TIPS FOR STAGING

10 tips for staging your home for the real estate market
By Sarah Crump • The Plain Dealer • February 14, 2009

Let's face it: This is a scary time to even think of putting your home - probably your biggest lifetime investment - on the real estate market.
A few simple tricks, however, can give you an advantage. The advantage is called "staging," and it is a booming necessity.
We asked three specialists in the Cleveland area for 10 things that can be done to facilitate a sale. Diana Hudson Kresnye, a professional stylist/home stager and owner of Devine Designs; Mark and Elly Ostrovsky, Howard Hanna Realtors; and professional organizer Marge Hogan Mackey of Hogan Organized Living gave us this "have to" list:
1. Cut emotional ties
View your house as a product that needs to be sold, not your home. It's now a commodity. Don't think of it as the place where you raised your kids.
"People need to digest - come to terms with - the fact that they are going to sell," said Diana Hudson Kresnye of Devine Designs Ltd. If homeowners fight her every suggestion and defend their beloved but dated wallpaper and carpet down to the last shred, they are not ready to part with their home. In reality, painting or new carpeting could mean a sale, plain and simple.
2. Walk through like a buyer
Grab a notebook and walk every inch of your home, inside and out. "List everything that needs attention in some way," said professional organizer Marge Hogan Mackey. Take a camera, too. "It's amazing what you will see in a photo that you've passed by or ignored."
That done, follow through and make repairs or updates before signing on with a Realtor. The best pool of buyers comes through the first weeks the home is on the market, said Kresnye. "For most people, those four weeks are wasted, because that's when they start getting ready to move."
3. Update
"Find out how your house stacks up against the competition by visiting open houses in your neighborhood," said Mark Ostrovsky, who with wife Elly is a real estate agent with Howard Hanna's Pepper Pike office.
If houses in your price range look better, hold back with expensive renovations and do simple updates, such as painting a room, retiling a bath, changing light fixtures and window treatments and replacing kitchen knobs. Flooring and carpet, while a more expensive fix, really need to be in good shape.
4. Be streetwise
A house that doesn't look good from the street stops many prospective buyers at the driveway.
In the spring, get a landscaper to freshen gardens and groom trees if you can't do a professional-looking job.
When Mackey was house-shopping, curb appeal determined whether she'd go inside. If she saw crumbling steps, fallen gutters, rickety fences, overgrown bushes, forget it. The inside might be worse.
"I didn't want to move into someone's mess."
5. Declutter
Clearing the way for a sale may mean storing or giving away half of what you own. "If storage is too expensive, then put all of those neatly packed boxes in one place only '" a corner of the basement, the garage or the attic," said Ostrovsky.
However, even if you've moved, don't show a vacant house, said Kresnye. Buyers will assume you're paying two mortgages and low-ball on price.
6. Embrace Mr. Clean
By yourself or by hiring a cleaning crew, deep-clean every surface. Even the insides of closets get a scrubbing or a paint job. "I love those Mr. Clean Magic Erasers," said Kresnye. "They work so well sometimes you don't need to repaint."
Have your carpets and furniture upholstery shampooed. Take a toothbrush to the tile grout. Clean the oven and the microwave. Think pristine.
7. Remove wallpaper
Wallpaper, even new, is just too personal, said Kresnye.
"It's the kiss of death," said Ostrovsky.
Fresh paint on undamaged walls is much better. Prospects do not expect to repaint or strip paper, said Ostrovsky. "Buyers will instead move on to the next house."
8. Lighten up!
Bump up bulb wattage if your light fixture safely permits it, Mackey suggests. If you use a 60-watt, substitute a 100-watt. Dim lighting casts shadows, making your rooms look smaller - a detriment to buyers who want oodles of house for their money.
Trim shrubbery that covers windows, remove overwhelming draperies and wash all windows inside and out. It's amazing how much natural light will shine in - even on the darkest of winter days.
Light fixtures that were the thing in the 1970s should be replaced with something trendier, said Kresnye. If your fixtures look dated, "It sends a signal that your house has not been well maintained."
9. Smells don't sell
Even the cleanest home can have smells. Did you cook fish for dinner? Does the litter box need emptying? It sends a big yuck message to people touring your house.
Have your cigarette outside. "Absolutely do not smoke in your house when it is on the market," said Ostrovsky. "Deodorizers don't work - ever!"
A buyer will run from a mildewy basement, said Kresnye. "The adage in our business is, "If I can smell it, I can't sell it."
10. De-personalize
Remove all family photos, awards, certificates, trophies and refrigerator magnets, said Kresnye. "The house may look stark to you, but it will look fresh and clean to buyers."
And you're putting your youngsters at risk if you let them display things that indicate their names and other private information.
"Child predators can see their photos, know where they go to school and what sports they play," said Kresnye. "You need to take every precaution when selling your house."