advice for sellers: De-Clutter - Easy to Say, Hard to Do - The Psychology of Clutter - 03/03/11 03:12 PM
We're not going to have the room in our lives for what we DO want until we let go of the things we have in our lives that we DON'T want.  I heard these simple yet  life-altering words recently and felt compelled to share them because - de-cluttering is perhaps one of the hardest things for home sellers to do.  I think it is because when sellers look around their homes, they don't see clutter.  They see their furnishings, their belongings, their treasures.  To them it's "their stuff" - how dare we call it "clutter"?

Nonetheless, "Clutter Kills Equity" is … (70 comments)

advice for sellers: Why Do Sellers Do This to Themselves In Such a Competitive Market?! - 02/28/11 04:08 AM
Why do sellers do this to themselves in such a competitive housing market?  There is no shortage of information about how to prepare a home for sale. It's EVERYWHERE - on TV, online, in books, magazines, newspapers - advice on how to make your house look attractive to buyers is everywhere. So WHY aren't more sellers doing it? I consistently see homes that are not properly prepared for sale and every time I wonder ... WHY?  I see it a lot so I wonder A LOT.  Why do sellers do this to themselves in such a competitive real estate market?  Maybe … (14 comments)

advice for sellers: Do You Need a Degree in Interior Design to be a Home Stager? - 02/10/11 03:32 PM
Do you need a degree in interior design to prepare a home for sale?  NO. (But a PhD in psychology might come in handy.) 
Of course a knack for decorating is importatnt but there's A LOT more to preparing homes for sale than just making houses look pretty!   Ideally, the person you hire to help you get your house ready to sell should know something about PEOPLE and the wide range of emotions experienced during the home sale process.
Often sellers need TIME to prepare for this huge life-altering event ahead of them.  Some might have unpleasant circumstances forcing them … (18 comments)

advice for sellers: Your House Speaks Volumes .... What Messages Are You Sending? - 02/02/11 02:40 PM
Every inch of your house tells a story. The way that you prepare - or don't prepare your home for sale says a lot about you and your house.   Sellers, you have the ability to send very powerful messages to your prospects and it's up to you to decide if those messages are positive or negative....
Messy and overstuffed closets could be saying to your potential buyers, "there's not nearly enough space for my stuff, there will never be enough room for yours."  On the other hand closets that are neatly organized could be shouting, "look at how spacious these … (21 comments)

advice for sellers: How to Look at Your Home Through Buyers' Eyes - 01/27/11 04:00 PM
It's quite common for home sellers to find it difficult to look at their home - REALLY look at their home - the way a buyer would. We call this looking at your home through "Buyers' Eyes" and it's an important part of preparing your house for sale. Why? Because you can't possibly address your home's flaws if you've grown so accustomed to them that you don't even see them anymore. Here's a little trick that might help... Take a few pictures of each room of your house. Be sure to take a few shots from different angles.  Sometimes photographs give … (20 comments)

advice for sellers: How to Paint a Popcorn Textured Ceiling - 01/26/11 12:48 PM
In most cases, the easiest way to REMOVE a popcorn textured ceiling is to mix it with water. Never attempt to paint a popcorn-textured ceiling with a WATER-based latex paint, unless you are absolutley certain it has been painted or primed at least once.
I learned this the hard way and painted a popcorn ceiling in my 30+ year old home. I thought the ceiling would have been painted at least once in all those years - but that was the wrong assumption to make! As I rolled on the ceiling paint, the textured surface stuck right to the roller. The more … (15 comments)

advice for sellers: How to Remove a Popcorn Textured Ceiling - 01/25/11 03:23 PM
In a recent post, What to Do With a Popcorn Textured Ceiling  I took a survey on ....how buyers and real estate professionals really feel about the dreaded popcorn-texutred ceiling?  I received a lot of thoughtful comments and have concluded that while most people DESPISE this particular feature, it's not necessarily a deal breaker (that is, according to those who responded).
Personally, I haven't had any success convincing a seller to remove a popcorn ceiling - usually there are more pressing concerns.  (Of couse ANY ceiling that is peeling, dirty, stained, etc. definitely should be addressed.) That said, SMART home sellers … (91 comments)

advice for sellers: Is that Dated Kitchen Holding You Back? - 01/24/11 03:55 PM
My friend Lisa Leonardi (a.k.a. The Room Doctor) is an amazing home stager and interior re-designer.  She serves Madison CT and the surrounding shoreline area and specializes in vacant home staging. 
At a recent event at her home, she was kind enough to introduce me to a great resource, one she's used several times and recommends quite highly ..... MrResurface. If you have a dated kitchen, MrResurface provides a relatively inexpensive way to give it a whole new look and feel.  You can have the look of granite, marble, or corian without having to spend the $45 (or more) a … (13 comments)

advice for sellers: What to do with a Popcorn Textured Ceiling - 01/23/11 01:16 PM
The DREADED "Popcorn" texured ceiling ....also [not so affectionately] known as the "cottage cheese" ceiling. While this type of textured ceiling is quite common here in the Northeast, it seems to be hated by most. Conventional wisdom dictates that since todays buyers seem to detest this particular architectual feature (if we can call it that) we as stagers should be advising our sellers to remove it.  I'm taking a survey, so please tell me  DO YOU AGREE with this advice?  This assumes the ceiling is otherwise clean and in good repair. 

Photo by Valerie Zinger
Having done it more … (27 comments)