"Getaway home" is the new catchword for what many of today's buyers want in the next home they purchase. I'll assume you want to make your property as appealing as possible to buyers. So let's quickly explore how a home can earn that nickname. 

You don't have to have a mountain cabin or a beachfront condo to convince buyers that your home is a place to relax and enjoy life. What I see as the three elements of getaway style are privacy, luxury, and self-sufficiency.

Everyone wants a place to kick back and enjoy what they 
have earned. You can stage your home to show
buyers it will provide a sense of comfort and luxury. 

Create the aura of privacy

Even if you can't boast about how private the setting is, your home staging can create a sense of privacy. People need places inside and outside their homes to relax and recharge without distractions, and there are ways you can stage these areas economically.

Do you have a backyard or side yard or a balcony? These are prime areas for turning into places to retreat. Even small corners of a yard or balcony can be screened with fencing or shrubbery to fashion an intimate area to just chill.

Privacy doesn't always have to be useable space. Often, screening off the view of a neighbor's property adds to the illusion of privacy. American yards have a history of running into each other, but in cultures around the world, walled patios, enclosed courtyards, and private gardens are common. As well as offering visual privacy, enclosures like these can block the sounds of traffic or neighbors, too.   

To make an outdoor space look useable all you need is some chairs. I always think it is sad to see just one chair. Two chairs look friendlier, especially arranged so they look like two people could have a conversation there. Depending on the space you have, the area could include a table and multiple seats. Additional low-cost amenities could be a fire ring, potted plants, a bird feeding station, a hammock, walkways, or a water feature like a small fountain. 

Be sure to visit my Pinterest Board for ideas on staging a porch or patio 

A backyard oasis doesn't have to be crowded with plantings.
Make the landscape fit your locale. Photo: Dwell

City dwellers especially appreciate a corner to call their own. 
This side yard could have been wasted space, but now serves 
to increase the actual living area of the home. Photo: Tracy Do
When a balcony, deck, or patio needs some green screening
but you don't want the maintenance of plants, plastic plants
come to the rescue. Photo: Decor Crazy via Apartment Therapy

Indoors privacy is important to everyone, especially
in a bedroom with windows.
These shades let the light in and still block the view,
adding to the illusion of a quiet refuge.
Photo: Inception Shades via Dwell. 

Indoors, when windows are staged with light filtering window treatments like blinds, shades, or cafe curtains, they give people inside natural lighting but privacy as well. 

If your basement can be staged as a secluded game room or home theatre, that's ideal. These kinds of rooms will remind people that they can cocoon in comfort once they move in. As for floor plans, don't worry about your home's desirability if it doesn't have an open floor plan. One of the reasons some people don't shop for homes with an open floor plan is that there are fewer rooms where a person can go to retreat for work or quiet time. Doors provide a getaway. 

Introduce luxurious touches 

When a home has some features that look opulent or lavish, it can make people on a home tour feel like they are entering a resort setting, like it's a place where they can unwind and indulge themselves.

The places to add noticeable flourishes of luxury are bedrooms and bathrooms. Make them look as current as possible within your budget. You may not have a full gourmet kitchen but you can still impress buyers with quality touches like a stunning faucet, some copper cookware, new overhead lighting, some jazzy hardware, and a tiled backsplash. 

I've blogged about how to stage your bathroom to impress, and how to upgrade the look of your kitchen without spending much money. 

A bathroom counter that displays 
expensive brands of bath products
can convey a sense of luxury.
Photo: Crabtree & Evelyn via Carousell 
Another trick many professional stagers use is to add status brands as props, such as adding some shopping bags from high-end stores to a closet they stage. Or even adding gourmet food packages to a pantry. If you stage a bar cart you can use premium brands of mineral water and other beverages.  

People buy a lifestyle when they buy a home, so make your lifestyle enviable. 

When a property is vacant, it's easy to stage closets 
to look this accommodating. Here, the items chosen are
intended to convey a sense of a comfortable life. Photo: 21Oak

Make self-reliance important

Ever since the covid-19 pandemic, people the world over are rethinking how they live their lives. Spending more time with family has moved up the list of priorities. Employees and employers alike are realizing that remote work is a solution to a number of problems. It's not possible for everyone to work at home, but more people are giving up their commute for a home office and a home gym.  

The vision most people have of a getaway is a place that's off the grid to some degree. Recreational vehicles are more popular than ever, and families and couples are discovering the joys of camping and glamping. That's good news if you have an RV or camper to sell. Of course, you realize that these "homes on wheels" can be staged for a better price, just like an ordinary home.   

Other features that make your home look like a genuine getaway are green options like solar panels and passive solar features like a tile floor in a sunroom. In colder climates, a working fireplace is a plus, as is a whole-house generator in locales where air conditioning is a must. 

If your property has a vegetable garden, you are ahead of the game. During the past year interest in gardening as a hobby has grown like crazy. Even if what you grow is just a small portion of your daily diet, growing some of your own fruits and vegetables is part of the newly defined "good life" and the sense of self-sufficiency. 

A garden can look attractive even off-season if it has a simple
layout and some interesting design features. Photo: Empress of Dirt

Whether your garden amounts to a full-scale greenhouse, a couple of raised beds, a well-tended bed of herbs and vegetables, or just a row of tomatoes by your back door, as long as it conveys with the property, it's a plus. Concerned that converting a plot of lawn into a garden will deter buyers from falling in love with the property? A smart real estate agent showing the property will remind buyers that the space can easily be reseeded or sodded as grass, or can be changed into a place for playground equipment, an above-ground pool, a graveled area for a fire pit, a picnic area, or just a mulched bed of shrubs.  

Get the look, get the book 

Whatever the style or age or condition of your home, there are bound to be ways to make it more of what buyers expect today. Don't miss out on a chance to get the best price for your home in the least amount of time, with the least amount of problematic negotiations. Download my eBook, DIY Home Staging Tips to Sell Your Home Fast and For Top Dollar. It will show you how easy it is to add value to your home -- value you can actually put in your pocket.