When someone is looking to purchase a home, they’re doing just that – purchasing a home; A place they will live in and be comfortable for a long time.

When you are staging a home, you want to aim for a “homey” feel. You want the person to come in and say “I can see myself living here.”

Arguably the most important room to stage for an open house is the bedroom. Knowing how to stage a bedroom is an art form. 

Here are our top 8 best bedroom staging ideas.

1. No Clutter

Absolutely no clutter… anywhere. 

Of course, your home’s new buyers will accumulate clutter as we all do. But in the idea of the home they are picturing in their head, they won’t have any clutter. Make this picture-perfect dream closer to reality and remove all or most of the clutter in the bedrooms.

Take a couple of boxes and fill them with your trinkets and random things, tape them up and write “Christmas Decor” on them and stick them in the attic. 

Clean, simple, and minimal decorations will work best for staging a bedroom. Keeping some character in the room, but removing the excess that distracts from the room itself. 

Store your excess decor in disguised boxes where you keep your seasonal decorations. While you are in that area you can clean that up a bit to show the guests at your open house that there is a lot of storage space in this home.

2. Simple Furniture

While bedroom staging, choose simple modern furniture. Clean lines, matching dressers, and a statement headboard. A headboard is a must-have, even if it’s just for looks!

Check out these DIY headboard ideas if you don’t already have a headboard. Adding a headboard to your guest room will also add some wow-factor to your home. 

Having at least one dresser, if not two, in every bedroom is ideal. Nightstands on each side of the beds if possible, and a stool, bench, or chair if there is room. 

3. Area Rug

The flooring in your house is extremely important when selling your home. No one wants to buy a home with old, dirty, or outdated flooring.

Bedrooms traditionally have wall-to-wall carpet, although more and more buyers are looking for hardwood floors. 

Disguise your wall-to-wall carpets with a strategically placed area rug to give the allusion of a larger room and also make the room look more put together. 

Be sure that the area rug you choose is a very different texture and color than the existing carpet. This solid shag rug will add a cozy feeling to your toes in the morning while also looking modern and home-like to your buyers. 

4. Perfectly Made Bed

For the ultimate cozy and homey feel, make sure your bed is perfectly made and magazine-worthy.

Add faux luxury on a budget with this All-Season Comforter. Choose a size up from your existing bed for an oversized cloud-like look and feel. Pair it with a pop of color in throw pillows and a throw blanket. 

Two to four regular-sized pillows, and up to four additional throw pillows to complete the look. Never exceed 8 pillows for any bed size. If you have more than 8, toss a few on the guest bed while your house is showing as to not distract the prospective buyers. 

5. Clean Closets

The people who are viewing your house are going to look everywhere, and I mean everywhere. Closet space is extremely important when purchasing a home.

Clean out your closet and organize it to the best of your abilities. This will make your closet seem bigger and show the buyers how much it can hold. 

Consider packing away some of your lesser-used clothing items to make some extra space in your closet while staging for the open house.  

6. Add Plants

The bedroom is an area that people don’t always think to add plants to, but it can be the most important room to improve the air quality. Adding greenery to any room can instantly brighten it up and freshen the air. 

Botanical accents are a great way to add pops of color and earthy scents. If you aren’t great at keeping plants alive, grab some fresh flowers at a local florist and place them on the dresser, all the benefits of a plant but less work.

7. Natural Light

Draw the curtains and open the blinds, natural light is the best lighting there is! No matter the room, an opened curtain will sell a house better than a closed one.

You can use a sheer curtain with another curtain on top that is drawn to the side if privacy is a concern. 

Install floor-to-ceiling curtains to make the windows appear larger and add the illusion of more height to the room. This is a great trick interior designers use to make the homes they style look more elegant and luxurious. 

8. Hide Wires

Exposed wires are not only distracting, but they can also be dangerous, especially if someone is wandering your home and doesn’t know the cord is there. Purchase some neutral-colored cord covers and hide any cords that are traveling throughout your bedrooms. 

Any way that you hide wires, make sure that it isn’t a fire hazard. There are heatproof boxes that you can place under the bed to hide power strips in a safe and effective way.

You can also simply remove the wires during the open house or showings and place the wires in a drawer or box for safekeeping until the showing is over.

Staging a Master Bedroom

The master bedroom is the owner’s retreat, especially if they have kids. Make sure the master bedroom is peaceful. White, cream, grey, and blue are the best colors for master bedroom staging.

Keep in mind that neutral colors for walls and pops of colors in accents are the best way to go when staging or decorating a home. This way the look of the room can be easily changed if desired by the new homeowners. 

Kids Bedroom Staging Ideas

Kid’s rooms are hard to stage, especially when there is a child currently living in the room! Follow the same bedroom staging tips above to stage your kid’s room but with a few more things in mind.

Let the buyers see that a child lives here, this room can hold all their toys, clothes, and their piles of stuffed animals. Ideally, your child’s room would look so perfect that the buyer could imagine their current or future child living in that room.

Keep the walls a neutral color with the personality of the room coming from the decorations, bedding, and toys. Your 5-year-old girly girl might love the bright pink walls, but not every child will be a fan of that.

If you don’t have kids, you could always borrow some nursery furniture and stage one of your additional rooms as a nursery. For young couples looking to settle down and start a family, this could be a huge factor in choosing your home.

Guest Bedroom Staging Ideas

Feel free to make your guest room be a home office with a futon or pull-out couch. A lot of people are working from home now, and having a home office is a huge bonus. A hybrid guest room and office are better than no office space at all!

Make sure that the furniture all fit in the room nicely, if they don’t it could make the room feel too small. If you have to choose between a guest room and an office for staging purposes, we suggest going with an office if you already have two bedrooms staged. 

Need Furniture?

If you need to add some furniture to sell your house, consider borrowing furniture from a friend or family member. Local thrift stores or Habitat Restores will have used furniture for reasonable prices.

Rent couches, TVs, or dressers to dress up certain rooms of your house for the open house. Remember that you are not only selling your house, but you are also selling a home, and you should try to make it as homey as possible for your prospective buyers. 

Don’t Stage – Sell Your House For Cash

Staging is a lot of work, can get expensive, and can be time-consuming. Skip all the hassle and get a cash offer for your home within 24 hours.

Check your home’s value on iBuyer.com. We are here to make this process easy and less stressful than selling your house the old-fashioned way. Save yourself the headache and let us help.

The post 8 Bedroom Staging Ideas to Help You Sell Quick appeared first on iBuyer Blog.

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The outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic sent the U.S. housing market into overdrive, with historically low interest rates, low inventory, and sky-high prices. It also left many Americans wondering if they would be better suited in a different home or a different location as people spent more time at home during the lockdowns and time of social distancing.

If you’ve been thinking about moving on from your current property, you might find yourself wondering: should I sell or rent my house?

There are some serious pros and cons to both options, and the answer ultimately depends on the property, your financial situation, and your personal circumstances.

Let’s take a look at what you need to know to help you decide whether renting out your home or selling it is the best option.

Pros of Renting Out Your Home

Renting out your home presents a number of appealing benefits. Let’s take a look at some of the reasons that might compel you to rent rather than sell your home.

Positive Cash Flow and Income

If you are seriously considering renting out your house, you should analyze the realistic rental value of your home. There are a number of tools online for the specific purpose.

Your location and the nature of the property are major factors that influence the rental value of your home. You should determine what annual cash yield would be necessary in order to make it worth the trouble and potential risks.

Some people make being a landlord their full-time job. With enough rental properties with enough cash flow, rental income can eventually start to look like a decent yearly salary. However, with more properties comes a lot more responsibility, a lot more tenants to screen, and a lot more time and energy.

Lets You Wait Out a Bad Market

If you think your house will appreciate over time but it’s not the best time to sell now, renting lets you wait for the market to turn up. This means you can have the mortgage covered and even make some cash flow until the market is more favorable.

Build Equity

The longer you hold your house, the more equity you have when you go to sell it. Renting is a way to build equity while having the mortgage covered by your tenants.

If the amount of rental income you make is more than the financing cost and expenses of the property, it means that the mortgage is being paid by the tenant’s rental payment. Every month that the property is rented out, the principal balance on the loan is lowered.

This is one of the reasons that people find the idea of renting out their home so appealing, as they are able to build equity without even having to cover the mortgage or the cost of interest themselves.

Gives You More Options

Another more qualitative consideration regarding the decision between selling or renting out your home is that the renting route can leave you with more options. For example, if you are unsure of whether or not you want to eventually move back to the property, keeping the house as a rental leaves this option open.

Some people choose to go the route of renting their home out as a short-term rental. This is appealing to some homeowners because it means that they have a lot more flexibility in how they use the home. Maybe you want to spend the school year at your property but you travel during the summer, and renting your home as a short-term rental can make this possible.

That being said, not all homes are suited to being short-term rentals. On top of that, renting to short-term tenants and using services such as Airbnb can create their own nest of headaches. Even though there are some benefits to having short-term tenants over long-term tenants, that doesn’t mean it’s inherently less risky to rent your home out this way.

The location of your property will help you determine whether it’s even worth considering renting it as a short-term rental. You’ll want to take a serious look at the local market and consider whether it is a vacation area, college town, large metropolis, or another type of location where there are frequent short-term visitors.

Use of Low-Cost Leverage

There are three ways that you financially can benefit from renting out your home. The first is income, the second is building equity, and the third is the availability of low-cost leverage.

Unlike other asset classes, real estate has very easy access to debt financing. For years, mortgage rates have been historically low. You enhance your equity returns when you use a lower cost of capital financing.

When you keep your house as a rental, you are basically having another party pay the low-cost leverage for you while the principal amortization works for you over time.

Cons of Renting Out Your Home

Renting out your home isn’t all sunshine and roses. There are some very real downsides to keeping your house as a rental rather than selling, so let’s take a look at what some of those are.

Could Interfere With Your Ability to Qualify For a Mortgage Elsewhere

It could end up limiting your ability to get a mortgage somewhere else if you choose to rent out your home. Whether or not this is an issue for you depends on your personal financial situation.

If you apply for a new mortgage, they will evaluate your assets and income flexibility and run a credit report to determine your risk as a borrower.

You can most likely be approved for a second mortgage if you have 3 to 6 months’ worth of reserves saved up. You can also tell your new mortgage provider about the future rental income, as well as providing a letter of explanation and the lease for your rental.

Being a Landlord Can Be Annoying and Time-Consuming

This particular disadvantage of renting out your home is probably the most important thing to consider. While renting out your home can be an appealing option because of its perception as passive income, you will want to seriously think about how much work and headache it can be to be a landlord.

As a landlord, you will need to hold showings and pick tenants, set up rent collection, answer the phone at all times of the day, learn handyman skills, and much more. You can hire out some or all of this work, which can significantly cut down on the time-cost for you but not the risk of having tenants. It also cuts into your cash flow, which may or may not be a deal-breaker.

Some of the responsibilities of landlords include:

• Screening tenants
• Tenant communication
• Collecting rent
• Advertising vacancies
• Showing the property
• Executing leases and collecting deposits
• Coordinating repairs and maintenance

Screening tenants is an essential part of being a landlord. This can mean the difference between whether you have a positive or a nightmarish experience as a landlord.

You might find that one rental property isn’t too much work and that it’s worth the little work you do put into it. However, if you plan on building up your collection of rental properties, it’s important to understand that this will start requiring a substantial amount of work.

Hiring a property manager typically costs either a percentage of the rental income or a flat monthly fee.

Renting Out Your Home Is High-Risk

Not only is being a landlord a job that can be quite demanding and sometimes stressful, but it also poses high risks. You don’t have to search too far to find nightmare stories of bad tenants on the internet that lead to the financial ruin of these landlords.

Late rent and evictions can seriously reduce how much money the property brings in for you. Dealing with evictions can be costly and stressful, and the tenant might leave your property in need of serious cleaning and repair once you finally do get them out.

The wrong tenant or another unfortunate rental situation can leave a landlord financially ruined. There are things you can do to avoid and prevent this outcome, but you cannot completely escape these high risks of being a landlord.

You also are at risk for legal issues if you don’t comply with the landlord-tenant laws of your state or if your tenant gets injured on your property.

Maintenance and Repairs

If you sell your home, you never have to worry about mowing the lawn again or about that faucet that always dripped a little bit. When you rent out your home, all of its issues are still yours to deal with even though you are no longer living there.

Properties undergo normal wear and tear and damage can also be caused by tenants. There are a number of unexpected expenses that can occur that can catch you by surprise. Some examples of this type of circumstance include:

• The HVAC system breaking in the middle of summer or dead of winter
• The roof is in need of repair or replacement sooner than you expected
• The property is flooded by a burst pipe
• The tenants trash the property on their way out

In order to deal with this type of unexpected expense, you will want to set a portion of the income you make from the rentals aside each month. You will also want to be ready to coordinate with tenants, repair people, plumbers, or contractors to fix the issue, whatever it is.

(Are you wondering about selling your house as-is without making any repairs? Check out this article.)

Vacancy

Vacancy can lead to a financial burden fairly quickly. You are still responsible for the costs of maintaining the property and paying the mortgage even when no one is living there, and this can really start to cut into your ROI for the year.

Pros of Selling a Home

With property prices where they are at a national level, there’s a reasonable argument for selling your home now. Here are some of the reasons why selling your house might be the better option.

Frees Up Capital

When you sell your home, you can free up a significant amount of capital. Through both repayment of your mortgage as well as price appreciation, there’s a good chance that you have recognized some gains in your equity. When selling a home, you are making that capital liquid again so that it can be invested in other ways.

Fewer Taxes

The sale of your house is excluded from capital gains tax up to $200,000 in gains if you have lived in your home for two out of the previous five years. This can be a huge financial boon, as capital gains tax can really eat into the profits from selling a home.

Cons of Selling a Home

Selling a house can be stressful, time-consuming, and expensive. While it might be the best financial option, that doesn’t mean it isn’t a hassle.

You Might Need to Update Your Home

Almost all homes require some update before you list them for sale. On top of that, the buyer who makes an offer on your home will likely also ask for some improvement for updates. If you aren’t willing to do updates, you will likely have to reduce your expected sales price.

The Sales Process Can Be a Disaster

It’s easy to assume that your house will sell immediately. Unfortunately, this rarely happens. There are a number of things that can go wrong during the sales process, including being unwilling to make updates, having unrealistic expectations with the sale price, or having an incompetent realtor.

You Could Take a Loss

It’s possible that selling your home will only give you a minimal gain or even a loss. If you bought your house when the market was high and you live in a place where the values of homes are going down, it’s possible that you won’t recoup how much you invested in the home.

Should I Sell or Rent My House?

At the end of the day, whether or not you sell your house or rent your house has to do with your own particular circumstance. While the financial aspect of things is essential to consider, you don’t want to forget to ask yourself how you feel about it more subjectively. If you simply don’t want to deal with tenants or if you’re on the fence about one day moving back to your property, these factors are very reasonable to take into consideration.

Will the Property Produce Positive Cash Flow?

One of the first things you will want to look at when you are thinking about renting a home is the math. You’ll want to determine if the property will produce positive cash flow before you start putting up “for rent” signs.

What you need to determine is whether the property will produce a monthly profit or a loss when you factor in the rental income minus all of the expenses that are associated with the property. These include things like:

• Taxes
• Insurance
• Mortgage
• Management
• Utilities
• Repairs
• Vacancy
• HOA fees

After you run the numbers, determine whether or not the outcome is suitable for your need. If it is going to result in a loss, selling might be the better option.

What’s Your ROI?

The next question you’ll want to ask how much you would profit if you sold the house right now. This assumes that you will lose around 10% to closing costs, agencies, and other expenses associated with the sale.

If the answer is that you would make very little or nothing at all, holding onto the property might be more advantageous. You can then wait for the market to improve as time goes on.

On the other hand, if you will make a profit by selling, you will want to determine the return on investment. For example, if you could make $200,000 in profit when you sell a property but the same property would make $2000 a year in cash flow, that means you’re getting a 1% ROI. There are other types of investing that can give you a higher return, meaning that selling and reinvesting elsewhere might be the better financial option.

Is It a Good Rental Property?

Not all properties are as well suited to being rental properties as others. There are a number of things you will want to consider when choosing whether or not to rent out your home. Some of these include:

• The neighborhood: This determines your vacancy rate, rental income, and types of tenants you attract
• Property taxes: You’ll want to know how much to allocate to property taxes each year
• Amenities: Properties closer to more desirable amenities will attract more renters
• Schools: If you’re renting out a family-sized home, consider the quality of the local schools
• Natural disasters: You’ll need insurance, but you might also want additional flooding, earthquake, or natural disaster insurance depending on the location of the property
• Number of listings and vacancies: Having a rental property in a place with high vacancies is not ideal, as it can cause rents to drop and mean you’ll hold more vacancy
• Crime: Crime is a major factor in the rental income, vacancy rate, and types of tenants you attract
• Job market: Analyze the local job market and economy
• Future development: A lot of construction means that an area is growing, but new developments can also hurt the price of properties around it
• Average rents: Do your research about how much you can realistically charge for rent

Single-family dwellings can be a good first rental property for new landlords. They tend to attract families or couples that are longer-term renters.

Predicting the Future of the Market

No one really knows what’s going to happen in the rental and real estate market in the years to come, but people sure to try to guess.

On a more localized basis, you can look at the growth of your city to get a general sense. Are homes being left abandoned or are they being fixed up? Are businesses leaving the area or moving in?

There’s never any certainty what will happen, and the coronavirus pandemic was a reminder of how unexpected occurrences can alter the shape of the market drastically.

In any case, it’s worth trying to make your best-educated guess about how your property will gain or lose value over time. If it seems like your neighborhood is heading downhill, selling before prices drop might be a good idea. If your area has been improving, renting the property and holding it as prices increase makes more sense.

Do You Really Want to Be a Landlord?

You will want to be honest with yourself: do you really want to be a landlord? While some people have uneventful and profitable businesses as landlords, many others find it to be a demanding life that isn’t worth the hassle or risk. Some tenants will be an absolute dream, but others will inevitably require a significant amount of patience and time.

Is It Time to Sell Your Home?

If you’re starting to answer “Should I sell or rent my house?” with a confident “sell!” then it’s time to start thinking about the method you want to use to sell your home. While you can hire a real estate agent and list it on the open market, this process can be stressful, time-consuming, and a major headache.

Luckily, that’s not the only way. If you want to sell your house fast with the least amount of hassle possible, you might consider selling your house for cash. You can get no-obligation cash offers from trusted iBuyers right here!

The post Should I Sell or Rent My House? appeared first on iBuyer Blog.

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Quick cash offers, no commute, and digital correspondence — no wonder more and more people are turning to iBuyers to sell their property!

But if you’re new to iBuyers or are simply indecisive, choosing a service can be confusing.

What’s the difference between Knock and Offerpad? What’s more affordable — Offerpad or Opendoor? Which service will give me exactly what I need?

There’s aren’t many iBuyers that are perfect for everybody. So for prospective property sellers that want to use an iBuyer, proper research is key.

So, Knock vs. Opendoor vs. Offerpad — which service is right for you? Keep reading to find out.

Knock

Knock’s Home Swap program focusing on homeowners’ transition from the last home to the next. With the Home Swap program, homeowners can purchase a new home before selling their current one — something that they wouldn’t have been able to do without something like the Home Swap program. 

While Knock isn’t ideal for all sellers, they’re great for those who still want shelter while they’re searching for a new home. Knock is uniquely motivated to support and helps sellers transition into their new homes. This makes this program a must for anyone who’s stuck at their current home but wants to move on.

Fees/Charges

Knock charges a 1.25% convenience fee for their services, plus a $1,450 processing and underwriting fee. They also charge two commission fees: one to sell your current home, and one for when you purchase a new home. Their Home Swap program also comes with other charges, including charges for repairs.

Keep in mind that unlike other similar services, Knock will also provide financing options for sellers. These financing options include early mortgage approvals, interest-free loans, and more. While they do charge their fees, they also try to help sellers through both the buying/selling process the best they can.

These loans can cover down payments, repair fees, and future mortgage payments. While using Knock doesn’t lower the cost of the new home, it will allow sellers to pay off their debt on their own time.

Cash Offer Time

Knock doesn’t make cash offers. Their typical offerings include those loans and other financing benefits that sellers can use. But when sellers struggle to sell their home, they can accept Knock’s six-month backup offer, which is 80-85% of the home’s fair market value.

Closing Process

Knock does not pay for closing costs, although that’s not conventional practice in real estate practice anyway. No matter what avenue sellers turn to, traditional or not, they’re unlikely to work with anyone that will cover closing costs.

Qualifying Homes

Because of its business model, Knock has a keener focus on the seller as opposed to other services. Before approving sellers for their loans, sellers must complete two screening processes.

The first is a pre-qualification screening process that offers an estimate on loan size. The second is a pre-approval screening process where Knock offers the seller their loan.

Knock also looks for a certain kind of seller, such as one that wants to sell and purchase their primary home, as opposed to a vacation or temporary home. The seller must also look for a single-family home, a condo, or a townhome. They must also live in the current service area.

The service also set rules for qualifying homes. To use Knock’s services, sellers’ homes must:

• Not be located in a 55+ community
• Have no water/foundation damage
• Have recent sales data in the home’s surrounding area
• Only have permitted additions

To use Knock, sellers must expect a thorough screening process, for both the sake of the service provider and the seller. This will ensure that Knock’s innovative business model runs into no hiccups, allowing it to shine.

Available Markets

One of Knock’s biggest drawbacks is its limited market availability. They do operate in 40 cities, such as:

• Riverside, CA
• Nashville, TN
• Charlotte, NC

However, these cities are spread across 8 states, with three states containing almost half of those cities. Once Knock expands enough to spread their market more evenly, there’s a better chance for sellers nationwide to use Knock’s unique services.

Opendoor

Plenty of sellers, whether they be property developers or homeowners, are always impressed by Opendoor’s fast and convenient service. With Opendoor, sellers can operate on their own time. They also won’t have to set aside so much time preparing their homes for the market.

In a blink of an eye, sellers will realize the sheer speed of Opendoor’s services. Sellers could even receive an offer on their homes in as little as 24 hours! This speed is impressive and displays Opendoor’s modern and updated take on real estate practices.

Fees/Charges

Opendoor doesn’t have a commission fee. But they do have a 3.5-5% service fee, which is calculated from the closing price. They also do not pay for any repair or closing costs, and will charge the seller if they did during their services.

This is a far better average than the typical 6% allotted to a traditional real estate agent. Even better, selling in an open market has many advantages, one of which includes repair costs that aren’t too high.

Cash Offer Time

With Opendoor, most sellers receive cash offers for homes within 48 hours. Opendoor’s swift service is exactly what has cemented its place on the iBuyer market.

Closing Process

After about 14 days, Opendoor will close the deal. Opendoor is also coveted for its flexibility, which allows sellers to choose their own closing dates too.

Qualifying Homes

This service usually targets single-family homes, condos, townhomes, and duplexes valuing between $100,000-$600,000. For the most part, Opendoor does not deviate from this standard.

Available Markets

Opendoor offers its services to 33 cities, such as:

• Tucson, Arizona
• Los Angeles, California
• Portland, Oregon

Almost all of these 33 cities are well-populated metropolitan areas. For buyers who want a quick sale in a big city, this is good news.

Offerpad

Offerpad offers an astounding marketing pitch — the ability to close a sale in as few as 10 days. That’s one of the fastest times you’ll ever hear in the residential real estate world. While their services are pricey, some sellers find the convenience worth the price.

So for sellers that have more money than time, Offerpad’s the way to go. Selling a house can be a hassle, but with Offerpad, the sale will happen at high speed.

Fees/Charges

Offerpad’s service charges run from 6-10%. There’s also a 1-3% commission charge and other possible repair credits. Just like other services. Offerpad doesn’t pay for closing costs.

This service charge is steep, considering that traditional real estate agents typically receive around 6%. However, this service is for those who view time and the stress of waiting as a bigger issue than money.

Cash Offer Process

They said it themselves — Offerpad promises to deliver a cash offer within 24 hours of a home’s listing. While some harp on this feature’s disadvantages, namely being unable to consider potentially better offers that might’ve otherwise been offered, this option is ideal for those who don’t like the typical hassle of a property sale.

Closing Process

As mentioned before, Offerpad offers to close property deals in as little as 10 days. For some sellers, this is great. But again, for some sellers, this avoids any chance of seeing better offers.

Qualifying Homes

Like other services, this Offerpad looks for single-family homes. Specifically, they look for single-family homes that were not manufactured, pre-fab, or mobile. The homes must also have been built after 1960, value at $500,000-$600,000, and must be on less than one acre of land.

Available Markets

Offerpad buys and sells homes in 16 US cities, such as:

• Orlando, FL
• Denver, CO
• Dallas TX

Like Opendoor, Offerpad focuses on areas with dense populations. That way, they have more chance of reaching sellers and sellers have more iBuyers to consider when selling their home.

Knock vs. Opendoor vs. Offerpad — Which iBuyer Is Right for You?

iBuyers are accessible, quick, and usually cheaper to work with than real estate agents. There’s also plenty of different kinds of iBuyers for different kinds of sellers. By taking a look at the difference between Knock vs. Opendoor vs. Offerpad, sellers can understand the specific benefits they’d get from each iBuyer.

At iBuyer.com, we’re full of experts on the iBuyer market. That’s why we offer plenty of education and services for those that need an iBuyer. If that sounds like you, type your home address into our homepage to get your free home value — with us, you can get a head start with your property sale today!

The post Knock vs. Opendoor vs. Offerpad – How Do They Compare? appeared first on iBuyer Blog.

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Are you looking to sell your home?

In today’s competitive market it’s not enough to present some pretty pictures of your home. You need to sell it and give buyers a reason to choose your house over the many other similar ones on the market.

Staging your home is the best way to show off everything it has to offer and provide that reason. But if you’ve never staged a home before you might not know why you should go to the effort.

What benefits can it actually bring? Where would you even start if you did want to stage it?

Don’t worry, we’re here to help! Keep reading for our ultimate guide on how to stage a house for sale to get you started.

What Does House Staging Mean?

Staging a home is a selling tactic to add appeal to your home. It’s where you have a strategic arrangement of furnishings and decor to make your home look the best it can.

Home staging design is a fine art and takes skill and a keen eye for detail. It also takes knowledge of what appeals the most to local buyers in your area for your type of home.

How you stage your home will depend on your individual situation. In some cases, homeowners declutter and refresh their furniture and decor. For others, they move all their belongings into storage and rent decor and furniture.

Whatever method you choose, the goal is to present your home at its best. You want to draw in buyers to think about how their life would fit into your space, how it would work for them. You’re presenting a blank canvas for them to project their future on.

The selling process (and buying) is emotional. There is a lot of stress and pressure on both sides. This blank canvas lets potential buyers envision your house not as a property, but as a home.

Staging a House: What Are the Actual Benefits?

The NAR (National Associations of Realtors)’s Profile of Home Staging details the pros. They have a very strong case for why it benefits both owners and buyers.

It’s worth a read if you want to learn more, but we’ll go into an overview here. We’ll look at the specifics and statistics around home staging. We’ll also look at the role it plays in an effective, efficient sale to get you the offer you deserve.

Buyers Are More Decisive and Know What They Want

In the NAR’s home staging survey, agents state that 76% of buyers know what their ideal home is. They’ve figured this out before they even start to look for homes in a serious manner.

Home staging makes it easier for buyers to find homes that meet their expectations. It shows off the space a home has to offer in a way that maximizes its appeal.

Without home staging, it could prevent buyers from visualizing your home. To decide whether your home fits their ideals, they need to be able to imagine how your space will work for them.

Among those who responded, 47% said home staging had an effect on how they saw the homes they viewed. That’s compared to only 7% who said it had no impact at all.

The stats speak for themselves, and it puts you at an advantage. It gives you the power to put your home in a positive light for buyers. You have a chance to influence them before they step through the door.

Staging Highlights Potential For the Future Not the Present

Any interior designer will tell you that designing and living in a house is very personal. Everyone has their own unique tastes, styles, and personality. Not to mention that homes come in all shapes, sizes, and styles too.

But one of the most important home staging design tips is to not make it personal. It’s time to put buyers first, not your own personal tastes. If you want to sell, your home needs to appeal to buyers.

82% of agents acting for buyers said staging a house makes it easier for buyers to visualize the property. And 41% said that knowing a home was being staged made buyers more willing to go see homes they had seen online.

Agents will tell you that one of the major hurdles is getting buyers through the door. So, it makes sense that home staging would help in this regard.

You’re never going to please everyone or be able to predict each buyer’s exact tastes. But, you give your home a broad appeal that should invoke thought from the most buyers possible. The more you appeal to buyers’ hopes for the future, the more attractive your home will seem to them.

Staging Your Home Shows Off Its Key Spaces

Not all the rooms in your home have equal importance to buyers. So, they won’t have equal importance for staging a home. 46% of buyers said that the living room was important to them, and 43% also said the master bedroom.

Only 11% found the children’s bedroom very important, with 9% saying the same for guest bedrooms. Bathrooms came out at 20% and yard space might surprise you at 23%.

This is great news if you’re on a budget and can’t afford to stage all the rooms in your home. If you know which ones are most important to local buyers, you can make them a priority. This will give you the biggest returns for the least amount of effort (and cash).

Speaking with local agents will give you an idea of what rooms local buyers value the most. After living rooms and master bedrooms, the NAR’s survey has kitchens and dining rooms.

Great home staging will show off these areas at their best. It will also highlight any period features that you want to show off, things like:

• Original hardwood floors
• Period fireplaces
• Original plasterwork

There are a lot of period features that appeal to buyers. Home staging gives you a chance to show those off to their full potential, adding further appeal.

The Right Staging Can Increase Your Home’s Value

Another huge benefit that staging your home brings is the fact it can increase your home’s value. Around a quarter of buyers’ agents said that staging increased the price offered by 1-5%.

Sellers’ agents said the same, with 23% mirroring these findings. And 18% said it actually increased the offering prices by 6-10%! No sellers agents reported a negative effect from home staging on the offering price.

As such, there could be a lot to gain by staging your home. It’s worth talking to an agent about how staging could boost your home’s appeal. It’s a lot of effort, and while you won’t lose anything make sure your agent thinks the returns are there.

For example, for homes with unique features or decor, it could be a huge selling point to have your home staged.

Staging can Reduce the Time Your Home Spends on the Market

One of the worst things that can happen when you’re selling your home is it becomes a stale listing. This is a home that’s been on the market for a long period of time and hasn’t had any offers.

The longer a house sits on the market, the harder it’ll be to find a buyer. Anyone looking for homes will wonder why your home isn’t selling. They’ll start to think that something serious must be wrong with it.

Your goal, when selling your home, should be to get it sold in as few days as possible. The NAR survey looked at the average time homes took to sell.

22% said they saw a slight decrease in how long homes with staging took to sell. And 31% of sellers agents noticed a significant decrease in the time staged homes spent on the market.

The reason why staged homes tend to sell faster is simple, and as stated above. It comes down to one thing: staging helps buyers see themselves living in a property. They can view the potential a space might hold, and make an easier, clearer decision of if it works for them.

How Much Would It Cost to Stage a Home?

As each property is unique, the cost of staging a home tends to be too. It depends on the space you want to stage and the features you want to highlight. It also depends on the extent you want to go to when staging your home.

Some homeowners, if their home has dated decor or a very unique style, might decide to redecorate. For other homes, it might be a case of a few new statement furniture pieces. Or even only needing to consider the current layout of a room to make it work better.

One thing that’s true is if you do the research, effective staging doesn’t have to break the bank. You’re looking at $150-$600 for the initial consultation with a home stager. After that, you’re looking at $400-$700 per room for each month you need it.

It will be an investment, but if you do it right, your home shouldn’t be on the market for longer than a month. And remember, you don’t have to stage every room, you can focus on the rooms buyers care the most about. If it boosts the offer price of your home, it could even end up paying for itself.

In some cases, if you’re using an agent, they will pay for the staging of your home. This is because it will make their jobs easier. They’ll sell your home faster and for a higher price if the circumstances are right.

In other cases, you’d need to call in the help of a professional home stager. If you do this, then you’ll be the one responsible for paying the fees. For those with experience and an eye for detail, some even take on the task of staging themselves.

Staging a House: How to Do It

Regardless of if your agent stages your home, a professional or you do it yourself, you need to know how it’s done. Understanding how to get the best staging results can only give you an advantage. So, here are some top home staging tips to get the results you deserve.

De-personalize Your Home

One of the main reasons you’re staging your home is to help buyers picture their lives there. The first step to achieving this is to create as blank a canvas as possible. You might love the personal items you’ve acquired over time, but the buyers don’t need to see them.

This isn’t to mean you’re taking the personality out of your home. You still want a home that’s stylish and packed with charm. It should be a general charm though, without any of your personal touches. You shouldn’t remind the buyer it’s your home, you should remind them of how this space could be theirs.

Take down any personal photos from both the walls and any furniture or displays. This should also include items hanging on your fridge. Keep your clothes stored out of sight and clear the bathroom counters. It might be annoying, but for viewings, this should include items like toothbrushes.

While it will feel weird to live in your home without your personal items, it will pay off. It’s one of the most impactful ways to help buyers get an emotional connection with your property.

Remove Clutter

The next essential step to staging a home is cleaning, and purging the space of clutter. A clean home that’s clutter-free will appear bigger, and show off your home’s features more.

Take your clutter and knick-knacks and store them. Don’t shove them in a closet, as buyers will open those up. Use this as a chance to start packing for your own move and consider renting a storage unit.

Once you’ve decluttered, do a thorough deep clean of your home. You want your kitchen and bathroom to shine, and make sure your toilet is clean with the lid shut.

Open all the windows to let in the clean, fresh air. Avoid scented candles and air fresheners as they could irritate allergies. You won’t know if a buyer has those, so it’s not worth the risk. If there is room in your budget, it’s worth hiring a professional cleaning service.

Choose Neutral Colors

This home staging design tip is a little more involved, but it could make a huge difference. It could give you that extra edge to reduce time on the market, and improve your sale price.

We understand that everyone’s personality is different. Your home plays a big part in expressing yourself. You might love those purple walls or bright red master bedroom, but to buyers that could be a turn-off.

Bold colors can detract from your room’s features, and make spaces look smaller. It also signifies you in a very personal way, it’s your personality splashed over each wall. That’s not helpful for buyers who want to envision their future in your home.

One of the best ways to stage your home is to paint over any bright, out-there colors. Choose neutral colors instead, like grays, whites, and beiges. Use white to paint the ceilings and any woodwork for an extra fresh look.

Buyers might want to paint with their own bright colors, but a neutral canvas lets them make their choice.

Get as Much Light as Possible

Brighter, airier rooms will have more appeal than dark ones. They also look more spacious and open too. Make sure all your blinds and curtains are open, letting in as much light as possible.

Get appealing light fixtures that help to add more artificial light if you need it. You don’t want lamps that are dingy, dated, or dim.

While you should use as much natural light as you can, it’s not always possible. In those cases, it’s better to use artificial light. So, replace any fixtures that aren’t giving enough.

Consider the color of the lighting too. Whiter lights will look closer to daylight. The Kelvin rating on the box should help you work out the right bulb. Soft white bulbs rank between 2700-3000K. To mimic daylight, get as close to 5000-6500K as you can.

Do Your Repairs

When preparing to stage your home use this time to tackle those little repairs you’ve put off. This include fixes for:

• Scratches and nicks
• Holes
• Wobbly doorknobs
• Dripping taps

A good place to start is using a melamine foam eraser on the walls to remove scuff marks. As you go through each room, give it a once over. Look for other jobs that need doing and areas that could use a bit of sprucing up.

If you aren’t repainting in full, look for areas that could use a little touch-up. You’ll want to refresh chipped paint for a fresh, clean look. Most buyers look for homes they can move right into without needing major works.

A scruffy home could show you didn’t put effort into its upkeep. They might worry that the little repairs hide bigger ones, which could end up costing them in the future. Once they believe that, they could walk away and you could lose a sale.

Spruce Up Your Furniture

A general rule most staging experts agree with says you should remove about 1/2 of your furniture. This might be difficult given that you’re still living in your home but the payoff is worth it.

With less furniture, it will showcase the available space to make it look as big as possible. This will be more appealing to buyers, as they can start to think about how their furniture would fit into the room.

If your furniture isn’t showroom-worthy, or you’ve already stored it you can rent some. Nice, new, modern pieces give a fresh look and feel to a room. It makes it look like a home, without overwhelming with personality.

Stick to neutral pieces that buyers can swap out for their own furniture in their minds. You want to give a cozy, lived-in feel still, it’s a fine balance. Too bare and it’ll be hard for buyers to picture how your space will work.

Arrange Your Furniture

Once you’ve decided what furniture to use (your own pared down or rented), you need to arrange it. Position the chairs, couches, and tables away from any walls.

This is a design technique called “floating” and you anchor these pieces with the use of a rug. Do this even in carpeted rooms. It will create a cozy, intimate feel.

Buyers will imagine having friends over for dinner at the dining room table. Or they’ll think about watching the latest sports game with them in the living room.

Staged homes shouldn’t feel lifeless and empty, that’s not what they’re designed for. They’re designed to give buyers the vision and tools to see the space working as a home and how it accomplishes it.

Spruce Up Your Curb Appeal

Curb appeal is what realtors refer to when they talk about how your house looks from the outside. There’s no point staging your home to appeal to buyers if they’re not going to give it a second look from the outside.

Remember, you need to get them through the front door. So they don’t drive up, gasp, and turn around again, make sure you do the following:

• Clean the windows
• Jet-wash driveways and walkways
• Make sure the house number is visible
• Trim overgrowing hedges and trees
• Mow the lawn
• Have planters or plant some appealing flowers
• Consider a welcome mat and outdoor furniture for your porch

These little touches will go a long way when buyers first pull up to your home. You don’t get a second chance at first impressions so you need to wow them from the start.

Add the Little Touches

No home staging is complete without the little touches. Small additions go a long way to make your space feel more welcoming and cozy.

It might sound silly, but think of how nice the smell of cookies or fresh bread is. Bake some, and have a small spread for buyers to enjoy. Some light refreshments can’t hurt either.

Use items that aren’t personal, but will add a homey feel like some decorative vases, or nice artwork. If you don’t like how these items look, you can store them away when you don’t have viewings.

How to Stage a House For Sale: A Worthwhile Investment

So, there you have it! Now you’ve read this guide on how to stage a house for sale, you have all the information to make a choice.

There are benefits to staging your home if you’re going to sell using traditional methods. But staging your home will take money, time, and energy.

If you want to sell your house for its fair market value, but avoid the hassle of staging, get your instant home valuation today. Our online Home Value Estimator pulls market data to present you with the most accurate home value estimate in seconds.

The post How to Stage a House For Sale: The Ultimate Guide appeared first on iBuyer Blog.

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Selling a house by yourself is not an easy task. Between renovations, finding a real-estate agent, open houses, and all the other headaches that come with selling your home, the process can be very emotionally and physically draining.

Luckily, there are multiple platforms out there that will help you sell your home fast.

We’ll be focusing on Homelight vs. Opendoor in this article. Keep reading to find out which platform is best for selling your home!

What is an iBuyer?

Before discussing the different home selling platforms out there, let’s talk about what an iBuyer really is.

An iBuyer is a company that makes an instant offer on your home through an online platform. iBuyer platforms provide a quicker and less involved option for busy people trying to sell their homes.

While each iBuyer platform is slightly different, the main idea of all companies is to estimate the value of your home and then make an instant offer. The offer is not set in stone, though. This offer is usually contingent upon renovations.

Additionally, many of these companies charge fees to offset their agent referral fees.

If you want your home to be sold quickly and don’t mind paying a bit more for ease of use, then an iBuyer is the perfect option for you. Let’s talk about 2 of the most popular iBuyer platforms, Homelight vs. Opendoor, in more detail.

Homelight Overview

Homelight is a completely free platform that lets you find the best real estate agents in your area.

When customers submit their home information to the Homelight website, this info is matched with the top real estate agents in the area.

You can be sure that these are in fact the top agents in the area, as these agents cannot pay to be listed on the Homelight website. The agents that appear on the site get there through “better work for clients”, and all of their recommendations are based on performance data.

Homelight is very easy to use. Let’s break down the steps.

1. Identify Your Situation

Are you buying a property or selling a property? What kind of real estate are you looking to buy or sell? When are you looking to do that? These are some of the questions you will be asked at the beginning of the process.

2. Homelight Runs the Numbers

After you enter in your contact information, Homelight runs through its database of over 2 million agents to find you the right one.

3. Review Your Matches

Once Homelight finishes scanning the data, it will provide you with 3 different real estate agents that are best suited to help you. You can read the agent’s stats and even message them directly through the message box.

4. Talk to a Homelight Concierge

In addition to seeing your matches, you will also receive an email from one of Homelight’s Concierges. They will want to set up a phone call with you to go over details and clarify your search.

Once you’ve completed each of these steps, it is time to pick your match. This service is completely free, as Homelight makes it’s commission when the agent pays their referral fees.

Homelight is a great and free option for those looking to buy or sell their homes fast.

Opendoor Overview

Opendoor is an online iBuyer platform that buys and sells your home directly.
After submitting your home on Opendoor, you can expect a cash offer on your home within 24 hours. This offer is highly contingent upon renovations, though.Additionally, Opendoor’s offers are only valid after a home inspection.

Your home must be built after 1960 and have a value between $125,000 to $500,000 to qualify for Opendoor’s services.

If your home fits these guidelines and you want a quicker way to sell your home, Opendoor is a perfect solution for you.

Similarly to Homelight, you will answer a few questions about your home before you receive an offer. Here are the steps you’ll need to complete:

1. Enter Your Home Address

Opendoor only buys in specific markets, so you’ll have to enter your home address before continuing with the application.

2. Opendoor Prepares an Offer

If your home qualifies, Opendoor will then begin drafting an offer. They look at the sale prices of homes like yours and fine-tune based on your home’s specific features.

3. Review the Offer

Within 24 hours, Opendoor will provide an all-cash offer with no risk of financing fall-through. Similarly to Homelight, you will have an advisor that you can talk to about the specifics of your home.

4. Opendoor Inspects Your Home

Once you have reviewed the offer, you will schedule a date for an in-person home inspection. If any repairs are needed, they will deduct the cost of them from your offer and complete the repairs for you, no sweat.

5. Pick a Closing Date

You have full control over your selling timeline, so you don’t have to worry about overlap or moving issues.

Now that you know the details of both platforms, let’s compare them.

Homelight vs. Opendoor

While both platforms offer perks for sellers, your home may be better suited for one over the other.

If you want a more hands-off selling experience with a quick turnaround (and your house falls within these guidelines), then Opendoor is for you. While you may receive a smaller offer (after renovations and fees), you don’t have to do much of the work.

If you have more time to sell your home, don’t fit in the guidelines listed above, and/or want a larger offer on your home, then Homelight is the best option.

Selling Your House Can Be Easy

Selling a home doesn’t have to be a daunting task. When it comes to Homelight vs. Opendoor, you’re safe in either of their hands. iBuyers make the selling process easier so you can move on to the next phase of your life.

If iBuyers spark your interest and you’d like to learn more about selling your home to one, check out our website and get matched with the best iBuyer for your home!

The post Homelight vs Opendoor – How Do They Compare appeared first on iBuyer Blog.

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