Empty! Clean! Stage! Sold!
So you've decided to sell your house and you have a ton of "stuff" to sort through to do it. Where do you begin? I have two words for anyone thinking of selling. Think Empty. A relatively empty space allows the interested purchaser to see the features of the room without being distracted by our "stuff".
So emptying the space is the first step to presenting your home as a product for sale rather than your home for sale. Once the space is more or less empty of the little niknaks that have been collected over the years you can actually play with placement of the furniture pieces you have so that the space in the room is emphasized. 
Show off the beautiful bathroom by removing everything from the counters. Only a few pieces which are not personal should be exposed on the counter space. And it must sparkle and shine! Even the slightest hint of untidyness or dirt will put off a purchaser immediately. It's an emotional response to your house and cleanliness counts. 
The best feeling comes from entering a space that is pretty much like a hotel room. There are no personal items in a hotel room and people feel like it's their own immediately upon entering the space. They begin imagining their own special decorations around the room and can begin a process of emotional attachment to the house. If it feels like they are invading someone else's domain, it will take huge leap of faith to get past that and into the head space of placing an offer. So, the advice is: Make it Theirs not Yours!
Notice that this kitchen is impeccably clean and there is nothing at all on the counters, not even a toaster!
Finally, the smell of your home is crucial. It must smell freshly cleaned. Cigarette smoke or residue smells are a turn off and will knock thousands off the price of your house. It makes it an immediate "fixer upper" in a purchaser's mind. Pet smells are also a turn off and indicate a lack of cleanliness. My best advice for top dollar is that kitty litters are out in the garage or better yet, someone else look after the pets for a few weeks, while you sell. All this is for top dollar on your home. If you intend to ask the upper end of it's market value then you must present it as such.
Remember that when you have an open house, you must first air it out - open the windows and then it's a great idea to bake some premade cookies. There's nothing like the smell of baking wafting through a house you are visiting for the first time. Now that's an emotional POW and much more pleasant than deodorizing sprays.
If these tips present way more work than you can handle, then I have a team of specialists who can help you to package and store your personal items. (Keep in mind you are moving and so you will have to package them anyway at some point, so why not when it will make a positive financial impact?) My team of decor specialists will also advise you on rearranging furniture and help you add in some bling with stylish decor additions we have in stock. Sometimes it's just not possible to do the Hotel look when you have to live in it with the kids and the dog but even looking into how far you can go, and taking it there, will help you get top dollar. Most importantly, Think Empty, Think Clean, and Put on the Cookies!
Laurette Anderson, Newport Realty
