A little home staging, a fresh coat of paint and perhaps some new carpet, can go a long way toward making your house appealing and attractive to potential buyers. Take the time to pare everything down to the bare essentials. It is the little touches that can really make a big difference.

Paying attention to detail is crucial to the final results that you will ultimately achieve. Taking the time to stage your home can really pay off. Staged homes can sell from as much as 3 to 50 percent faster than un-staged homes. Staging can increase the selling price as much as 2 to 10 percent above the selling price of an un-staged home. Get your home ready to sell, both inside and outside. Start by staging your home now!

OPEN HOUSE SUCCESS:

Once they got the house cleaned, staged, and appraised, Lisa and Rick started planning and advertising for their first open house. Proper timing is critical when you are planning an event such as an open house. You want to advertise well enough in advance to generate enough publicity make sure that plenty of people come through. The first ad announcing their open house was scheduled to run one week before the actual event. So, they had plenty of time to prepare. Check the newspaper and other advertising media to see when other local sellers are holding open houses. Most likely, you will find that weekend afternoons work best for open house events. It can be to your advantage if there are other local open houses scheduled to happen on the same day and at around the same time as yours. The more open house events there are in one area at a given time, the more traffic there will be for you.

Open House Safety Tips:

If you do your marketing job well, your open house will be well-attended by many wonderful people whose company you will probably enjoy. Unfortunately, all of the people who visit your open house may not have your best interests at heart. So, don't become a crime statistic during your open house. Theft and other crimes can happen at events such as these more often than you might think. Plan and prepare with safety at the top of your list. These are some basic and important precautions you can take to help assure your safety:

• Create easy escape routes. Unlock all doors and deadbolts. Clear the path to all hallways and doorways. Do not block exits with your display tables.

• Don't be alone. Always have someone with you when you host an open house. If your spouse or partner cannot be there, ask a neighbor, relative, or friend to be there with you during the open house. If that is not possible, then you should be sure to have someone on the outside that you can call periodically to check in. Let someone know what you are doing so they can keep tabs on you. Call in hourly, so they can check on you if they don’t hear from you.

• Guard your back. Always walk behind prospects while touring the home. Allow them to enter and leave rooms first so that everything that you need to be aware of is in front of you.

• Keep keys and phone with you. Keep your cell phone or the (cordless) home phone with you as you tour the home with your prospects. Have your car keys in your hand, pocket or handbag. You might need to make a hasty exit and call for help.

• Get license plate numbers if you can. Try to have a vantage point where you can get a clear view of each car so you can jot down license plate numbers. If something disappears from your home, you'll have information for the police report.

Parking Space & Curb Appeal:

Park your vehicle out of the way so that there is plenty of room for your visitors to park. Many people might be inclined to drive by and skip your open house if there is no convenient parking available for them. Curb appeal can't be stressed enough. Make the exterior of the home as attractive as possible. In the race to capture the time and attention of the house-hunters on open house day, the importance of making a good first impression is critical. Remove debris and clean the porch and entryway.

Show Your Stuff:

Display your promotional literature near the front entry, but not blocking it. You should have color brochures, financing information, home operational literature (booklets and manuals to all major appliances, HVAC, water softener, etc), comparable sales stats, utility costs, or any other information that might be of interest to your prospective buyers. Make sure that all of your brochures and other promotional materials are eye-catching and full of pertinent details. You want your potential buyers to leave your open house with something that will prompt their memory of your home at the end of a tiring day of looking at perhaps dozens of homes.

Make your home pleasant and inviting.

Whenever you have a showing or host an open house, you want to make sure that the house is very clean and organized. Turn on some soft music and welcome potential home buyers into your home with the warm and cozy aroma of an apple pie baking in the oven. In general make the home as appealing as possible.