The latest “secret” to selling a home faster, is called home staging. Home staging could be compared to making your home look like a model home.

In times when the real estate market is slow, staging may not equate to extra dollars, however, a quick sale is often what sellers need.

Earlier I wrote an article about how to stage your home. Here is a link to that article:.How to Stage A Home For Sale

With home staging, you must get creative and show potential buyers how spaces can be used. Spaces must be defined.

A junk room, is not a space, nor is a garage that is filled with boxes, sports equipment, and miscellaneous stuff.

Turn that junk room into a bedroom or home office.

Clean out that garage, so buyers can envision parking their car in it.

Nothing will turn off a buyer faster than massive junk, dirty kitchens and bathrooms, or clutter.

Do not assume that they can “see past it”. Most can’t.

When buyers see uncleanliness, they may also assume routine home maintenance has also been neglected.

It’s not uncommon for a buyer to tell their Realtor “I’ve seen enough”, and move on to the next property.

Many individuals are not creative with space planning.

It becomes your mission to give buyers ideas. Now is the time to dredge up those creative juices and turn your home into an oasis for family time and relaxation.

Let buyers envision living in your home, sitting in a nook with a good book, eating at a small cafe table on the patio, or relaxing on a rocking chair on the porch.

Here’s a short list of simple ideas that can be used for home staging:

1) Use an upholstered chair, small table, and lamp for a reading area. Place an open book on the table, with a pair of glasses sitting on top of it

2) Get a pretty throw to lay across the corner of a bed.

3) Use a small cafe table and two chairs to create either an indoor or outdoor intimate eating area. Set the table with pretty linens, dishes, and maybe a vase of flowers

4) Use a vase of fresh flowers on an end table, sofa table, or bedside table

5) Place a large bowls of lemons, limes, oranges or apples on the kitchen counter or table

6) If you are short of artwork, find pretty pictures in books, tear/cut them out, and frame and mat them.

8.) Candles are an inexpensive decorating item. Simple white candles, of different heights, grouped together on a charger, with some rocks, makes a very pretty accessory.

9) Remember to keep things to a minimum. The less furniture and/or clutter your home has, the larger it will look.

Concentrate on boxing up excess items. Or, this may be a great time for a garage or yard sale.

10) In the kitchen, keep clutter and appliances off of the counter tops. Many home stagers suggest to only have one appliance on the counter top.

11) Wall mirrors (those attached to the walls) are now “dating” a home. Consider removing them.

12) Remember, buyers do not want to look at your home, and start making a list of projects they will have to do. This can turn off some buyers, and/or encourage a buyer to offer a lower price.

If your goal is sell your home fast, now is the time to complete those unfinished household projects, clean your house from top to bottom, and get busy staging your home.