Here’s the thing about organization: It’s all about taking small bites.  Divide and conquer.

You don’t have to organize the whole house at once. Choose one room and then choose one small part of that room.  Start with a closet, or start with one desk drawer.

It doesn’t matter where you start.  Once you start, you build momentum. The act of organizing creates a sense of accomplishment which propels you on to the next area to conquer.  Get that ball rolling and it’s actually hard to stop.

Organization is simple - It’s getting started that is so difficult!

TIP: Sort items into three piles…. Keep, Toss, and Donate.

Organize your small “keep” items by grouping them together in decorative containers.  Containers not only make it easier to store the items, they make for a much cleaner look.

Most sellers who hire a professional home stager for a marketing consultation don’t have prior experience with staging.

Warning:  Your Home Staging Consultation Could Get Physical!

This is when the real fun begins – when furniture gets moved and pictures come off the walls and accessories are traded from one room to another.  For those who aren’t expecting it and have never experienced it before, it can be a real surprise.

Furniture placement is crucial when marketing a house. A home staging consult will usually involve moving furniture.  Most sellers come away from the experience loving the results and wishing they had done it much sooner.

To choose the right professionals, you must invest some time.  You’re going to have to ask a lot of questions.

Get your ASK in gear if you want to get your house sold!

When choosing a professional, it is best to interview at least three candidates. Ask a lot of questions…you are depending on them to help sell your greatest asset.

Questions to ask Realtors include:

• Are you full or part time?
• Do you work predominantly with buyers or sellers?
• How knowledgeable are you with my area?
• Do you have a website and/or blog?  How often do you update your website or blog?
• How do you intend to market my property other than listing it on MLS?
• Will my property be listed on your website?
• Do you use video?
• What will the cost be?  Are there any fees beyond your commission?
• Will I be working directly with you or with an assistant?
• Can you provide references?

Questions to ask a Home Stager include:

• How long have you been in business?
• Do you specialize in occupied or vacant properties?
• Are you familiar with my area and do you know the target buyer for my home?
• Do you have a portfolio of your work?
• Are the photos of your actual work, or do you use stock photos?
• Do you provide digital photos of your completed work?  What is the cost?
• Are you registered with the state?
• Are you fully insured?
• What are your rates?
• Can you provide references?

NOTE: At this time there is no independent organization that certifies or licenses home stagers, and no government oversight regulating home staging business practices.  If a home stager has a designation after their name, it comes from whatever training courses they have taken.

Ask questions to get answers to what is important to you. You are not looking for the “best” realtor or stager.  You are looking for the best realtor or stager for you.  Make your selection based on the answers given and how comfortable the people make you feel.

While you are preparing and decorating for your holiday dinner, consider giving your children a more festive atmosphere too.  Dressing up the kids table is easy, quick and inexpensive.

A King size pillowcase is the perfect size to create an instant child-size chair cover. Slip pillowcase over chair and then tie decorative ribbon to hold in place, creating a big bow in the back.

A simple plastic tablecloth cut in half and tied at the legs with matching ribbon completes the look. I used the other half of the tablecloth as a topper to give a more formal, layered look.

Beauty is not in the eye of the beholder! Your perception of your home’s worth, condition, and appeal to buyers could work against you.

What is attractive, appealing, or comfortable to you may not be so appealing to the masses.

One man’s idea of valuable collectables is another man’s idea of clutter.

One man’s idea of neutral can be another man’s idea of cold.

You may think your gold hardware looks rich, but to potential buyers it’s dated and will cost them money to replace.

As beholder of this valuable product your eyes have been clouded by emotional attachment and can’t be trusted.

Professional preparation of your home is the best way to guarantee that your product for sale will strike a chord in the hearts of buyers. Whether it’s your real estate agent or a home stager you choose to help you prepare your house, not all professionals are created equal.

The best way to know if a professional is right for you is to look at pictures of their work. Don’t hire a home stager without seeing their portfolio.  Don’t choose a Realtor without checking their current listings.  The best indication of the quality of their future work is pictures of their past work.

Beauty is not in the eye of the seller…it’s in the eye of the buyer!

First question:  Do you know who your buyer is? If you are going to successfully set the stage for your house to sell, you need to know who your target audience is.  The features you highlight will be different for a family than for a single professional.

If there is an elementary school in your neighborhood and young families currently living on your street, it stands to reason that your buyer will be a young couple with children or newlyweds planning to start a family.  If your house has three bedrooms and you are using one for storage and one as an office, you need to prepare these two rooms as bedrooms in order to better appeal to your target buyers.

Look at your house from the buyer’s standpoint and then offer them exactly what they are looking for.

• Create greater perceived value with fresh paint and new carpet.
• Create greater perceived space by removing half of what’s in the closets.
• Arrange furniture to define space and function.
• Remove all personal items that make it your home.
• Clean from top to bottom
• Highlight the features that would be appealing to your target buyer.

Don’t underestimate the power of negative impression. If you get ten compliments on a new haircut and then one person makes fun of you, the negative comment will be the most memorable of all the comments you receive.  One negative erases ten positive…it’s that powerful.

There is a lot of attention given to the power of positive thinking, but when it comes to selling your house, it is very important that you take into consideration the power of negative impression.

Today’s buyers are looking for move-in ready, not a house they have to improve or customize to meet their needs.  They are more likely to notice negative features before positive ones, and the negative features will make a stronger impression on them.

Positive marketing begins with preparation and positive impression begins with quality MLS photos. Picture selection for MLS is crucial.  Show eight fabulous pictures and then one bad one and it’s the bad one that will get the most attention and make the strongest impression.

It is very difficult to see your own house through buyer’s eyes. Your emotional attachment hinders your ability to be impartial.     If you want buyers to notice the positive features in your house, those features need to be highlighted and the negative features need to be minimized.

Consult with a professional home stager to learn more about creating the right impression through preparation and presentation.

Get the buyers’ attention.  Show them something that they are not expecting.

Surprise them!

After a long day of touring nightmares, make your house the house of their dreams.

Show them something they didn’t see in any of the other houses.  Show them clean, organized, freshly painted.  Show them light and spacious.

Here is a novel idea:

Clean under the sink, organize all the cabinets, drawers, and closets.  Clean inside the oven and refrigerator.  Clean all the windows.

It’s really not that hard to impress buyers when your competition is so bad!

The more a buyer believes the house has been well maintained, the more valuable they perceive it to be.

If you want buyers to believe your house has been well maintained, then you have to go above and beyond basic cleaning.  You have to create the impression that the most meticulous of clean freaks has lived in the house.  Clean areas most sellers don’t clean, like the inside of the refrigerator and oven.  Organize all the cabinets, closets, and vanities and clean under the kitchen sink.  Organize all the kitchen drawers.  If you really want to blow them away, organize and clean the basement and garage.

Contrary to popular belief…allowances are a bad idea.

Buyers don’t want an allowance to have the carpet replaced or the roof fixed.  They want to move in without having to make improvements.  A worn carpet or old roof just tells buyers that you haven’t maintained the house.  It makes them then wonder what else hasn’t been properly cared for.

And yet… look through the MLS at pictures people are using to represent their “product for sale.”   Home staging is still a fairly new concept in New Hampshire and it is obvious that the secrets are not all out of the bag just yet.

My favorite home selling improvement is updating light fixtures. Most sellers never consider the impact that their light fixtures can make and many Realtors are surprised when I suggest replacing them.  It’s a subtle, subconscious message:

Dated, cheap, or worn fixtures devalue your house.

It doesn’t cost much to make a huge difference and add tremendous perceived value.

This bedroom ceiling fixture was updated for $17 - Ceiling fan purchased at Home Depot on clearance.

For under $50 this light was replaced, instantly increasing the home’s perceived value.

This foyer light fixture was replaced for $54, adding tremendous impact to the entrance.

Home staging is more than decorating and much more than decluttering.  It’s a whole series of things that add up to strategic marketing.

One more thing: Be consistent throughout your house with the finish and style of lighting fixtures you choose.  Consistency makes for a better flow and adds to the “perception of greater value” you are looking to achieve.