The home selling process typically starts several months before a property is made available for sale.  Look at your home through the eyes of a prospective buyer and determine what needs to be cleaned, painted, repaired, and tossed out.  Contrary to what you might think, it’s about more than preparing the house for sale.  Staging is what you do after you’ve cleaned, de-cluttered, painted and made minor repairs. It is about dressing the house for sale.  Below are some tips from an article at www.About.com to help you get ready to sell.

  1. Staging:  Home staging is about illusions.  It’s beyond decorating and cleaning.  It’s about perfecting the art of creating moods.  Staging makes your home look bigger, brighter, cleaner, warmer, more loving and, best of all, it makes home buyers want to buy it.
  2. De-Personalize:  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!
  3. De-Clutter:  People collect an amazing quantity of junk.  If you don’t need it, why not donate it or throw it away.  Remove all books from bookcases.  Pack up those knickknacks.  Clean off everything on the kitchen counters. Put essential items used daily in a small box that can be stored in a closet when not in use.
  4. Rearrange Bedroom Closets and Kitchen Cabinets:  Buyers love to snoop and will open closet and cabinet doors.  Think of the message it sends if items fall out.  Now imagine what a buyer believes about you if she sees everything organized.  It says you probably take good care of the rest of the house as well:  This means.
    • Alphabetize spice jars
    • Neatly stack dishes
    • Turn coffee cup handles facing the same way
    • Hang shirts together, buttoned and facing the same direction.
    • Line up shoes.
  5. Make Minor Repairs:
    • 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, especially if you have grown accustomed to purple or pink walls.
      Replace burned-out light bulbs.
  6. Make the House Sparkly:  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, Replace worn rugs, Hang up fresh towels, Air out any musty smelling areas.
  7. Check Curb Appeal:  If a buyer won’t get out of the car because they don’t like the exterior of your home, you’ll never get them inside.  Make sure you keep all sidewalks cleared, mow the lawn, paint faded window trim, plant flowers, trim bushes, make sure visitors can clearly read your house number.