A new article from The New York Times offers advice to home sellers on the best ways to prepare a bathroom for showings.
“Every room is important to stage,” said Elaine Clayman, an associate real estate broker at Brown Harris Stevens in Manhattan, but a bathroom is extremely important because that’s where buyers really scrutinize the details.
Start with the basics: the ceilings and the walls. “A lot of bathroom ceilings are peeling,” Ms. Clayman said. “Even if it was just a matter of humidity, it will cost the seller a lot of money because people will always assume it’s a leak.”
So it’s well worth the effort to repair and repaint any area that’s peeling to give it a clean, smooth surface.
Another problem Ms. Clayman frequently sees in bathrooms is mismatched light bulbs above the vanity.
“A lot of bathrooms have that row of bulbs that has a Hollywood look,” she said, and as burned-out bulbs are gradually replaced with whatever a homeowner happens to have on hand, the fixture ends up with an assortment of clear and frosted bulbs in different sizes.
“All of those bulbs should be taken out and replaced so that they’re the same size and same color,” she said.
