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Maximize Your Chances for Success: Make the Most of This Book

In 2007 I put the ideas and concepts of this book into action and sold my home within three days, for 98 percent of the asking price. The best part of my experience was the confidence I felt when it went onto the market. I had peace of mind; I knew it would sell fast, and I found the whole process relatively easy and stress free.

This book is designed specifically with you in mind: the average, busy, working person. I am married and have two active young boys, I volunteer, and I run a successful business — so I know what busy is too. I provide reasonable advice on how to best prepare a home for the market. I don’t tell you to do anything I could not do myself. This book contains everything that I advise clients, including creative ideas, solutions, and suggestions for how to acquire the basic skills required to carry out the work.

My approach to preparing a home for sale has always been a combination of proven staging techniques and target marketing strategies. After all, you are selling a product. You don’t need to be a professional to stage a home, but you do need to be a little bit creative. If you have physical restrictions, no access to help, or challenges (as described later in the book), you may want to seek assistance from professionals. It won’t cost you any money if you figure in what you’ll save if you hire them.

This book will also give you all of the information, tips, techniques, and checklists that you need to bring your house up to today’s high market expectations. You can copy and modify the checklists provided in the appendixes, and use them as you follow this book. You may find it helpful to organize everything in a binder so you can keep track of what you need to do during the process of selling your house and moving to your next home.

The Sequence of Events in the Home Staging Process

There is no way for anyone to write out a complete priority list to help you with the complicated task of prepping your home for sale, because there are so many variables that can change or may be unique to you and your family.

The best way to make this transition as stress free as possible is to make an effort to be flexible. Flexibility is the key to overcoming any challenges that may come your way. The following priority list is put together to offer you some guidance and to help you navigate through the staging process:

• Read through this book completely before you begin, to get a good idea of the tasks required during the process.

• Put on your “buyer’s eyes” and complete your “Home Improvement Checklists,” available in Appendix II. The home improvement part of the process can take quite some time, depending on the size of your home and the amount of work that needs to be done. The checklists are designed so that you can use a new list for each room, to ensure that you are thorough. Take advantage of the time you spend in each room and consider what your target market may be interested in. Decide if you want to invest in your house to maximize its value and to increase the chances of selling it faster.

• Next, use the “Home Staging Checklists,” available in Appendix III. It will also be helpful if you write down your own ideas that are specific to your house as you go through the process.

• At this point, your to-do list and the rest of your “General Checklists” (available in Appendix I) may seem overwhelming, but they will help you organize everything you need to do.

• Then, pack everything you will not be using in the next six to nine months. Enlist some help as de-cluttering and pre-packing are big jobs. See Chapter 8, “Packing and Moving Tips,” for more suggestions.

• Your home will then be ready to stage. Proven ideas and techniques listed in Chapters 4, 5, and 6 can now be implemented.

• Once you feel that you have successfully prepared your home for the market, check your “Home Staging Checklists” again to determine if there is anything you have overlooked. Sketch furniture arrangements on the “Furniture Layout Grid” supplied in Appendix I to figure out the best way to provide an effective traffic flow. Often, you can get a better idea of a room’s traffic flow when viewing it from above.

• Ideally, it is at this point that you will call your real estate agent to provide you with an accurate market analysis. Your agent can provide you with the best possible price for your house because you will already have highlighted the home’s best features and eliminated many of the key obstacles buyers use to chip away at your asking price.

• If you chose to stage your house after it was put on the market, it would be a good idea to invite your real estate agent back, so he or she can realize its greater potential and take new pictures to put on the cut sheet and the Internet.

• In order to maintain the level of excellence you’ve worked so hard to achieve in your home, keep your “Open House Checklist” (available in Appendix I) close by at all times.

• Relax for the moment, because before long, you’ll be moving. To help set priorities relating to the big move, read Chapter 8, “Packing and Moving Tips.”