Remember back in the day, where the Realtor would bake cookies or an apple pie to help put prospective buyers in a buying frame of mind.  Well, now days it takes more than making your house smell warm and inviting to make it more appealing to those who come to look at it.  It’s take careful planning and knowing how to leave a lasting impression on the home buyers.

Two simple words for you, Home staging is the act of preparing a home (and the contents of the home) for sale, with a special emphasis on presentation and appearance.  By decorating and arranging a home’s interior to present an ideal way of life, buyers are assisted in visualizing themselves in your home. 

Basically, there are five steps to home staging.

• Clean it up
• Getting rid of clutter
• Depersonalizing
• Decorating and accessorizing Maintaining

Clean it up

Even though it may be tough to live in a spotless home ALL the time, this is a necessary change when selling your house.  Make sure you maintain the clean you’ve achieved, even if it requires hiring a house cleaning company.

Getting rid of clutter

Remember that how you live in your home and how you sell your house are two entirely different things. You’re going for a “show home” look! Go room by room, closet by closet, and look at every item. Then decide whether or not you will keep it or donate/sell it!

Depersonalizing

Your charming family pictures, children’s artwork on the refrigerator, and shelves full of sports trophies may mean a lot to your family, but it makes buyers feel as if they are intruding in personalized home. Pack away your personal items into storage.  This help buyers picture their things in your home without having to get past your personal belongings.

Decorating and accessorizing Maintaining

You don’t need to spend a fortune. Even fresh flowers in a vase brighten a bathroom counter. A fresh coat of paint doesn’t cost very much but will add a lot of impact.  New window treatments, fresh flowers, green plants and pretty accessories all pack a punch without breaking the wallet.

Selling your home quickly on the open market is one of the most effective ways to avoid foreclosure. Once the foreclosure process has started, your options become very limited. In the best situation you can sell your property to pay off the mortgage and still end up with a little cash in your pocket. If you can sell it early enough you can also save what is left of your credit rating as well. However just listing a home to be sold on the market is not necessarily the best option and should not be the sole option you look at.

The major downside to listing your home on the open market is time. The process of foreclosure is not going to stop just because you have an intent to sell. You will find yourself competing in a stressful race to unload your home before the lender gets it. The fact that you are going through a foreclosure process is stressful enough without adding any unto pressure on yourself.

In this economy the housing market is in a real slump. Even high end homes are dropping in value and the number of them coming on the market is growing according to the Dallas News. Homes can typically be on the market for six to twelve months before anybody makes you a serious offer. You can in some cases work with a lender to extend some time, but most mortgage companies will not but the process on hold for a year and postpone a sheriffs sale.

One way to avoid the lengthy process of selling your house is to do a short sale. This can be beneficial if you have little to no equity built up. Though short sale procedures differ bank to bank, selling short would require the lender to accept a lower amount of payoff. If the bank will accept the offer it will get you out of the foreclosure process. You will not get anything coming away from the sale, but it is better than letting the foreclosure play out and ruin your credit.

Another way to avoid a foreclosure is to sell your home to an investor. Selling your home to an investor that specializes in helping you avoid foreclosure will get your home sold quickly. Not only that, but in many cases you can come away from the sale with some extra money to take care of other needs that you have.

If you are facing an upcoming foreclosure, the best option at that point is to sell your home quickly. Find yourself a home investor that specializes in your immediate need. The sooner you can eliminate the foreclosure process, the sooner you can get your life and finances back on track.