So you are considering selling your lake house. It may be scary in these tough economic times and you may need to consider staging your lake house to make your home more appealing to prospective buyers and to get the price you desire. Staging your house is the act of setting up your house in such a manner that it is appealing to potential buyers.
To be really effective, you should look at both the interior and the exterior of your lake house. Here are three tips to get you started with the exterior of your lake house:
1. Go stand on the street to see what clients see when driving up to the house. Be aware that any negative impressions they get outside the house (landscaping not maintained or non-existent, peeling paint, etc.) is just going to make them think that the house itself has not been well taken care of. So even if you have spent the time and money to fix up the interior, it would all be wasted if the clients get a bad first impression as they drive up to the house.
2. While the realtor is trying to open the lockbox to get the key, the potential buyer is evaluating the area around the front entry of the home. Does the area show that the owners have keep the home clean? Are the plants around the entry dead or overgrown? When they look in the corners will they see spider webs or hornet nests? Take the time to clean this area and make sure if reflects nicely on the rest of the lake house.
By taking the time to clean the entry, your buyers will see you have made an effort to care for the lake house. If you have furniture on your front porch, you might want to put a fresh coat of paint on them as well for that extra touch of care.
3. As your buyers enter the backyard, they will obliviously want to see the lake. Having a clean, well-maintained path to the lake with no overgrown trees or shrubbery will open up the view and allow the buyers to experience that lasting impression. You may even consider adding new picnic table or lawn furniture near the lake to allow them to sit, relax a moment and take in the view. Do you have a dock at the lake? If so, does it need some repair work?
Another tip that should not be overlooked is to think of yourself as the prospective buyer that is seeing your lakefront house for the very first time. If there are things that you would like changed, it is likely that others will feel the same way. Try to make your house look the best.
And don’t worry about spending a lot of money to get your house ready to sell you’ll recoup it when your house sells. Proper staging helps you sell your lake house in a shorter period of time and at the price you want.