Using my house number lessons from my mother, I counted and
assumed the right address. Well it turns out I had been given the wrong house
number and ended up at the wrong home and had a nice conversation with the home
staging client’s neighbor. After a call to
the client and text to the Realtor, I arrived at the home, slightly frazzled
from my house number adventure. Then it dawned on me why I didn’t set
appointments for staging evaluations in the evening – I can’t see anything!
I advise my home staging clients all the time
to make sure the home shows as well in the evening as the day - but from my
evening debacle, it hit home why it’s so important that I offer up these tips.
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Encourage Evening Exterior Coveting: Remember the HGTV commercial where the couple
drives through their favorite “move-up” neighborhood slightly voyeuristically,
coveting their favorite home - and the homeowner spots them looking? The wife slips down into the seat and the
husband hits the gas? Well, you want
that to happen to you. Don’t forget that
your home needs to be marketed in the evening as well as the day. Evaluate your exterior lighting, making sure that
in the evening hours your home glows. Add
some landscape lighting, or improve on what you already have. You must have large house numbers, in
great condition and can clearly be seen from the street. If your numbers are on a mailbox, they have great
solar kits to light up your box or illuminate the numbers.
Show Them the Door:
Invite your potential buyers to your front door with a clear walkway
with proper lighting. If your door is
not front facing or they could have an option of two doors, direct them to the
proper stoop. The one house on the
street that seemed scary had a side entrance. No front facing house numbers to
identify it, and the only lighting was interior, peeking out from behind the
blinds. If the home had only guided
people to where the front door was, some up lights in their landscape, a friendly street lamp or two flagging their driveway and its stoop well lit, it would not have looked like a few serial killers dwelled within.
An Inviting Stoop:
Make sure your entrance has lighting, is inviting and most importantly, a working door bell! The wrong house was well lit, seemed inviting
- but the doorbell was a cracked stump. They instead, had one of those
bell/knocker contraptions inside the screen door. Not wanting to open the
screen door to get to the knocker, I just knocked. And of course the result was
a homeowner who quizzically looked at me and asked “Can I help you?” because I
was at the wrong address.
Light it Right:
The final tip is making sure the interior of the home is well lit. From foyer to back patio lighting, when
showing your home in the evening, make sure the lights are on. Consider getting a host of timers and having
them set to switch on at dusk. Lighting creates mood and ambiance, allows
visitors to see your homes’ best qualities and gives the spaces its best
opportunity to be showcased. Get those under cabinet lights on, hit the switch
on the China
cabinet to create a bit of dining room mood and no one wants to move room
to room only to enter into a dark space.
Make the showing easy and friendly by pre-lighting every space.
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