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Basic rules for proper home staging: The house must be clean. None of us is perfect at keeping a spotless home, but while a home is on the market, it should be as tidy as possible for poten tial buyers to see it looking its best. My advice is to think about hiring a professional cleaning crew to visit periodically while the home is listed to freshen things up as needed. Don’t for get about windows, chimneys, shutters, and other places that you might not normally look at on the exterior! Downsize on clutter. Clutter can distract the eye and keep buyers from appreciating the beauty and spaciousness of a room. Surfaces — think coun tertops, coffee tables and kitch en tables — should be visible. Depersonalize. I know refrigerator artwork and family photos hanging on the wall are of utmost importance to you — but they also make it tougher for a buyer to picture their own

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While this may seem to be the easiest thing to do if your home was previously on the market and didn’t sell, and you can just get the sale “over with,” it’s not the first step you should take to sell your home. In many cases, dropping your price will allow you to land a buyer more quickly, but it’s also a way you can shortchange yourself —sometimes by thousands of dollars — before you’ve exhausted your other options. Just because you can lower the number doesn’t mean it’s in your best interest to do so. Instead, with the help of a good real estate agent, like myself, you can focus on getting your buyers to see the value of your home, and you’ll be more likely to sell your house for your asking price, or even higher. Should You Just Lower the Price?

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