Getting from ‘for sale’ to ‘sold’

Wouldn’t it be nice to hire an agent, throw up a sign and wait for the offers to roll in? Sure. But in today’s housing market — where inventory is up and buyers are down — that’s not likely to happen unless your property stands above dozens of others listed at the same price.

“If it looks the same or worse, it’s not going to sell quickly,” says Teri Herrera, a Bellevue, Wash.-based agent with John L. Scott. “If it looks better than the competition, theirs is the house that is going to be selected.”

Sellers can improve the look of their home by hiring a real estate agent with expertise in preparing homes to sell, or by bringing in a professional stager, a trained expert who arranges your home to maximize its appeal to the broadest swath of buyers. Home-staging experts create a sense of lifestyle so the buyer can visualize living there. “There’s an adage in real estate: If they can’t see it, we can’t sell it,” Herrera says.

The cost to hire a stager ranges from $500 to $5,000, with the national average hovering around $1,650, according to Stagedhomes.com, the site of Accredited Home Staging Professionals. Or for a consulting fee of about $350, a stager compiles a detailed report and the seller can implement the changes.

Ideally, the seller recoups the money spent on preparing the home with a faster sell and higher price. Now that doesn’t mean you should remodel the kitchen or gut a bathroom to the studs. Enhancing your home can mean putting colorful flower pots on the front porch or replacing a dated couch with a stylish rented sofa.

But even simple changes can be hard for sellers with an emotional attachment to their home and all the stuff inside it. That’s where an outsider is valuable. “People need to look at their house like product,” says Barb Schwarz, author of Home Staging: The Winning Way to Sell Your House for More Money. “The way you live in your home and the way we market and sell your house are two different things.”

Schwarz tries to utilize what sellers already have. For example, she might move an armchair from the living room into the master bedroom. “You don’t have to get new drapes or new furniture,” Schwarz says. “It’s about using what people have to set the scene.”

Home-staging experts say successful selling is about presentation. Here are two key ways to ensure a winning look:

Clean: “People think their homes are clean, but we all get used to our own dirt,” says Schwarz, who recommends hiring a cleaning service or soliciting a nitpicky third party for feedback on a home’s cleanliness. Along with the obvious such as made beds, spotless bathrooms and pristine floors, attention should extend to cupboards, doors, baseboards and moldings. Also check outside decks, walkways and landscaping. “People forget side yards,” Schwarz adds. “Get tarps and two-by-fours out of there.”

Clutter: A home for sale shouldn’t be bare, but it should be depersonalized. “America is cluttered to pieces,” laments Schwarz. “We have so much stuff. You’re not hiring a Realtor to sell your things. Pack it up now, and save yourself time and stress later on.” With a less-is-more mantra, view your home through the eyes of a potential buyer. “They may not care about your stuffed duck collection,” Schwarz says. “In fact, it could be really distracting.” Think of it like a job interview, when you present yourself in the most favorable light, suggests Valerie Smith, an agent with Sotheby’s in Princeton, N.J. “When a buyer walks into the room, all the lights are on, the fireplace is going if it’s gas, there is soft music in the background,” she says. “We’re going to create this space where someone comes in and they really don’t want to leave.”