It’s nothing personal: styling your home for sale

As difficult as it may be, depersonalising your property to attract homebuyers can be key in attracting a better price – even if it means ditching the kitschy front door decorations, stashing away the shrine of family photos and rolling up the collectable AC/DC posters.

However, Realmark Urban Residential Sales Consultant Miles Garner reassured sellers they didn’t have to gut their homes down to four white walls and a few ornamental houseplants.

“Normally when my vendors ask me how to depersonalise their home, I advise them that they don’t have to strip their house bare of all their family photos, kids’ drawings and so on,” he said. “You still want the home to have a bit of personality

“If you are a family living there, you will want to paint the picture of a family home to potential family buyers.

“But if sellers have a photo wall that is literally just a shrine of photos, it may be best to take them down and simplify it.”

Channelling your inner Marie Kondo may also be the best way to add more than a few extra dollars to your home sale, according to Mr Garner.

“You only get one shot at first impressions, so don’t underestimate presentation,” he said. “We’ve had properties that have been tenanted and very messy, then when you empty it and put professional furniture in, it sells in a heartbeat because people will walk in and get a better feel for the home.”

As for prepping for the big day of property photography, Mr Garner recommended removing any unnecessary objects from your space – at best your beautifully staged sports memorabilia looks like noisy clutter.

“Less is more,” he said. “Things tend to stand out more in photos compared to in person.

“In person you might think a countertop looks really bland and bare, but in a photo it can come across quite nice.

“Wires and TV cables too – they don’t stand out much in person but in photos they do, so I recommend tucking them behind the TV.”

If you’ve got a bit of extra time on your hands, Ray White Lancelin Principal and Licensee Caroline Daniel recommended adding a coat of neutral-coloured paint to your home for a fresh and charming feel.

“If you can paint your home a neutral colour, it will help the selling process,” she said.

“You want potential buyers to see themselves in the property, so make sure your furniture and colour of the home is neutral so people can see the property as a liveable space.”

When it came to home opens, Ms Daniel said one of the biggest turn-offs was an overly cluttered space.

“You have to be able to work your way around a home without furniture or decor items getting in the way,” she said.

“You have to make sure potential buyers can actually see the home for what it is.

“We’re not selling your collectables, we’re selling your home. Buyers need to be able to see the space and how they could live in the home.”

Depersonalising a property goes hand in hand with home staging, according to Ms Daniel, who said upgrading your furniture and adding some modern decor could improve the overall liveability of a home.

“When the property looks dated, I recommend sprucing the home up with some new furniture,” she said. “Then again, dated can be okay if it has character.

“If the furniture is old and falling apart that is when I would recommend staging your home.

“Try to get rid of the broken furniture or conceal it in a way so people can’t see it, you want your home to be looking fresh for the next buyer.”

Ms Daniel said it could also pay to think about your home’s location and construct a look to show off the type of lifestyle on offer.

“In my area of Lancelin, 80 per cent of the homes I sell are investment properties or holiday homes,” she said.

“As it’s a coastal town, I recommend people keep up their holiday photos and fishing photos because its shows the lifestyle on offer in the area.”