The seller spends lots of money on staging the home but when it comes to the garage he says, "Who cares about an old garage." One of the biggest mistakes a seller can make is to forget about the garage. Just as you would pay special attention to the yard and curb appeal, you must care about the looks of the garage.
As a listing agent, I want the entire home in tip top shape. Home staging is not stacking boxes on the ceiling and carpets over oil slicks. It is making the garage look as good as the home and very spacious. When a prospective client walks into the garage from a door off the home, he must feel as happy with the garage as he does the home.
1. Clean and Tidy:
All boxes should be transferred to a storage shed or a rental storage somewhere. Ladders should be folded and hung on the walls along with major tools such as chain saws and shears to cut the shrubs with. There should be some sort of incense hanging in the garage, to give it a wonderful smell and all bad odors eliminated, before anyone shows the home. The garage must be freshly painted as it is a possible room of the house. All holes need to be patched and any cracks sealed.
Nothing worse than walking into a home and seeing many cracks everywhere. The first thing a prospective buyer thinks, is that this is not earthquake safe. A garage should be open and clean but organized. Making a home feel tidy and welcoming.
2. Make it look Spacious and Open:
There should be hanging peg boards for all tools. The tool bench must be painted red as that is the color all buyers expect. There should be a few tricycles on the floor next to the door, as to make the garage and the home look like someone lives there.
3. Make it homey looking and welcoming:
Curtains must be hung on the windows and the curtains should be real home looking and not formal looking.
4. Make it look as though someone lives here:
A empty garage is not garage staging. Giving the impression that no one has ever lived in the home is not a selling point. Try to imagine if you are walking into the garage before seeing the home, how would you feel? Would you be interested in seeing the rest of the home? As anything, this should be a showplace and something that draws the buyer in.
5. Arrange the garage for the garage lover:
How can you make a garage welcoming? A work bench with peg boards and a large step stool next to the work bench. A tall tool box, red of course and some pictures hanging of the Grand Canyon and places that people might long to see. Huge metal shelving with all cans of nuts and screws divided and all winter items, such as sleds on shelves.
Many do not spend enough money on the total presentation, such as having a working garage door opener. If the garage door is old and squeaky, try to replace the opener. The cost is only a few hundred dollars and can make the difference in a low ball figure.
Things for garage staging:
1. Fresh coat of paint and all cracks and holes fixed.
2. Peg hole shelving
3. All boxes removed
4. All ladders and large items hung out of the way
5. Home looking curtains on the window
6. Pictures of pleasant looking areas
7. Tidy and clean and all oil spots removed
8. Fresh smelling room deodorizer or incense
9. A few personal items to make the home lived in
10. All the above applies.
Selling your home for the top price is the goal of any agent and only with the cooperation of the sellers and tenants can this be accomplished. Help your agent, help you.
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