Why Interior Design Is Essential When Listing Your Home

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The decision to list your home for resale is a big one. No doubt it came about after much thought, weighing pros and cons, and series of long discussions. However, once you decide to put your home on the market, get ready for the next big discussion: interior design.

Many times sellers assume that interior design is a waste. If you are look to get as much money as possible out of your home, why would you put money back into it just to make look prettier for the new owners?

While this line of thinking seems reasonable at first, listing a home without at least tweaking the interior design can seriously harm your chances of finding a buyer and lower your final profit. Read on to find out why interior design is essential when listing your home.

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Interior Design Generates Traffic

The first step toward putting any home up for sale is marketing it. When potential buyers look for a home, they are sent listings via email. Each property listing includes a short bio of the home, figures about how many bedrooms/bathrooms/square feet, etc, and some photos. Based on this information, the buyers decide which homes they would like to see. If you feel reluctant in doing the design yourself here are 10 reasons why you should hire an interior designer to help you.

Since buyers often look at multiple listings at once, it’s critical that you make your property stand out in the crowd – and that’s where interior design comes into play.

There are often lots of homes with similar in terms of square footage and number of bedrooms, so the choice to view one home over another comes down to the photos. Given the choice of two like properties, would choose the one that has newer appliances and a cohesive design or the one that looks like it hasn’t been updated in over a decade?

At the end of the day, interior design helps bring traffic to your property. The greater the number of people that view your home, the more likely it is that someone will submit an offer to purchase. Why not use interior design to give you that extra edge? 

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Interior Design Defines Purpose

After all the years spent living in your home, you undoubtedly have a pretty solid idea of how to use the space. For instance, you may know that your kitchen table will comfortably seat four, but for anything bigger you need to use the dining room. Or, that your spare bedroom is the perfect spot for a home office.

Potential buyers want you to share that knowledge. When they look at a home during a showing, they are looking for visual clues on how to use the space most effectively. If they aren’t clues, that confusion can cause them to look toward another property. Use interior design to make sure they get a clear picture.

When working on your interior design for resale. Make sure to give every room a specific purpose. Leave only the furniture, appliances, and accessories needed to communicate that purpose in the room and get rid of any clutter.

Interior Design Adds a Fresh Approach

Yes, since your home has been previously owned, potential buyers should walk in expecting to see a certain amount of wear and tear. If they are opposed to that, they should be looking exclusively at new construction. That said, taking the time to spruce things up may generate more offers. You can avoid making common decorating mistakes with these tips.

Think about if you were to buy a used car. Before you drive it off the lot, you’d expect the dealership to have washed and buffed the exterior, vacuumed out the inside, and even taken the time to spray some of that infamous “new car smell”. And, rightly so. You wouldn’t want to purchase a car that was full of someone else’s food crumbs and muddy footprints, would you?

Revamping the interior design in your home works in much the same way. Though you are still leaving the bones of the house intact, a new coat of paint or some fresh carpeting will leave the home feeling fresh and new, which will leave buyers feeling better about the final product they’ll receive for the (considerably large) amount of money they’re about to spend. That comfort level could generate more offers.

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Interior Design Adds Value

There’s no dying that selling a house is about money. As a seller, it’s only natural that you would want the biggest return possible on your home’s resale. Believe it or not, putting some money into interior design now can help you get a bigger purchase price later.

When a real estate agent determines the correct list price for your home, he or she looks at the features that your home has to offer and then compares those features to similar homes that are currently on the market or have been sold recently. Some of these features include: location, square footage, and interior design.

There’s nothing you can do to improve the first two factors. If your lot is near a major road it will always sell for less than a similar property in a quiet neighborhood. Same for a property with tiny rooms compared to a home with spacious ones. But, the interior design is well within your control.

Factors such as kitchen upgrades, bathroom remodels, and whether or not you have a finished basement are taken into account when deciding to list one property higher than another. They are also a consideration when the buyers decide how much to offer. Sloppy design is more likely to generate a low-ball offer than one where pulled together interior lends credence to value

The right interior design investment now may pay off big later.

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Designers Share Their Tips:

If you’ve been convinced about the importance of interior design, but aren’t sure where to start, these designers share their favorite tips:

• Allison Havil Todd: “Visit model homes.  A lot of careful planning goes into the interior design of a model home.  The builder wants his home to appeal to a wide range of prospective buyers.  By visiting some models in your area you can get a better feel for what is current in today’s market.“
• Tamara Mack: “When keeping resale value in mind, stay neutral.“
• Pablo Solomon: “Homeowners are more savvy about looking for quality in construction, materials and appliances. They are less dazzled by McMansions and more impressed by quality, location and value.”
• Constantine Vasilios: “Buyers age 35 and younger prefer clean interiors with modern Scandinavian-inspired décor, while Baby Boomers prefer comfortable settings with detailed accessories”
• Mary Ellen McKee-Curtis: “Don’t forget to eliminate bad odors – smoke, mildew, liter boxes”

It’s easy to understand why the debate on whether to refresh your interior design for resale can be a fierce one. While it may seem silly to invest money into a property that you intend to sell, the benefits far outweigh the initial payout. With an increase of traffic, buyer appeal, and value, it’s easy to see why interior design is essential when listing your home. Use this as a springboard to help you get started.

What’s your favorite interior design tip? We’d love to know what helps influence your home.