Home staging is important in all levels of residential real estate sales, but as we often tell our clients, the higher the listing price, the higher buyer expectations. At any price range, the goal should be to draw attention to your home’s strengths, downplay its weaknesses, and appeal to the greatest possible pool of prospective buyers. In our case, that would be clients looking for a luxury home in the top end of real estate market.

Most of our sellers have their homes well prepared for buyers to view, but there are always some finishing touches to prepare for a house auction. This may mean bringing in extra furnishings or removing a piece of over-the-top art or other accessory. clients, the higher the listing price, the higher buyer expectations. At any price range, the goal should be to draw attention to your home’s strengths, downplay its weaknesses, and appeal to the greatest possible pool of prospective buyers. In our case, that would be clients looking for a luxury home in the top end of real estate market.

While we work with sellers to sell their luxury homes through our special luxury house auction process, these 10 steps for luxury home staging apply to most luxury real estate properties on the market.

10 must haves in preparation for a luxury house auction

1. Get rid of the clutter: No buyer wants to come into a home and see old magazines or family photos. Yes, they are cute, but not what a new buyer ‘pictures’ in their home. Make sure all of the counter tops are clear, especially the kitchen and bathrooms.2. Furnishings that fit the house: Custom furniture is great, but furnishings that an older couple likes may not be suitable for a buyer with young kids. Find furniture that is safe for kids and appeals to all buyers. Then, organize it in a way to utilize the space, enable traffic flow, and make every room feel as big as possible.3. Light it up: Along with the furniture arrangement, lighting up a luxury home is important to staging. Open all the windows, and increase the wattage in the light bulbs. More light makes the house look and feel bigger.4. Neutral colors: When updating carpets, painting, or adding new furniture, make sure to utilize neutral or white colors. Even though it may seem a little boring, you don’t want to scare off a potential buyer with a bright red living room accent wall. Plus, color will distract from the detail of the home itself.5. Make it bigger: Do what you can to make each room feel bigger. Buyers will want to move around while previewing, and a spacious, open feel will make them more comfortable and apt to roam.6. Good smells: Sometimes buyers won’t even consider putting a bid in at an auction if the previous owner was a smoker. So make sure and rid the house of that and other bad smells. Flowers are great for bringing good smells into the home, and they will also add life and happiness to the room!7. Outside is the new Inside: Especially in areas where the climate allows, showcase your outside areas. This means cutting the lawn, trimming the shears, and planting annuals at least. At most, add some outdoor furniture or maybe an outdoor cooking area to show buyers how the outdoor spaces can be utilized.8. Make it move-in ready: Especially with our clientele and other luxury homebuyers, they want to picture the home as it would be when they move in. So, update the paint, carpets, and any other issues that are not new and move-in ready.9. Food and drinks: While this may not be necessary in staging every luxury home, we like to offer refreshments for all of our visitors. Food and drinks give people something to socialize around and can help break the ice between you and a potential buyer.10. Entertain me: At some of our bigger open houses and house auctions we add live music into the mix. Music is sometimes a bit much for a standard open house or showing, but there are simpler ways to entertain. Throw a virtual tour on the television set, or show an album of some high definition pictures. These can give buyers a summary after they have toured the house.

Need help with luxury home staging or interested in selling your luxury house through our auction process? Click below for the Ultimate Guide to Selling Your Luxury Home.

Guest Blogger and Auction Day Coordinator extroidinaire Daniele Smith: Daniele has been involved in the staging and planning of over 100 luxury home auctions with Concierge Auctions. She has always been a big fan of auctions. In addition to her duties at Concierge Auctions, she loves to attend charity auctions whenever they come up and loves to give back to her Southern California community.