Cindy's Blog

In this unpredictable, correcting market, there are many lessons to be learned. Especially for sellers. It's easy to determine what we want for our homes (normally more than they are actually worth), and what we need for our homes, based on things that need to be paid off, downpayments on the new home, etc. What is not so easy, especially when we've been in a very different, much easier market for the last few years, is to determine exactly what the "magic number" is at which the house will sell, and coming to grips with the fact that that is often not the number we want to hear.

There are a number of ways to get that edge, though, in the market, and staging is most certainly one of them. Even homes that are reasonably well decorated, or basic, can really be fluffed up and "styled" by an accomplished stager. I cannot tell you what a difference this can make in a home, whether vacant or sparsely furnished.

The top five easy things to do (without even bringing in a pro):

1) Remove any food, pet, or smoke smells from the home. Seriously- if you can't tell, have a couple of friends that you trust come over and give you their honest opinion. If they hesitate, or tell you they smell something, then before you have showings, clean the carpets, use some Febreze, and paint, if necessary. I cannot stress enough what a huge difference this makes.

2) Clean your junk of the kitchen counter. If there is anything out of place, like four jugs of juice that lives on the counter all the time, move it. Anywhere. Trunk of your car, under the bed, anywhere. If people come to your house and see that you have no where to put your gatorade, soday, juice, etc., they are surely going to start thinking about where they would put theirs. One of my very large pet peeves is toaster ovens, fryers, and other kitchen gadgets. If they live on the counter, remove them for the open house and/ or showings. It just looks like you have no where to put them, or like you fry something everyday, which doesn't really paint a pretty picture either.

3) This one sounds really obviously, but really, you'd be surprised. Clean the house! Clean the floors, get rid of the dustbunnies, clean the crumbs off the table, wipe the kitchen counters, clean the glass, mirrors, windows, etc. Close the toilet seats, and get the little funky grime off the shower door. Put your "buyer glasses" on and give your house a long hard look.

4) Paint your front door, and jazz up the entry. You know what they say about first impressions. Sweep or scrub the dust/ cobwebs or gnats that seem to collect on the areas around the lights and doorway, and paint a color that "pops" if you don't have a fresh shiny door already. If there is any other paint or woodwork touch up necessary, you would be money in to get that taken care of as well. Finally, get a couple of pots of flowers and plants with some color, to really bring some color and draw attention to the entry. It makes it so much warmer and welcoming.

5) In your bathrooms, buy some inexpensive white towels and just leave those "for show". Don't use them, and don't hang out the old mismatched ones you have. Again, you want to remove all of the buyer's obstacles. They want to picture themselves in a spa like setting, having a bubble bath, getting ready for work, even. What they don't want to picture is you and your family getting ready, shaving, etc. So if at all possible, just get a little basket, and when you're finished with razors, toothbrushes, etc., put them in there and tuck them under the seat and wipe off the vanity. Big big big difference!

If you do all of these things, you're off to a great start! I do think that in many cases, you would still want to have a professional stager come in and help with the "fluffing" but otherwise, that really is a terrific place to begin, and you can just go from there.