So you’ve selected the right agent to handle the sale of your home. It’s priced correctly but, is there anything else you can do to help the home sell in the least amount of time and for the highest price possible? In a word…YES! A professionally staged home will not only help you stand out from the competition but it will sell on average in half the time of non-staged homes. According to a USA Today article (October 2006), the sellers with staged homes ended up with 6.3% more than their asking price, on average.

In today’s market staging your home is not something you consider doing down the road if it doesn’t sell in a few months. It’s essential if you’re serious about selling! You’ve heard the expression “You only get 1 chance to make a great first impression”. That’s the mind set you need here as well.

Buyers are looking for great deals and therefore your home should look like a great value. Staging starts from the street. If your home looks like it hasn’t been painted since it was first built…well that’s a no brainer. Paint it! I’m not telling you to go overboard here but, freshen it up. What does that front door look like? Again, think first impression. Look at the lawn and the landscaping. Do the trees need trimming? What about the overgrown shrubs? These are simple; often time’s inexpensive improvements that will help you stand out from the start. If the prospective buyer is turned off by the exterior it won’t matter how amazing the inside looks. Have you ever judged a book by its cover?

OK, you’ve done the painting, trimmed the trees & scrubs and even used a degreaser to remove those oily spots on the driveway…nice job! Now, let’s look inside to see what we can do to ignite the emotions of our buyer. I like it when I enter a home it smells pleasant. Nothing makes a worse impression than the smell of a dirty dog! If you can smell it…you can’t sell it! I’m not suggesting you put old Fido down to sell the home but, give him a bath and PLEASE use air fresheners. I like the scented oils that work with a candle vs. the plug-ins. Find what works for you and USE IT! Now, your home smells great you walk in the foyer and POW! Your buyer is greeted by a massive display of family pictures strategically placed all the way down the hall. Congratulations on tracing your family roots back to Napoleon but, the buyer doesn’t care. Take them down! It’s distracting and you want your buyer focused on the home not grandpa Charlie reeling in a 3 foot carp somewhere in Mazola, Montana back in July of 1954. Next, let’s de-clutter every room. You know all those pill bottles sitting on the kitchen counter top. Put them away. Do you have every kitchen appliance know to man sitting out in site? Come on admit it, you have at least 3 appliances purchased at 2 am while watching infomercials. Your kitchen shouldn’t look like the Starship Enterprise. Clean it up. Find a home for the toys. I like those big plastic tubs. You can toss the toys in there quick and run the tub into the garage or basement at a moments notice. While we have the tubs out lets put ALL the “little clutter” items away as well. The goal here is to make the home SHINE! Re-arrange the furniture so buyers can walk around freely. Make sure when you enter a room there is nothing so big that you must walk around it to enter. If you have big, dark furniture they need to find a new home. Big dark furniture and colors tend to soak up light and will cause the room to shrink. Keep the rooms light & bright. If you can’t get aunt Millie to keep it for you over at her house then rent a storage unit. The reduced time on the market will more than pay for itself. If you’ve painted every single room in the house…rethink it. Buyers like a “Vanilla” flavored home. As long as the colors are light, bright and somewhat neutral you should be ok. Now if your son Max has painted his room black with a lime green stripe around the middle…it’s getting a new coat of off white…RIGHT NOW! Wax the wood floors and make them shine. Scrub the ceramic tile floors clean. Wash the windows; dust the shutters “clean it like you mean it”. The effort you put out just may make the difference between you selling your home or not. Time is of the essence!

If you’re still not sure of all the things you need to do to make your home sparkle talk with your REALTOR and if necessary a professional home stagger. Use their knowledge and expertise to help you out sell the competition.