301 Simple Things You Can Do to Sell Your Home Now and For More Money Than You Thought: How to Inexpensively Reorganize, Stage, and Prepare Your Home for Sale

By Teri Clark

Numerous studies show that a house that is well polished on the surface and staged properly will appeal to more buyers, sell faster, and most importantly, sell for more money. You may not be able to improve the market value of your house, but you can improve its marketability. Remember: first impressions count the most.

Home Staging is the art of decorating a home to sell fast and for the highest amount. Home stage experts and consultants get thousands of dollars to do what you can easily do inexpensively, with little or no money. Keep in mind this important fact: the way you live in your home and the way you market it for sale are two very different things.

In this groundbreaking book you will learn how small color changes will increase your home's value, minor repairs and de-cluttering tricks, how to rearrange your furniture and art work, decorating tips and ideas, how to look at your house from the buyer's viewpoint, how to add minor accessories, which items stay and what must go, which minor changes will bring you the greatest return, how to bring out a home's best features, table settings, candles, what photos must go and which ones stay, how to minimize problem areas, how to position your house for the marketplace, what music to play, what scents to spray, how to use design psychology techniques, lighting techniques, landscaping secrets, what to do with garages, basements and attics, what color you should never use, how to ensure a positive traffic flow through rooms, how to use mirrors and natural light, and much more.

This exhaustively researched book is the ultimate resource for novices and pros alike; it will guide you through every step of the process with hundreds of innovative ideas that you can put to use right away. This book gives you the proven strategies and innovative ideas used by the experts every day that you can easily do yourself. The book also includes a full-color insert packed with photos of before and after shots!

Atlantic Publishing is a small, independent publishing company based in Ocala, Florida. Founded over twenty years ago in the company president’s garage, Atlantic Publishing has grown to become a renowned resource for non-fiction books. Today, over 450 titles are in print covering subjects such as small business, healthy living, management, finance, careers, and real estate. Atlantic Publishing prides itself on producing award winning, high-quality manuals that give readers up-to-date, pertinent information, real-world examples, and case studies with expert advice. Every book has resources, contact information, and web sites of the products or companies discussed.

This Atlantic Publishing eBook was professionally written, edited, fact checked, proofed and designed. The print version of this book is 288 pages and you receive exactly the same content. Over the years our books have won dozens of book awards for content, cover design and interior design including the prestigious Benjamin Franklin award for excellence in publishing. We are proud of the high quality of our books and hope you will enjoy this eBook version.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Atlantic Publishing Group Inc.
• Release date: Mar 6, 2007
• ISBN: 9781601384676

Book preview

301 Simple Things You Can Do To Sell Your Home NOW and For More Money Than You Thought

How to Inexpensively Reorganize, Stage, and Prepare Your Home for Sale

Teri B. Clark

301 Simple Things You Can Do To Sell Your Home NOW and For More Money Than You Thought: How to Inexpensively Reorganize, Stage, and Prepare Your Home for Sale

Copyright © 2006 by Atlantic Publishing Group, Inc.

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ISBN-13: 978-0-910627-06-1

ISBN-10: 0-910627-06-1

Clark, Teri B.

301 simple things you can do to sell your home now and for more money than

you thought : how to inexpensively reorganize, stage, and prepare your home

for sale / by Teri B. Clark.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN-13: 978-0-910627-06-1 (alk. paper)

ISBN-10: 0-910627-06-1 (alk. paper)

1. House selling--United States--Handbooks, manuals, etc. I. Title. II.

Title: Three hundred one simple things you can do to sell your home now and

for more money than you thought.

HD259.C54 2006

643’.120973--dc22

2006035443

LIMIT OF LIABILITY/DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY: The publisher and the author make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this work and specifically disclaim all warranties, including without limitation warranties of fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales or promotional materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for every situation. This work is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional services. If professional assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought. Neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for damages arising herefrom. The fact that an organization or Web site is referred to in this work as a citation and/or a potential source of further information does not mean that the author or the publisher endorses the information the organization or Web site may provide or recommendations it may make. Further, readers should be aware that Internet Web sites listed in this work may have changed or disappeared between when this work was written and when it is read.

Table of Contents

Author Dedication

Foreword

Introduction

Chapter 1–Repair It and Refresh It

Chapter 2–When to Remodel? That Is the Question

Chapter 3–Be a Clean Machine

Chapter 4–Cut the Clutter

Chapter 5–Take the Home Out of the House

Chapter 6–Putting It All Back Together

Chapter 7–Take It Outside

Chapter 8–Shed Some Light on the Matter

Chapter 9–Staging on a Shoestring

Chapter 10–Small Touches for Large Profits

Chapter 11–Living In a Home for Sale

Conclusion

Appendix 1–Room-By-Room Cleaning Checklist

Appendix 2–Preparing Your Home For Sale Checklists

Appendix 3–How to Clean Common Household Fabrics

Appendix 4–How to Remove Specific Stains

Appendix 5–Glossary of Terms

Appendix 6–Featured Stagers, Home Designers, and Redesigners

Bibliography

Author Biography

Author Dedication

A number of years ago, circumstances found me in a small house with mostly basic furnishings and a budget that did not allow for extras. I was satisfied with all my rooms except the living room. It was difficult to arrange because there were doors on two walls and a wide archway on a third, but I did my best to make it homey.

One day I had a visit from a friend who just happened to bring along her sister, Betty McDonald. She and I seemed to hit it off immediately and were soon talking like old friends. I learned she was an interior designer and a highly regarded one at that. I took a deep breath and said, What can be done to make this living room more attractive without spending any money?

Her eyes quickly darted all about the room. She stood up and began making suggestions involving rearranging furniture, placing pictures and wall hangings in different places, and using some indoor plants in unusual ways. I could not imagine what the room would look like. As soon as she left, I went to work on her recommendations, which included spending about $10 on some candles.

The outcome was spectacular. The room was more comfortable and homey, had better traffic patterns, and the furnishings no longer looked out of place or the wrong size for the room. Over the coming weeks, my friends could not stop talking about how beautiful this former ugly duckling room had become. Many asked what I had bought or if I had repainted or other things that would have cost a lot more than the candles.

Later, I was to learn that what she had done was to stage my room. Her placement of furniture created a foyer when entering the house, her rearrangement of pictures created focal points that were attractive, and the room had better traffic flow. Most impressive was the way she had used lighting to make the room look much larger.

It was this experience that created my interest in home staging and other techniques for making a house into a home with little or no effort or expenditure. In the meantime, home staging has become more popular and one of her specialties. She laughs and says, Home staging is usually more effective than remodeling when selling a home—and it is easier on me and my clients.

She graciously consented to serve as a technical consultant for this book and has been of tremendous value in dealing with the wide range of creative ideas presented by those interviewed.

For her staging of my living room years ago and the contribution of her time and talent to this book, it is dedicated to Betty McDonald.

Table of Contents

Foreword

Real estate and staging go hand and hand. Some time ago I came to the conclusion that almost 100 percent of the homes for sale in today’s market need to be staged. Staging is necessary whether the property is vacant or furnished.

Staging your property does not necessarily mean bringing in the professionals. There is a simple strategy involving the proper placement of furniture and accessories to maximize the space in your house. Whether you have an eye for this sort of thing, and you probably do, this book can give you many inexpensive ideas. I have been amazed at how many sellers do not take advantage of the concept of staging because it brings value to the property and usually more money than it costs.

A common misconception with sellers is that staging is disproportionately expensive and they do not want to put any more money into a home they are selling. In reality, staging is a wise investment. Most sellers will reduce the price of their property once, twice, and sometimes three times, ranging from $5,000 to $25,000 per drop. Why not stage your home for a fraction of the cost? It only makes sense!

I’m very passionate about everything I do, and home staging is at the top of the list. Staging will soon be a necessity and not an option when selling. Having read this book, you will be far ahead of those who have not accepted this commonsense idea. As the author points out, some staging tricks may mean only rearranging your current furniture or removing some of it, or it could mean de-cluttering — getting stuff into storage, selling it, or giving it away. If it seems overwhelming, the author’s philosophy of eating an elephant one bite at a time will get you started and bolster your spirits.

So, whether the market is Hot or Not...you will always WIN by staging your property.

Best of luck on "staging and selling" your home!

Katie Joanow, ASP Realtor

Alexa Realty

1811 N. Belcher Rd.

Suite I-1

Clearwater, FL 33765

Cell: 813-966-7397

Office: 727-724-8000

Fax: [phone]

Katie Joanow is an experienced licensed real estate agent as well as an Accredited Staging Professional (ASP) in the state of Florida. Visit her Web site at: www.alexarealestate.com or e-mail her at [e-mail].

Table of Contents

Introduction

You have a beautiful home—or a not so beautiful home. Perhaps it is just an average home like the others in the neighborhood. The time has come to sell because you have a job in another city or have simply outgrown the space. Maybe you need to downsize since the children have moved out. Whatever the reason, you are putting your home on the market. You get a realtor or put up your For Sale by Owner sign and you wait. And wait. And wait.

Time goes by and you begin to think of reducing the price. More time goes by and you have found a new home, moved in, and have an empty house to sell and two mortgages, or your life is on hold and you wait some more. Why is your house taking so long to sell?

When asked this question, many people assume that market timing is poor or that the realtor is not doing a good job. They may even assume that the home is just one of those homes that no one really likes and will have to be reduced far below market value to move. In most cases these answers are far from the truth. The truth lies in home staging.

What is Home Staging?

According to one professional, Staging helps realtors and home sellers prepare property for sale; the work I do reduces the number of days a home is on the market, attracts serious buyers, secures equity, and takes the stress out of selling. In the simplest sense, home staging is the art of preparing a home to sell. It is a combination of design, flow, and curb appeal. When a home has been staged it looks orderly, airy, full of light, and spacious. It looks salable. Staging is putting your best foot forward.

There are four things that affect the sale of your house:

• Location

• Market conditions

• Condition of your home

• Presentation of your home

There are some things that are out of your hands: you cannot change the location of your house or market conditions, but you can do something about the condition of your house and its presentation.

Home staging was coined by Barb Schwarz back in the early 70s, and the concept has become well known as house fluffing, dressing to sell, and home presentation to name a few, but the concept has not taken hold among home owners when selling a home because many people do not understand the idea or need help to create a workable plan for staging their home correctly.

Home staging is more than just slapping a bit of paint on the wall or getting the odors out of the carpet. Both of these are just small pieces of the overall puzzle. Alone, they will not accomplish the goal of creating a notable first impression. As part of a whole, each home staging element will help your home sell faster and for more money.

Reality Check

One particular seller was not comfortable having her home staged. As with many sellers, she did not want her things rearranged. She did, however, let two rooms be staged for the purpose of getting professional photographs for the Web, albeit with express instructions to put everything back in its proper place after the photo session. Even after seeing the photos of her staged rooms, she was not sold on the process. She commented that the rooms looked bare.

For the next few weeks, each time the real estate agent showed the property, there would be fewer things lying around and each time something new would be done—throw pillows would be removed from the sofa; a favorite, but worn-out chair would be hidden away; fresh flowers were placed on the dining room table instead of the place mats and newspapers; the dehumidifier was moved to a closet shelf; and the kitchen counters cleared. It was obvious that the homeowner was gradually staging her apartment. After several weeks, it almost looked as it did in the photos on the Web. A week later, the seller received an offer, which she accepted.

Are you listening to your stager or following the ideas in this book? If not, you are going to slow down the selling process.

You Get Only One Chance to Make a First Impression

That is right. You can sell your home faster AND for more money! How can that be? It all has to do with first impressions. Oh, I know that we have all been told not to judge a book by its cover, but doing so is just part of human nature.

First impressions are formed instantly. According to research done by Iowa State University, people are capable of taking in huge quantities of information in an instant—mostly as visual intake. A barrage of information including color, space, design, and size, congeals within 30 seconds into a favorable or unfavorable impression.

First impressions do not go away. Instead, people simply build on that impression during further encounters.

This Could Be You: A Marlene Feldman Success Story

Someone I knew had just taken over as the head of a real estate development company in a suburban location. At the time, the market was somewhat depressed and his model homes were not selling. Given his marketing background, the first thing he did was to change his newspaper advertising. He bought full-page ads that highlighted the unique features of the homes and showed floor plans so that buyers could get a really good feel for the properties.

Two weeks passed and although traffic to the model homes had increased, there were no sales. Next he increased his ad budget and put the ads in more papers to try to reach more people. Again, he had traffic, but no sales. Finally, he reduced prices, which of course he advertised, but that did not work either.

Completely mystified, he asked me to take a look at the models and give him my point of view. I told him that I thought the problem was quite simple—the homes were not staged. There was too much furniture, it was too dark and heavy for the space, and it was not properly placed. Consequently, prospective buyers could not get the full effect of the spaciousness of the homes and their wonderful and unique features.

With a warehouse of available furniture and a couple of assistants, I staged the model homes, using less furniture with better placement, and the right accessories, all to enhance the homes’ spaciousness and best features. Immediately the homes began to sell.

For me, the most important aspect of this experience was that all the potential buyers who had been brought in through an expensive advertising campaign and then reduced prices were lost to the seller because the models did not look good to them. Had the homes been staged FIRST before spending on advertising or price reductions, profits would have been higher.

You have only one chance to make a good first impression.

Real estate agents are well aware of this phenomenon, even if they cannot quote the latest statistics. Having carefully researched homes and made appointments to view these homes with a prospective buyer, agents often feel frustrated when the buyer will not even get out of the car because they do not like the look of the front. It is not easy to overcome these first impressions. Once they are made, you will be fighting against them every step of the way.

A home search begins on the Internet for 74 percent of buyers. Prospective buyers now have the same access to listings of homes as real estate agents. The contents of multi-listing services, once closely guarded by real estate agents, is now readily available on the Internet. Access has tilted the market structure to favor buyers who know what you have for sale before you know that they want to buy. Search engines such as Google make it easy for buyers to gather all kinds of community information, thus reducing buyers’ dependence on realtors.

Prospects are now capable of handing the real estate agent a list of what they want to see before the real estate agent’s list is even out of the drawer. These prospective buyers go into a home—your home and instantly form an emotional reaction to what they see and feel. One misplaced picture or one too many pieces of furniture can sound the instant death knell of interest.

This Could Be You: A Kimberly Cash Success Story

I sold a home while it was being staged. A buyer, unaware that we were there staging, came in and saw the home partially staged. She wanted to come back the next day with her family. When she brought them back, we were finished. She said, I have to make a contract on this home. As beautiful as it looks, it will get picked up fast. And she bought the furniture, too!

Prospects know there are alternatives and will quickly be off to the next home on their list. Over time this can produce your worst nightmare—an empty house. An empty house gives off a distressed feel—a sense that you may dump the property fast and cheap. Ironically, buyers have more difficulty visualizing life in an empty house, perhaps explaining the greater difficulty of selling them. Since the average buyer sees 12 homes in three months, you need to do something to make your home stand out from the rest of the crowd.

That is why making a good first impression can make all the difference. It would be a wise decision to present your home in its best light from the start.

Gail Greer Case Study

Gail Greer

536 Maple St.

Shiloh, IL 62269

618-632-4771

www.allroomsgreatandsmall.com

[e-mail]

What does Gail Greer have to say about her occupation?

I have to prove myself to people. They do not believe it will work. My job is to convince the seller that staging a home works.

A stager sells a dream. Those who buy a home are looking for the dream home. They want to visualize themselves in a home feeling happy. In the world today, families are busy, busy, busy. That is why it is essential to have a home that feels calm. I always try to have a space that has no TV or computer and instead has a couple of chairs and a chessboard to give the buyer the idea that they will be able to sit as a family and enjoy the home. That

Reviews for 301 Simple Things You Can Do to Sell Your Home Now and For More Money Than You Thought

[dianaleez · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Not as good as I was hoping. This book wastes a great deal of time having home stagers brag how successful home staging is. Surely the reader thinks staging worth a try since they've purchased the book, so it's preaching to the choir.The pictures and text don't match - the text says limit the number of items on the mantel to three and later uses a picture of a mantel with several items as a 'good' choice. This happens over and over.If you buy only one staging book, don't make it this one.

[kelleykl · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

While this title contains many useful suggestions, the writing is uneven and full of errors. A color picture insert is included; however, the authors decided to include the same pictures in black and white within the text, adding nothing to the chapters. The writing in uneven and sometimes contradictory. OK, but not the definitive guide.