One of the most important things you can do to sell your listings quickly and for the highest possible price is to “stage” them. Basically, there are five steps to home staging.

• Cleaning
• Getting rid of clutter
• Depersonalizing
• Decorating and accessorizing
• Maintaining

Cleaning

When I say, “cleaning” I don’t mean your ordinary, weekly house cleaning. I mean a deep cleansing in which you make every surface, every window, every nook and cranny sparkle and shine. You should encourage your homeowners to clean their windows, their ceiling fans, their curtains and blinds, carpet…in short, everything. Homeowners should also strive to eliminate any unpleasant odors and if possible, have someone else care for their pets until the house is sold.

Getting Rid of Clutter

Your clients are going to be moving shortly anyway so it’s in their best interests to go ahead and start getting rid of the things they’ll never need again and boxing up the things they can live without for a couple of months. They should clean out about 50% of the things in their closets, most of the knickknacks displayed around the home and enough furniture that the rooms look open and inviting. Countertops should be clean and uncluttered. Even the cabinets and drawers should contain only a few items, because prospective buyers will be opening doors and drawers and they will want to see a lot of space.

Depersonalizing

Explain to your clients how important it is for them to remove most of their family photographs and personal collections. Buyers are trying to envision themselves living in every home they tour and it’s very hard for them to do that when faced with the seller’s personal items. Every room of the house should have a general appeal for the majority of buyers. Leaving personal collections for the buyer to see distracts the buyer forcing the buyer to take time focusing on your things rather than the house.

I can best illustrate that by comparing sales of former University of South Carolina football coaches. When the coaches displayed the many items from the football glory days we had a much more difficult time selling the house. Buyers are nosey and want to know every detail about the family living there so depersonalize and move all personal items.

Decorating and accessorizing

Your sellers may feel they can’t spend much money to update their house but there are many improvements they can make that won’t cost a lot of money and that will bring them a much higher sales price. A fresh coat of paint doesn’t cost very much but will add a lot of impact. New window treatments, fresh flowers, green plants and pretty accessories all pack a punch without breaking the wallet.

Maintaining

Sellers must commit to keeping their home spotless as long as it’s on the market. The very day someone leaves a dirty towel on the bathroom floor will be the day a prospective buyer walks through. Granted it’s not easy to keep a home so clean while someone is living there but the payoff will be a quicker sale at a higher price. Convince your sellers that their extra effort now will have them moving in a much shorter time. Remind them to keep the outside as clean and neatly maintained as the inside. If they can’t keep the lawn mowed they should hire someone to do it. Trash cans should be kept out of sight. A nice potted plant, a clean doormat, and a front door wreath make the home seem inviting.

Home staging can be done on many different levels, from a thorough cleaning to a complete remodeling. The more your clients do to stage their homes, the better their chances of securing a quick sale. Furthermore, if you have a good eye for design you can offer the staging service yourself, you can give the seller a checklist and let them do it, or you can call in a professional home stager.

I give my clients a nine-page checklist and explain the importance of completing all tasks on the list. If they comply, I guarantee them I will sell the house in 60 days or less or I will pay them $500. Not every client is willing to do what I ask of him or her but of the ones that do, I have only had to pay that $500 twice and the only reason I did was I put the home on the market before all the items were completed. Every completely staged home I have ever listed has sold within 60 days or less. One note of caution however - you must be certain the home is priced close to market value because no matter how good a home looks, it will not sell if it is overpriced.

Published: August 17, 2001

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Jerry Fowler, Real Estate Broker, CRS, CBR - The Results Team REALTORS®, Columbia, SC 29210. Email: mail@jerryfowler.com or visit my web site: http://www.jerryfowler.com - We get results that "Move You".