Staged for sale: Let buyers imagine themselves in your home

"Let us replace sentimentalism by realism, and dare to uncover those simple and terrible laws which, be they seen or unseen, pervade and govern." Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), American essayist and poet, "Worship" The Conduct of Life (1860)

Q: I hope you can help me. I find myself in a rather tough situation with my current home. I need to move back to my hometown across the country to take care of my aging parents. Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of time and need to sell my home quickly. I know that the new thing is to stage the home for a quicker sale, and I'm also aware of the difficult housing market. Can you please give me some ideas that I can do myself? I don't really have extra money to hire someone to do it for me. Thank you.

A: There are a lot of truths in your question. This is a difficult housing market, and, yes, staging does help. Ten years ago when I moved to the valley I talked about staging because it was already a big deal on the East Coast. I remember the blank stares that came back to me because it was a foreign premise here. Now it is an accepted practice and there are a lot of decorators/designers who specialize in staging homes. There are also Realtors who will do it for their clients.

I know personally that staging a home for resale works. Home buyers don't always have vision, especially when they walk into a different space. They may have ideas about what to do in their own homes, but when they look at yours, it's sometimes difficult to visualize what their furniture and personal things will look like.

Staging is not difficult and not rocket science. It is, however, time consuming, and sometimes challenging for homeowners because they think their house is just perfect the way it is. Well, it may be for you. But, and it's a big but, you want others to think your house is perfect for them, and to accomplish that you have to present a clean slate.

The first thing you must do is depersonalize the space. If your baby photos and wedding memorabilia are scattered around your home, the space is still branded by you. Your home should present just as a model home would.

Decluttering is one of the most important things. This is often one of the most difficult for homeowners because they want to continue living with their stuff. Please get over that quickly. Your goal is to sell your house, and if you have to live a little more sparsely than you like, oh, well.

You want the space to appear as large as possible and having a lot of things on the walls and floor, having closets stuffed to overflowing, and cabinets that can hardly contain their contents are turnoffs to potential buyers. They want to feel there is plenty of room and plenty of storage. If a piece of furniture is not serving an immediate purpose, put it in storage.

Before you show your home, you should probably rent a storage unit and as you pack up, move extra furniture, books, toys, clothing, dishes and anything you can live without into the unit. You are really accomplishing two things -- decluttering and packing! And don't just shove things in the unit, pack them as you would have to for movers. There's no reason to duplicate efforts.

After decluttering and removing excess furnishings, go through your home just like an inspector would. Repair any wall damage. Replace any switch covers that are dirty or stained -- they're really cheap. Replace any burned out light bulbs, any little pieces of your stovetops that are worn or dirty, or anything else that would be a turnoff to a buyers.

For more major repairs, call in your handyman or suit up yourself to paint walls a neutral color. If you don't need to repaint, be sure there are no scuff marks or children's "graffiti" around.

Get your carpet professionally cleaned, your tiles steamed and grout professionally done, or use elbow grease to do it yourself. Kitchens and bathrooms can make or break a sale. They must be spotless! That can be one of the biggest turnoffs.

Tip: To keep your bathroom counters clean, use a plastic storage box to hold the things you use every day, i.e., hair dryer, shaver, lotions, make up, etc. Put those things in the box and after use, tuck them in your cleaned-out bathroom cabinet.

Remember, you want these potential buyers to want to live there. And most of us want "clean" at the very minimum. Your furniture and accessories don't have to be expensive, just neat and orderly.

In your kitchen remove everything from the counters. Show the buyers that they will have plenty of room for baking, serving or whatever they will need to do. They don't need to see your toaster, can opener and open chip bags. Put away all dishes, dishcloths and sponges. Take children's art, calendars and everything else that finds its way to the refrigerator door and pack it away. When you have an open house, you might put out a bowl of fruit and a clean dishtowel.

And don't forget the outside of your house and curb appeal. Be sure the grass is mowed, bushes are trimmed, trash is put away, doors and windows are clean and there is not a boat or trailer in the driveway. You need the people to come inside, and a rundown appearance will cause some buyers to simply keep driving.

These are just a few things that will make a big difference when selling your home. And it doesn't have to cost a fortune to make this happen. A little time and willingness is generally all you need. Buyers want to look at your house and think that it's move-in ready. In this market, most are not interested in making it perfect, they want it to be perfect.

Carolyn Muse Grant is the editor of Southern Nevada Home & Garden magazine. Her Inside Spaces column appears weekly in the Home section of the Review-Journal. Check out other decorating tips in Southern Nevada Home & Garden magazine, which is published the first Saturday of each month. Send questions to cgrant@reviewjournal.com.