10 Steps to Successful Staging

1. Remove the emotional attachment

This is much harder than it sounds. Afterall, this is your home. You have memories attached. But, it's very important to view this as an object that you are selling. When you remove the emotion, you are free to move forward.

2. De-Personalize your house

As wonderful as it is to look at all those great pictures of you with your family and friends, buyers need to be able to visualize their pictures on the wall. Remember, this is only temporary. Soon, you will be in your new home with all of your pictures prominently displayed once again.

3. De-Clutter

This is a great time to go through all the things you have been meaning to get to. If you haven't used it in a year, consider donating it. If you don't need it before you move, pack it now. The goal should be to have as few knickknack and personal items around as possible and all counters cleared.

4. Clean closets & cabinets

Buyers will be looking in all your closets and cabinets. If they appear to be overflowing and messy, they send the message that there isn't enough storage space in the house. While organizing, you need to be sure to remove items you don't want anyone to see.

5. Rent a storage unit

You've always heard that homes show better with furniture. But, when there is too much, it makes it much harder for you to sell. You want to remove extra furniture especially if it blocks pathways. You may also consider removing the leaves from the dining room table. This allows your rooms to appear large and open, therefore appealing to buyers.

6. Remove or replace favorite items

If you absolutely do not want an item to stay with the house, remove it or replace it before listing it. For example, if you are adament about keeping your dining room chandelier, replace it with an exceptable substitute and pack the one you want to keep in storage. Afterall, once you tell a buyer they can't have something, they instantly want it and can't live without it! It could mean the difference in a successful closing.

7. Make minor repairs

There are small things you can do that will greatly increase your chances of selling such as replacing cracked tiles, patching wall holes, repairing leaky faucets, re-caulk around bath tubs and showers, making sure all doors open and close completely and quietly, painting walls a neutral color and replace burned out light bulbs. All of these are minor items to repair but in the minds of buyers it could make them what other items are going to have to be repaired when they move it. Buyers are looking for "move-in condition" homes.

8. Make your home sparkle

Clean, clean and clean. This includes washing windows inside and out, powerwashing the exterior, dusting everywhere including baseboards, vacuuming and mopping daily, hanging clean towels, keeping all laundry put away, picking up toys, polishing chrome and mirrors, cleaning out the refrigerator and making sure to eliminate any odors.

9. Look at your house through the eyes of a buyer

Go outside and decide how eager are you to go in. Walk inside and see how it feels to stand in the entryway. Then walk through your house as though you were house hunting. If you don't like what you see, fix it.

10. Curb appeal

You want to present a welcoming site that will incurage buyers to come in. One way to do this is make sure the sidewalks and driveways are cleared, keep the lawn mowed, remove weeds and plant yellow flowers since yellow is thought to provoke a buying emotion (don't go over board or you could scare them away!), paint any faded trim and trim the bushes.