasters etc.
• Also, remove personalised items like fridge magnets as you want to portray a blank canvas so that potential buyers will be able to visualise living in the property and personalising it according to their own taste.

2. Ensure that your house is sparkling clean

Unfortunately, most potential buyers would immediately swipe right on your messy or dirty house as it is a red flag that the property is not well maintained.

As such, you should give your property a deep and thorough cleaning before you list it on the market.

What you can do:

• Get rid of mould, mildew, calcium or limescale deposits around the house.
• Refresh tile grout and caulking as it will make your kitchen or bathrooms look newer.
• Clean up greasy hoods and stove tops and remove visible stains.
• Get rid of any weird smells.
• Change toilet covers and wash your curtains.
• Wipe down any surfaces.
• Scrub the floors to ensure that it is clean and spotless.
• Make the beds.
• Clean the dust from the windows.
• Put away things like pet or children’s toys that are lying around.
• Abd more.

ALSO READ: 10 essential home-hunting tips that will help in a hot property market

3. Put on a fresh coat of paint for the house

Another thing to consider would be to repaint the house.

As taste is very subjective, it is unlikely that potential buyers would like your purple bedroom.

Instead, you should look to repainting your house with warm neutral colours like:

These warm neutral colours open up spaces. Don’t forget to paint the ceiling as well!

Also, avoid completely white walls as it makes the place look too sterile.

4. Carry out repairs for unsightly problems

The next thing you should do is carry out repairs for your property where there is noticeable wear and tear.

Things like leaky faucets, creaky doors and windows, condition of the flooring will give potential buyers the bad impression that your property is not well maintained.

What you can do:

• Repair faulty door hinges/locks.
• Cover up peeling paint (possible moisture build-up there).
• Fix air conditioner leaks.
• Fix seepage around the windows.
• Replace malfunctioning electrical outlets or light fixtures.
• Clean up corroded circuit breaker contacts.
• Fix leaking kitchen or bathroom pipes.
• Fix poor water flow from taps.
• Ensure that the toilet tank doesn’t fill up completely upon flushing.
• Fix windows that won’t open or shut properly.
• Get rid of termites, bed bugs, and other pests.

ALSO READ: 4 essential tips to get your home ready for sale in 2021

5. Ensure good lighting and ventilation

The next thing to do would be to upgrade the existing light bulbs on your property.

Generally, light bulbs with a colour temperature that ranges from 3000 Kelvin (K) to 3500 K are ideal for most rooms as they are bright, slightly warm and display your property’s colours in the best light (pun intended).

Not to mention that your property will look more consistent in the listing photos as well.

When buying these bulbs, ignore the names given by manufacturers (e.g. cool white/bright white) and look at the kelvin number instead.

The next thing you need to look at is how bright the bulbs are.

Looking at wattage only tells one half of the story as it only tells you how much electricity the bulb consumes and little about how bright it is.

With the newer LED bulbs that consume a lot less energy, you cannot reliably use wattage to determine how bright a bulb is.

Instead, you should be looking at the lumens rating which is a measure of brightness.

Generally, you should be getting the brightest bulbs you can safely get. Anything above 800 lumens is good.

But for safety reasons, you should check out your light fixture’s recommended wattage or and ensure that you do not get a light bulb that exceeds the recommended wattage.

Pro-tip: When shopping for new light bulbs, be sure to bring your old bulbs with you and take a few photos of your old light fixture with your phone to ensure that you are buying the right one.

In addition, you should open up all the windows to ensure good ventilation as you would want to avoid your property smelling stale or even bad.

6. Take good photos of your house

The first thing that most potential buyers would look at is the pictures of your property on listings.

As there are thousands of listings on the many property websites in Singapore, it would be hard for your property to stand out.

As such, well-taken photos of your property go a long way to highlight your property’s positive features like good natural light, great views or how spacious it is.

If you don’t want to spend money hiring a professional photographer to help sell your property, you can always use your mobile phone to take the photos.

Granted the results won’t be as good. But hey, it’s free.

ALSO READ: 7 tips for a stylish home that sparks joy

Here’s a helpful video to watch.

This article was first published in Seedly.