Boosting curb appeal and staging your home to sell

A crucial part of selling a home is making sure the exterior is appealing and the inside is flawless. This may require some staging and these tips will show you how to start the process.

Follow these expert steps to give your home curb appeal.

• Walk the perimeter of your house, removing all garbage cans, woodpiles and leftover building materials.
• Clean and sweep gutters. Check for roof moss and dry rot.
• Prune bushes and trees. Remove all dead plants or shrubs. Keep plants from blocking windows.
• Weed and mulch all planting areas.
• Keep lawn freshly cut, fertilized and watered.
• Clear patios and decks of all small items, such as small planters, pots, charcoal, barbecue grills, toys and tools. (Put them in a shed or storage unit.)
• Check exterior paint — especially the front door and trim, the first detail potential buyers will see. Clean, scrape and repaint if necessary.

The key principles of staging include decluttering, cleaning and "neutralizing." Statistics show that the work of stagers helps houses move faster and often boosts the selling price. Put staging to work in your own home with these tips.

• Think of your home as a product. It must be priced right and look better than the other homes in your marketplace in order to be competitive.
• Prepare to pack early. When you sell your home, you're going to have to move. When you move, you're going to have to pack. Most of the principles of staging just mean that you're going to pack up some of your things early. If you need room to store extra possessions, use the garage or rent a storage unit.
• Neutralize your home. Buyers make decisions in a matter of minutes. If they spend even a few moments admiring your personal belongings, that's a distraction and invaluable time wasted. Removing personal items to allow potential buyers to imagine their belongings in the space.
• Clear surfaces. Remove all unnecessary objects from tabletops, desks and shelves. Keep decorative objects on the furniture restricted to groups of one, three or five items (odd-numbered groups look better). Free up kitchen counter space. Keep the front of the refrigerator bare. In bathrooms, remove unnecessary items. Keep only the most necessary items in one small group on the counter.

• Thin out crowded rooms. Rearrange or remove some of the furniture. Less furniture makes the rooms appear larger.
• Simplify busy walls. Take down, reduce or rearrange pictures and objects on walls.
• Organize closets. Pack up and remove all seasonal clothes from your closets so they appear bigger.
• Patch, paint and clean like crazy. Spackle wall holes and cracks. Apply a fresh coat of paint to rooms that need it. (Neutral wall colors, such as tan, taupe, beige and cream, paired with bright white trim, lend a clean, classic and spacious look to rooms.) Clean carpets and drapes if they need it. Clean windows to invite natural light and enhance views. If an object can't be cleaned or repaired, repaint it or replace it.
• Decorate dead space. If you've got unused rooms or finished basement space, help buyers envision how they might use the space. Turn that extra bedroom into a home office. Set up a desk and computer, even if you have to borrow props or buy them at a local thrift shop.