Ready. Set. Sell: Top Tips & Tricks to Stage Your Home For Maximum Profit

Getting your home ready to sell? Sweat the details now...for great results when it's time to put your home on the market.

Once you make the decision to sell your home, it's time to start preparing it for sale. Our mission as ERA® sales associates is to help you make your house stand out online, during open houses and showings. Our home staging guide can help your property stand out from the dozens of houses that buyers see. To become the one that they see themselves calling "home." Home staging is the key to that transformation. Whether you are selling in the Lowcountry - Hilton Head Island, Bluffton or Beaufort - or need to sell a home to move down to paradise, start the staging process with the 12 steps below. Then download the full guide to take you through the complete process of staging your home for a quick and profitable sale.

SET THE STAGE: 12 SIMPLE STEPS

Staging your home systematically allows you to plan and prepare your property for sale. We suggest home staging be conducted room by room and that you do not stage the entire house at once. Follow these 12 steps in each room and you'll be done before you know it.

1. Assess the room. Make note of the rooms' function and if it could work as anything else. Take inventory. What would you notice if you were a potential buyer?
2. Pick a focal point for each room. Select one asset that highlights the room's attributes. Start with that point and work to draw attention to it.
3. Remove clutter. Knickknacks and mementos make a home comfortable and lived in, but to sell a house, it is better to remove most personal items. Buyers will feel more like they are shopping and less like they are intruding.
4. Depersonalize. Remove personal collections and pictures. Your goal is to make your property appeal to the largest pool of potential buyers.
5. Renew, repair or replace. Now is the time to repair and replace all those little items you could live with but that may make a potential buyer wonder "what else is wrong." Before undertaking major repairs or renovations, check in with your ERA® sales associate.
6. Rearrange furniture. Showcase spaciousness by minimizing furniture in dining rooms, bedrooms and living rooms. The pieces you remove could go into storage or be repurposed in other rooms.
7. Re-accessorize. Highlight the focal point of each room. To do this you may want to go back to boxes of items you removed from other rooms. Is there anything that you can use that will coordinate well with your plan for this room?
8. Fine-tune your work. Make sure all details are exactly as you want them. Walk through each room and make sure your attention goes to the desired focal point. Do this exercise with a friend or neighbor and ask them to identify the rooms' focal point. If the focal point is still not clear, then revisit steps one through seven.
9. Clean, clean, clean. Cleanliness leads to sales. Straighten up closets, clean inside kitchen and medicine cabinets. Dust and polish dishes in the china cabinet. Generally assume potential buyers will examine every nook and cranny of your house.
10. Add life. Use potted plants, a bowl of fruit, natural lighting, or anything else that brings the outside in to create a warm environment.
11. Prepare to show. Get in the routine of showing your home. A checklist of showing instructions has been provided for you on page 14. These are things that help present your house at its best.
12. Ask for help. You are not selling your home alone. Your ERA® sales associate has many resources to help, from storage facilities to discounts on repair supplies. As you prepare your home for sale, ask before you act.