Ask Our Agent with Compass Real Estate Agent Karin Diana, Founder of The Home Collective
Grab Diana’s free worksheet that lays out the pros and cons to renovating or selling your home — with numbers! Email her Karin.Diana@compass.com.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Start with decluttering: Clear out garages, basements, and other storage areas to make the home feel spacious and organized.
- Focus on high-impact updates: Fresh paint, updated light fixtures, refinished wood floors, and clean windows instantly improve a home’s look and feel.
- Prioritize screen appeal: Most buyers first see your home online, so photography and presentation are crucial to get them in the door.
- Tell a story with staging: Thoughtful furniture, lighting, plants, art, rugs, and bedding can highlight the home’s potential and appeal to buyers’ emotions.
- Budget for professional staging: Full staging for a five-bedroom home can cost $5,000–$6,000.
In this week’s Ask Our Agent, real estate agent Karin Diana breaks down how thoughtful aesthetic updates can make a home stand out to buyers. From curb appeal that wows visitors to “screen appeal” that pops in online listings, Diana shows how small changes like fresh paint, updated lighting, strategic furniture placement, and well-styled décor can transform a house into a move-in ready, polished, and highly marketable home.
DIY home updates
The first step, Diana says, is decluttering. “Start with the garage and the basement. Clear out those spaces as much as possible, then use them for storage while you edit the rest of the house.”
Next, focus on high-impact updates: fresh paint, new light fixtures in the entryway, dining, and living rooms, and refinished wood floors. Even clean windows can make a difference. “It portrays cleanliness and gives the house a better sense of light.” she says.
Diana’s Advice: photo first
Curb appeal is still important, but Diana notes that “screen appeal” has become even more critical. “Buyers will see your home online first, usually on their phone during a commute. Whether they decide to visit depends on how the photography looks.”
Professional staging, she adds, can take a listing to the next level. “Furniture, lighting, plants, art, rugs, bedding; all of it helps tell a story and appeal to the buyer’s emotions.”
Full staging for a classic five-bedroom home typically costs around $5,000 to $6,000, though sometimes an agent helps cover the expense. “It’s an investment in how your home feels; both in person and on screen,” Diana says.
A high-touch agent known for her extensive market expertise and her unmatched devotion to clients, Karin’s success is based almost exclusively on referrals. Specializing in residential real estate in the New Jersey suburbs of New York City, she makes the experience of buying or selling property simple by combining her keen instincts, impeccable client service, and attention to market trends. Throughout the process, Karin offers a common-sense approach with sharp negotiating skills honed over the past three decades. Work with Karin | karin.diana@compass.com
