My wife and I are preparing to sell our house, and we have several questions. We are lucky in that we have the ability to purchase our new home first. This allows us to clean up our current home before trying to sell it. However, we have several questions that we would like to ask before we list our home.

1: We plan to stage our home, but we will use our current furniture. Do we need to have every room staged? Or are we ok with staging our main rooms only, leaving other rooms empty?

2: Our two girls rooms are brightly painted, one pink, one purple. Should we leave these rooms as is, or is it worth the expense to re-paint them a neutral color?

3: We've made nearly every update possible to our 60's era ranch home. However, our main floor bathroom has not been touched since a 1980's renovation. It was expanded at that time, but it has a large whirlpool tub, and no shower. Would it be worth the expense to renovate that bathroom? Or should we leave as is?

Thank you for any responses!

Welcome to our Forum . . . . I'm originally from Wisconsin too !

I think that Bedroom Painting is a good idea (and fairly inexpensive and non-disruptive, seeing as you'll be moved out anyway); but major alterations of the Bathroom, when you'd have to be clairvoyant regarding the taste buds of the future Buyer(s) is always a gamble, and not wise.

Leaving a few items of furniture in the Living Room or Den, or a table and chairs in the Dining Room may be helpful in allowing a prospect to sit for a minute and envision becoming the occupant of that dwelling. I don't think rooms like the bedrooms require beds to accomplish that mission.

Keeping the exterior in good condition and the grounds maintained and inviting will do much more to get people inside than what you do inside to keep them there.

Ditto to what Vermont says. Some fresh neutral paint, a little bit of strategically placed furniture and lots of curb appeal.

Thank you both for your responses. Your help is greatly appreciated!

The first thing you need to do in staging your home is to de-clutter. Remove, store, or throw away unnecessary items. Don't overwhelm potential buyers with a lot of your stuff. Yes you don't have to stage every room but it's better to prepare the other rooms as well. What if your buyer wants to see every room? It's better to be ready. Leaving the room empty is okay for it can give idea to the buyer of what they can do with the room just make sure that it's clean. Fresh Neutral paint is ideal for it brings out a clean slate feeling. You don't have to renovate much just stage it properly. Redecorate the rooms and repair damages. It'll be more effective and definitely cost less.

Welcome to the forum, Scott! My late-inlaws were from Wisconsin. I've enjoyed many visits there over the years.

Only thing I can add is in regards to the bathroom you were talking about: if the lighting hasn't been updated, I'd buy something currently in style for lighting. If there's an exhaust fan or heater, make sure they function quietly. Also, any bright brass fixtures (from faucets to cabinet hardware to the shower curtain rod) should be replaced as bright brass is currently out of style. I have had buyers walk out of a house because the towel bar and the shower rod in the main bathroom were bright brass - never mind the amount of updating that had been accomplished in the rest of the house.

Otherwise, you've gotten some really good advice above! Good luck selling your house!

First thing you have to do that is remove useless items from all of the rooms.I think all rooms must have some furniture like bean bag,some chairs,not fully furnished but have some of the.The colour of girls rooms is good and leave as is.No need to renovate the bathrooms, just clear all of the bathrooms..Good luck for selling the apartment.

Excuse me...my fixtures are brass. My lights are brass. I love brass! If you've been watching Love It or List It, they are starting to use brass again.

Brass, glass and mahogany - my favorites.

Yes, paint the girl's room neutral as the next buyer may have boys. And I agree with barb43 as to new lights in the bath, anything inexpensive to freshen it up...and send me your brass.

Heh, VABroker, I like brass too . . . but I'm not seeing many buyers in this area who like it these days. *shrugs*

(a lot of my tastes are stuck in the 80s; and buyers don't seem to like any of that stuff LOL)

It will be better if you remove all bright paint and re-paint it in natural color.

Most of the time a buyer try guess the outlook of your house. Keep your house smart and pretty.

Repainting the house makes a big change

Finding out about these things after the house goes under contract is never a good idea. A good agent will be able to consult with their sellers about ways to identify these types of issues early so that a potential buyer never becomes aware of them.

Make selling price affordable if you want to sell fast.

Well, fresh paint is more eye appealing.

Sure, so long as the colors are in fashion and the paint job isn't the 'homeowner special'. You know what I mean: wall paint on the trim and roller marks on the ceiling and poor, single-coat coverage on the walls, and ...