As home owners increasingly rely on Home Staging and Decorating to sell their property, buyers need to know how to look beyond the “wow factor”. It’s easy to get swooped up in the decor and showmanship, and miss flaws or defects.
As you preview any potential property, look beyond the decor and the furnishings. Take a look at ceiling height, doors, windows… and traffic flow in an out of room. Think about the floor plan. Look at what is structural and can’t be altered easily. Changing the ‘flow’ or the basic design or the ceiling height may prove difficult. (Decorative changes are easy though… and paint is cheap!)
Glass tabletops, mirrors, bright or reflective lighting , love seats (as opposed to sofas) make a room appear larger. Bring a tape measure, and graph paper. While you really shouldn’t buy a house “for your furniture”, knowing whether a king sized bed and night tables will or won’t fit may help.
What’s fundamentally important location and ‘bones‘. Look at the neighborhood… the community. Does it have what you’re looking for? Is the general construction of the house solid? Anything ‘feel’ flimsy …poorly finished… or meant to camouflage ? Look at the bones. The cosmetic ‘stuff’ … you can change.
