Staging for Sellers: Small Changes for Better Returns

For most people, selling a home is as much an emotional decision as a financial one. If you have decided to put your property on the market, it's time to start thinking about what you will do to get it sold quickly and for the highest possible price. Staging can play a crucial role in how a home is perceived by prospective buyers (and you don't have to spend a lot for big gains!). Here are tips, hints, thoughts and ideas for sprucing up, cleaning out, decorating, staging, creating a great first impression and making a house appealing to buyers.

1) Get buyers inside:  When a buyer pulls into the driveway, you want them to say, "wow." If your home looks welcoming on the outside, you shouldn't have any trouble getting a buyer inside. Cut the grass, trim the hedges, rake those leaves, sweep the sidewalks, and power-wash the driveway. An inexpensive way to spruce up the exterior of a home is to hang flowers (just make sure to keep them alive).

2) Declutter and Depersonalize: A buyer can't fall in love with your property if he can't see it. Pack up those personal photographs and family heirlooms. Buyers can't see past personal artifacts, and you don't want them to be distracted. You want buyers to imagine their own photos on the walls, and they can't do that if yours are there! You don't want to make any buyer ask, "I wonder what kind of people live in this home?" You want buyers to say, "I can see myself living here."

3) Remove/Replace Favorite Items: If you want to take window coverings, built-in appliances or fixtures with you, remove them now. If the chandelier in the dining room once belonged to your great grandmother, take it down. If a buyer never sees it, they won't want it. Once you tell a buyer they can't have an item, they will covet it, and it could blow your deal. Pack those items and replace them, if necessary.

4) Make minor repairs: You may not be bothered by missing drawer pulls and cracked tiles, but to a buyer, those types of minor defects may suggest a lack of attention to routine maintenance. Before you put your house on the market, make sure you: replace cracked floor or counter tiles, patch holes in walls, fix leaky faucets, fix doors that don't close properly and kitchen drawers that jam, consider painting your walls neutral colors, replace burned-out light bulbs...You get the picture.

5) Display your home at its best: Clean, clean clean! Buying a home is often the biggest purchase of your life. No one wants to spend all that hard earned money on something that is dingy and dirty. Wash windows inside and out. Clean out cobwebs. Re-caulk tubs, showers and sinks. Polish chrome faucets and mirrors. Clean out the refrigerator. Vacuum daily. Dust furniture, ceiling fan blades and light fixtures.