Setting up your house to sell, or home staging, is the process of preparing a home for sale, regardless of price or location. Staging focuses on simple steps to make your home appeal to the largest number of prospective buyers,without spending a lot of money. Creating an ideal home for buyers can be as simple as painting the walls, rearranging furniture or clearing the kitchen counter tops.

It's essential to present your house in the best possible light. Remember how you felt when looking
for a home, and how many you passed over because they didn't look good? You have to look at
your home with a buyers' eyes!

Even though it's your home and you still live there, it's a good idea to get used to the fact that your
house is now a product. It has pluses and minuses, as well as competition. To be competitive, your
house should be priced right and look better than the others.

Probably the single most important thing you can do to prepare your home for sale is to declutter.
Houses are filled with objects we love and treasure. Look in just about every home and you'll find a
shelf stuffed with favorite books, a mantel loaded with trinkets or a wall covered in family photos.
But when it comes time to sell a house, those items we cherish may look like just plain clutter to
prospective buyers. Your personal items make it difficult for prospective buyers to imagine
themselves and their trinkets and family photos filling the mantels and walls of the home.

Since you're going to be packing to move anyway, get a head start by making your rooms look
larger and box up and store non-essential items. By removing some of the clutter, the focus shifts
from the "stuff" in the room to the room itself. Specifically, lighten the load on bookshelves by
packing up books, DVD's, CD's, etc. Remove items from kitchen countertops and magnets and
photos from refrigerator. Pack up trinkets and family photos from all rooms. Clean and neaten
closets, cabinets and pantries.

Neutralizing your home is also essential in creating an environment in which potential buyers can
easily envision themselves moving into your home with their own furnishings and taste. Removing
old wallpaper, and restoring walls to neutral colors goes a long way in ensuring your house will
appeal to a larger number of buyers for a minimal investment. Neutralizing worn or colorful carpet
can be costly, but replacing it before trying to sell your house will make for a faster sale and often
bring back more money in return.

Cleaning from top to bottom is another key element to getting your home ready for sale. In addition
to the basics, it is recommended that carpets are shampooed, door hardware is polished, and
windows and baseboards are cleaned.

Take care of all general maintenance items both in and outside of your home. Remember to oil
squeaky doors, tighten doorknobs, replace burned out light bulbs, re-caulk the bathrooms if
necessary and repair leaky faucets or toilets.

Finally, never truer is the statement "you never have a second chance to make a first impression"
than when trying to sell a home. The outside of the home is one of the most important areas
because it is what the buyer sees first. A clutter-free yard and well-maintained house are essential
in luring the buyer inside. From the moment a
potential
buyer drives up, they should see a manicured lawn with no debris in sight and clear gutters
and downspouts in good repair. It's always recommended to spruce up your flowerbeds and add
fresh mulch.

In total, there is much that can be done by a motivated homeowner to get his home in top condition
for sale. Minimal effort put forth in preparing your home for sale will surely be rewarded with a quick
sale at the best possible price.

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