REALITY star Fredrik Eklund, who always took centerstage on Million Dollar Listing New York, also knows how to stage a home on a budget.
This original cast member of the hit Bravo show is a pro at doing luxe for less and revealed his secrets to making more money when selling your house.
The 46-year-old real estate broker has built a career on selling seriously lavish homes, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have some money-saving tricks up his sleeve.
“Our job is to increase value, and the best staging trick is to dumb things down a little bit,” Fredrik told The U.S. Sun.
“A buyer has to come in and envision themselves living in there.”
GIVE THEM A VISION
Fredrik stressed that selling a home needs to be about a buyer’s potential preferences — not yours.
“You have to open it up to more people and different tastes.
“Minimizing a space and making it less busy is the first step.
“We also try to remove specific things,” he added.
Whatever your hobby, he wants you to make sure it doesn’t show through in your home.
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“Say you have a religious item — remove. Family photos on the wall — remove.
“Let’s say you have a dog or a cat — I love animals but you don’t know what buyers are going to think. Maybe they’re allergic or don’t like pets.
“Your job as a seller or stager is to open up as many eyeballs as possible.
“You want to stay away from selling yourself and your design.
“It’s about getting the buyer to fall in love with a more neutral palette. Lights and neutral always work.”
WALL-TO-WALL BLANK SLATE
He also recommends using a pop of paint for a more posh look without the hefty price.
“Repainting is always good because you are forced to remove a lot of things.
A coat of fresh paint does a lot — psychologically, you associate that smell with more expensive things.
Fredrik Eklund
“A coat of fresh paint does a lot — psychologically, you associate that smell with more expensive things.
“It can also help to minimize the smell of cigarettes or food or of somebody living there, especially dogs or kids.
DITCH THE EXCESS
This king of real estate also has one keyword when it comes to selling a home.
And less is more — a lot less.
“The most crucial thing with staging or getting a home ready to sell is decluttering,” he said.
“I know for a fact we’re all numbed out, we become blind to our own methods.
“My own note to self is always that the bathroom counter is full of expensive facial creams and vitamins.
“The same goes for my living room. There’s kids building blocks all over.”
In cleaning up and decluttering, you can also get in potential buyers’ heads in a sneaky way.
“What people can do without spending a lot of money is use my trick of telling clients to pretend they’re already moving out,” he said.
“Take boxes and move half of all your belongings — put it away.
“That’s a free step and you’re going to instantly see how it looks better and more expensive and basically move-in ready.”
But don’t just hide stuff away.
“A common mistake people make is when they think that decluttering means pushing everything into the closet,” he warned.
“When I say pretend you’re moving out, I mean move it out from the house, put it in the basement or storage or something.
“Take half of your things out.
“Just remember that a buyer doesn’t come to look at your clothes, they’re coming in wondering if they can fit their clothes in there.
“Subconsciously, if you have a lot of stuff the buyer will think — right or wrong — oh, there’s no room for my things here.
“It’s a very overlooked thing and in this day and age we are all hoarders ordering too many things online.
“We all need space, especially after Covid when we all have more stuff.'”
GO NEUTRAL
Once again, don’t forget to dumb things down.
As Fredrik explained, it’s important to stick to the plan of spending the least while getting the highest price for the home.
“You might like a red room or a blue primary suite bedroom, but the buyer most likely will not,” he said.
He also advised picking a neutral palette throughout the home, sticking to white, beige, and light grey.
Whatever you do, do not enter the dark side — of colors, that is.
“Stay away from strong tones. It might sound boring but it’s the truth,” he said.
CREATE AMBIANCE
The only elements as important as the home’s interior style are the smells and sounds.
“Another trick is baking cookies and cakes. Candles also work,” he suggested.
“Scents are very important because we all don’t smell our own smells and it doesn’t cost much to enhance or incorporate a fragrance.
Smells are tied to our subconscious memory and emotion [and] you can then attach to the property.
Fredrik Eklund
“There are these companies that pump out fresh perfume scents — it’s a quick solution and smells like luxury.
“Smells are tied to our subconscious memory and emotion [and] you can then attach to the property.
“When a buyer leaves a home, they don’t necessarily remember what’s so nice about it but a smell makes them emotionally attached and nobody ever talks about it.”
Fredrik, who makes up one half of the Fredrik Gomes team with 13 offices in five states and over 100 brokers, even launched his own Fredrik Gomes New York-inspired candle.
“Music is also good, but not too loud because then the buyers will think that you’re trying to hide the sound of the highway or something.
“Just something like a light piano works, nothing specific in the background — as long as it’s soothing.
“You want people to walk in the space and let their hair down. They should feel relaxed and at home.
“People are stressed out from buying something like a home.
“It’s expensive, interest rates are high, it’s a big financial decision — it may be the biggest one of their life, so anything you can think of that makes people feel relaxed always works.”
INVEST A BIT MORE
He also suggests achieving a more upgraded look by purchasing affordable lighting.
“Buy super inexpensive LED strips that are battery driven, even the ones at Home Depot for like 30 bucks so it feels light and fresh.
While he doesn’t believe in tricking buyers with gimmicky purchases or cheap-looking upgrade hacks that could come to bite you later on, Fredrik does have suggestions for beautifying a space on a budget.
He explained that luxe is done best with less.
Sometimes expensive isn’t what you need to do the selling trick and only makes things look tackier.
“My job is to bring the highest price in the shortest amount of time, not to sell furniture.
“I suggest furniture that is sleek, and minimal with little legs. Pieces should be airy and minimal.
“I also prefer a light furniture section that only fits three to four people, regardless of how large the space might be.
“Forget about a clunky sofa that fits 12. You have to look at it from a buyer’s perspective.
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“With less furniture, they are most likely to think, ‘Wow, I can fit two seating areas, I can have a dinner party.’
“Make sure it’s never too busy, too dark, too cluttered.”
Meet Your AI Realtor
In September, Fredrik Eklund launched the world’s first-ever AI personality for real estate, called Maya.
She’s available for free for people in the industry to use, and Fredrik said they’ve started working on the second generation.
“She will soon be animated and be able to talk and make faces, and that’s just the beginning,” he said.
“She can joke and she knows a lot about pop culture and what celebrities are buying.
“The nice thing that sets her apart from us humans is that she is working 24 hours a day, which is important for us because we have clients in every time zone.
“She also doesn’t forget anything. She remembers every conversation and notifies us when she’s communicating with someone about a property. “
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Julie Sagoskin
