Book Review by Sveta Melchuk

Sveta Melchuk, the founder of Decora Solutions, a Montreal area firm
which specializes in Home Staging and Interior Redesign, was given the chance to review 2 chapters of 301 Simple Things You Can Do To Sell Your Home Now and For More Money Than You Thought. Here is what she had to say:

I scanned through the material you sent me last night and I could not stop until I finished....I thought it was very positive, clear, easy to read, interesting, full of tips and good ideas and very professional....I will be pleased to recommend your book and I will be purchasing a copy for myself.

Be sure to buy and read it for yourself!

Home Staging Stats Tell It All!

Instead of waiting the typical 4+ months and then taking a reduced price on your home, why not invest in home staging! Doing so will drastically decrease the amount of time your home spends on the market - up to 20 times faster - as well as increase the amount you get for your home - six percent over listing is typical!

To learn more about home staging, buy 301 Simple Things You Can Do To Sell Your Home NOW and For More Money Than You Thought.

Home Staging Advice from Mary Larsen of Larsen-Trochlil Designs

Mary Larsen of Larsen-Trochlil Designs offers the following professional tip: Do not offer money towards painting or installing new carpeting. Remember, if you are not willing to do it, your buyer is not likely to either.

To learn more tips from professional Mary Larsen as well as many other professionals, buy 301 Simple Things You Can Do To Sell Your Home NOW and For More Money Than You Thought.

Home Staging Is Cost Effective

One of the most important things you can do to sell your home quickly and for the highest possible price is to "stage" it. The proof is in the pudding:

- According to the National Association of Realtors, for every dollar sellers put into staging, they get $4 back
- The average increase over the listing price is 6.32%. On a $500,000 house, that is nearly $32,000 and will more than pay for your professional real estate agent! Think of home staging as a way to get your real estate agent for free!

A real estate professional has the knowledge, experience, and qualifications to sell your home. A home stager has the knowledge, experience, and qualifications to prepare your home for the sale. Although professional services are not free, the cost of the services more than exceeds the benefits received!

Selling your home can be a trying time. Why wouldn't you want to decrease the time your home spends on the market while increasing your sales price? Relying on a home stager can make all the difference.

To learn more about staging your home, buy 301 Simple Things You Can Do To Sell Your Home NOW and For More Money Than You Thought.

Home Staging and FSBO

FSBO homes, based on the average home price, sold for $60,000 less ($87,200 FSBO vs $247,000 agent assisted). There are several reasons for this number:

1. Difficult to figure out the price
2. Lack of Internet use
3. Don't know how to get the home ready for the sale.

Contacting a home stager help you get your home ready. Home staging will also help you increase the selling price of your home.

Additionally, since the Internet is used by over 70% of potential buyers, FSBOs should use the Internet. Having beautiful photos of your staged home will be a huge plus.

To learn more about home staging, buy 301 Simple Things You Can Do To Sell Your Home NOW and For More Money Than You Thought.

Home Staging and Photos

When you stage a home, it looks beautiful for photos. Since pictures are worth 1000 words, you want to be sure that your home is saying the right thing. Now, more than ever, photos are important because they are not only used in print, but also on the Internet.

Actions taken as result of using Internet site:

Drove by/viewed a home - 74%
Walked through a home viewed online- 61%

To find out tips on how to make your home a photo showcase, buy 30 Simple Things You Can Do To Sell Your Home NOW and For More Money Than You Thought.

Home Staging: Add Lighting for Beauty

Nothing transforms a house like light. Choosing the right lighting for you home is a great way to create a warm and inviting atmosphere. Although adding lighting to a room is not difficult to do, you will need a plan that considers the variety of activities that will occur there.

1. “Task lighting” allows you to complete a task, such as reading, without getting blinded, but also without needing to strain your eyes to get the job done! Reading requires task lighting that comes from behind the reader's shoulder or reflects off the ceiling or wall.

2. “Accent lighting” highlights or features certain areas. When you look around your home, what do you see? More importantly, what do you WANT to see? It may be a particular piece of artwork, an unusual plant, or an interesting architectural feature. No matter what you choose to emphasize, accent lighting will help it stand out and add a dramatic touch.

3. “Ambient lighting” is the general lighting that provides overall illumination to the areas in use.

Knowing the way you use the room will guide you to choices that change your home from drab to dynamic.

To learn more home staging tips, buy 301 Simple Things You Can Do To Sell Your Home NOW and For More Money Than You Thought.

Redecorate With Paint

There is no easier or cheaper way to redecorate than to paint! Not only can painting a room dramatically change its appearance, you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to do a good job. All you have to do is follow three simple rules:

1. Clean Those Walls: All artists understand the need for a good surface, and painting a room, though not necessarily an artistic endeavor, is no different. It is best to clean the walls with soap and water and then rinse with clear water. Once the wall is dried completely, you are ready to start!

2. Good Paint is the Best Paint: Although you don’t have to buy the most expensive brand out there, good paint is worth the price. It won’t show brush strokes and you can often get by with a single coat.

3. Start From the Top Down: Start with your ceilings, move to your walls, then to your windows and doors, and last but not least, paint those baseboards. It’s the way the professionals do it!

Once you are done, you will hardly recognize the place!

To learn more about home staging, buy 301 Simple Things You Can Do To Sell Your Home NOW and For More Money Than You Thought.

Home Staging and Clutter

The focus of staging is to make a home more marketable by creating the most appealing home to the greatest number of prospective buyers. It should be impersonal enough not to infringe on a buyer's own sense of style.

One of the very first things a homeowner can and should do to begin the staging process is to get rid of clutter:

1. Piles of stuff with no home

2. Unorganized closets, cabinets, and drawers

3. Too much on shelves, tabletops, and mantels

4. Furniture that makes a room feel cramped or doesn’t allow flow

For items one and two, you can easily do this at home. You may even be able to handle what is “too much” when it comes to home accessories. By the time you get to furniture, having a professional home stager is essential.

To learn more about home staging, buy 301 Simple Things You Can Do To Sell Your Home NOW and For More Money Than You Thought.

Home Staging Tip of the Day: Area Rugs

Buyers want to see your carpet or your hardwood floor or your linoleum. Most home stagers suggest removing all area rugs, unless you have a large area of hardwood, where one rug is acceptable. Area rugs make spaces seem more crowded. Without them, your floor plan opens up.

To learn more about home staging, buy 301 Simple Things You Can Do To Sell Your Home NOW and For More Money Than You Thought.

Home Staging Tip of the Day: Adding the Unexpected

Give each room a touch of the unexpected. This can be done with artwork placed in an unusual way, using a piece of furniture in a way that you normally would not use it, or adding a dash of color where the eye least expects to find it. Be creative.

To learn more about home staging, buy 301 Simple Things You Can Do To Sell Your Home NOW and For More Money Than You Thought.

Home Staging Tip of the Day: Let There Be Light

Sometimes, refreshing a room can be as easy as changing a light bulb. Bulbs like GE Reveal filter out yellow rays common in ordinary light bulbs, making colors, fabric, walls, and artwork appear richer, crisper, and more vivid.

To learn more home staging tips, buy 301 Simple Things You Can Do To Sell Your Home NOW and For More Money Than You Thought.

Staging Tip of the Day:Furniture Placement Counts

One of the most important factors to consider when placing items into a room is the idea of transition. As your eye moves around the room, you do not want it jumping from place to place or piece to piece. The movement of the eye should flow – not bounce. To accomplish this, you want to avoid abrupt changes in height.

To find out more about home staging, buy 301 Simple Things You Can Do To Sell Your Home NOW and For More Money Than You Thought.

Home Staging Tip of the Day: Curb Appeal

One way to see if your home has curb appeal is to walk across the street and have a good look at your house. where did your eyes go? They should be drawn to the front door and entryway. If they are not, then you need to do something about it.

To learn more about curb appeal, buy 301 Simple Things You Can Do To Sell Your Home NOW and For More Money Than You Thought.

Home Staging Tip of the Day: Don't Forget the Backyard

Once you have gotten the front yard in shape, it is time to work on the backyard. The most important areas of the backyard are the patios, decks, and porches. Getting these areas up to date will give the buyers a feeling that they are getting bonus space.

To learn more about landscaping and hardscaping techniques, buy 301 Simple Things You Can Do To Sell Your Home NOW and For More Money Than You Thought.

Home Staging Tip of the Day: De-personalize - Don't De-Sparkle

Have you taken away so much that your home no longer has any sparkle? Although YOUR personality needs to be removed, the personality of the house still needs to come through.

To learn more home staging tips, buy 301 Simple Things You Can Do To Sell Your Home NOW and For More Money Than You Thought.

Home Staging Tip of the Day: Bedroom Furniture Placement

In a bedroom, unless you have no other choice, you want to see the foot of the bed when you walk in. You do not want a bed to cross the doorway because it blocks the flow and makes the room look smaller. It is better to see the foot so that you can see the pretty pillows.

To learn more about home staging, buy 301 Simple Things You Can Do To Sell Your Home NOW and For More Money Than You Thought.

Home Staging Tip of the Day: Select a Focal Point

Select a focal point for your room and subtly orient other furnishings and some lighting toward it. If there is a fireplace, it will nearly always be the focal point; other focal points might be bookcases or built-in shelving to house lovely collectibles, or a sofa with a striking painting on the wall above it.

For more tips on home staging, buy 301 Simple Things You Can Do To Sell Your Home NOW and For More Money Than You Thought.

Home Staging: Like With Like

Follow the “like-with-like” rule of the thumb. Tall with tall, small with small, wide with wide, and narrow with narrow will guide you throughout the decorating process. Mimic the shape of each space you are decorating. For example, a sofa should be accessorized with horizontal art so you are complementing wide with wide.

For more home staging tips, buy 301 Simple Things You Can Do To Sell Your Home NOW and For More Money Than You Thought.

Home Staging Works With The Unusual to Make A Home Shine

My favorite decorating tip is to look outside the box. You do not always need to use an item for its intended purpose. For example, do not just use a tablecloth for a table; make it a slipcover for your ottoman. It can save you lots of money and time when you purchase a tablecloth at a local chain verses buying yards of fabric and by purchasing the correct size it can become a no-sew project. Always keep your eyes open for new uses for everyday items.

To learn more about home staging, buy 301 Simple Things You Can Do To Sell Your Home NOW and For More Money Than You Thought.

Home Staging the Kitchen: Counters!

Get everything off the counters. Everything. Remove all appliances from the countertops. Even the toaster. Doing so will make you kitchen look larger and more spacious. It will also keep the buyer’s eye from stopping on a particular item rather than getting a full view of the room. Put the toaster in a cabinet and take it out when you use it. Find a place where you can store everything in cabinets and drawers.

Learn even more about home staging your kitchen when you buy 301 Simple Things You Can Do To Sell Your Home NOW and For More Money Than You Thought!

Home Staging Tip of the Day: Removing Clutter from Your Home - Completely!

Find out what organizations in your area pick up items. Such organizations often include Goodwill, The Salvation Army, veteran’s associations, and other local organizations.

Another good way to get rid of items you no longer need is to use Freecycle. Here, you can list items you no longer need and then choose someone from a list of takers to have them. The best part is the person wanting the items comes to your home on your timetable to get them. You can find a freecycle group in your area by going to www.freecycle.org.

To learn more tips about cleaning and decluttering, as well as hundreds of tips on all aspects of home staging, buy 301 Simple Things You Can Do To Sell Your Home NOW and For More Money Than You Thought.

Home Staging Tip of the Day: What Do You See?

Stand a few feet away from the entrance to the bedroom. What do you see? Whatever you see is the first thing that a buyer will see. Is it pretty? Is it bulky? Does it make the room feel small? Move anything from the doorway that is not inviting.

For more tips like these, buy 301 Simple Things You Can Do To Sell Your Home NOW and For More Money Than You Thought.

Home Staging Tip of the Day: Closets are Crucial

Closets are great for accumulating clutter, though you may not think of it as clutter. Perhaps the clutter is wrapping paper, or Christmas items, or an old sewing machine. Maybe you have some keepsakes, or photo albums. Then of course there are the extra clothes and shoes. None of these things are likely to be in the throw away pile, but they should not be in your closet if you want to reduce the look of clutter.

To learn more decluttering tips and many other home staging books, buy 301 Simple Things You Can Do To Sell Your Home NOW and For More Money Than You Thought.

Home Staging Tip of the Day: Unjumble Your Bathroom

Take a look at your bathroom. If you are like most people, you will find half-used shampoo bottles, a jumble of hair accessories, a curling iron, foam curlers, several cans of shaving cream, tub toys, lotions, medication, books and magazines, oils, candles, toilet paper, and on and on and on. The amount of stuff we store in our bathrooms is far greater than the storage capacity for these small rooms, especially, if like many bathrooms, you have just a medicine cabinet and a very small vanity. The “stuff” that is not in use needs to be boxed up and moved out.

You'll learn more tips when you buy 301 Simple Things You Can Do To Sell Your Home NOW and For More Money Than You Thought.

Home Staging Tip of the Day: Clear Out That Kitchen Junk!

If your kitchen cabinets, pantries, and drawers – even your refrigerator - look jammed packed, it sends a negative message to the buyer. This message is that there is not enough room in your kitchen. If they were looking for plentiful storage space, after opening your crowded cupboards, they will believe that they will not find it in your kitchen. The best way to change this negative first impression is to have as much "empty space" as possible.

For more wonderful tips on home staging, buy 301 Simple Things You Can Do To Sell Your Home NOW and For More Money Than You Thought.

Home Staging Benefits the Real Estate Agent

Staging costs less than a price reduction and keeps your commission from going down!

Your listing will stand out because the home will be "move-in" beautiful.

Homes that have been staged sell for more, thus increasing the property values in the entire area.

Vacant homes sell faster when they are staged - even if only a few rooms!

As the market shifts and homes begin to "sit on the market", you need a solution or competitive advantage to offer discouraged home sellers solutions and get their homes sold.When sales are slow in your area, staged homes sell 50% faster.

Home staging is a win-win proposition. You may be getting a higher commission, but that means your client will be getting a higher price for their home and get more of their equity!

Learn all about staging by buying 301 Simple Things You Can Do To Sell Your Home NOW and For More Money Than You Thought.

Home Staging Statistics All Real Estate Agents Should Know

New England Home Staging has released results for 2006 showing their New Hampshire single family home clients, whom received staging service, averaged 106 days on the market before home staging and 39 days on the market afterward. New construction homes averaged 387 days before staging and 58 days afterward. The company has sent out the results to its clients. Results will be posted on the Web site.

According to a report by the Christian Science Monitor, March 2006, staged homes sell for 7.4 percent more and in half the time.

A HomeGain survey of realtors found that moderately-priced home improvements ranging from $80 - $2,800 made in preparation of the sale yielded the highest returns when a house is sold.

The length of time on the market for a home dropped from an average of 163.7 days to 8.9 days for homes that are staged according to a survey that looked at sales data from 300 homes that were staged between 2004 and 2006.

Homes that were staged from the outset brought the seller an average equity gain of $16,784.18, according to a study of 300 houses from 2004 to 2006. Those that were first listed and then later staged and sold garnered on average equity gain of $14,074.24.

In a cold market, Staged homes sell 50% faster than un-Staged homes.

Home inspectors view Staged homes as well cared for properties.

Appraisers are more likely to appraise Staged homes at full price.

The advertising photos of a staged home show a stellar property making it more likely to draw potential buyers.

To learn more about home staging, buy 301 Simple Things You Can Do To Sell Your Home Now and For More Money Than You Thought

Home Staging Tip of the Day: Have a Plan of Action

If you do not have a plan for what to do with the stuff you no longer need, it will get put in the basement or the attic or the garage or simply stay in a pile in the room where it began. If this happens, then you really did not get rid of clutter – you just moved it to another location. When you are clearing the clutter for home staging purposes, you will have many different piles. Some things may go to a thrift store such as the Salvation Army, some things may go to the dump, some things may go into storage, and some things may be set aside for a garage or yard sale. Knowing what you are going to do with the extra clutter is essential to really decluttering your home.

To learn more about decluttering, as well as many other aspects of home staging, buy 301 Simple Things You Can Do To Sell Your Home NOW and For More Money Than You Thought.

Home Staging Essentials

"Home staging" was coined by Barb Schwarz back in the early '70s, and the concept has become well known as "house fluffing," "dressing to sell," and "home presentation" to name a few, but the concept has not taken hold among home owners when selling a home because many people do not understand the idea or cannot create a workable plan for staging their home correctly.

The focus of staging is to make a home more marketable by creating the most appealing home to the greatest number of prospective buyers. It should be impersonal enough not to infringe on a buyer's own sense of style.

Decorating is optional. Staging, on the other hand, is essential – that is if you want to sell your house for the most possible money in the shortest amount of time. Staging – it is the difference between ordinary and extraordinary.

301 Simple Things You Can Do To Sell Your Home NOW and For More Money Than You Thought will teach you everything you need to know about staging!

Home Staging Tip of the Day: Make Cleaning Fun

Cleaning is rarely fun for anyone, but it does not have to be a terrible chore. Play some fun, lively music. Before you know it, your adrenaline will start pumping and you will be dancing your way through the house.

For tips and tricks on cleaning everything from your oven to your tub, read 301 Simple Things You Can Do To Sell Your Home NOW and For More Money Than You Thought.