8 tips to getting the most money for your home

Try these tricks to help stage your house for resale

By Barbara Corcoran

TODAY SHOW updated 2:06 p.m. PT, Fri., Sept. 14, 2007

Thinking about selling your home? Well, it's a buyers market, so it pays to make your home stand out. According to the International Association of home stagers, staging your home can increase your sale price by an extra seven percent and makes it move up to 100 days faster. Here are eight tricks for staging your home, no matter what your budget, from TODAY real estate contributor Barbara Corcoran:

Barbara’s insider tips for staging your home

1. Make the right first impression
Buyers decide in the first eight seconds whether or not they want to buy your home.

• Paint the front door and trim.

• Hang a wreath on the door.

• Add potted flowers (flowers in front say this is a happy house).

• Fertilize the grass to make it bright green.

• Put fresh mulch around the bushes.

• Fix the doorbell if it’s broken.

2. Let the sun shine in!
After location, light is the second most quoted reason why a buyer chooses the house.

• Clean all the windows.

• Replace drapery with sheer curtains or white shades.

• Replace lamp shades with sheer white shades.

• Replace light bulbs with higher wattage.

• Trim back shrubs that block window light.

• Paint the inside walls white.

• Put white slipcovers on all dark furniture.

• Put up lights in each corner of the major rooms.

3. Remove clutter
People can’t visualize themselves living there when they can’t see past your clutter.

• Store half your “stuff,” including knick-knacks and furniture.

• Remove personal objects like family photos and children’s artwork.

• Remove all objects from closet floors.

• Put half your clothes into storage.

• Make your linen closet meticulous; people judge hidden wiring and plumbing by how neat your linen closet is.

• Hide all electric cords and wiring.

• Eliminate unhealthy plants.

• Put fresh sheets on beds with four extra pillows.

4. Send kitty to Grandma’s House
People buy with their eyes and their noses.

• Remove kitty litter, dog beds and other smelly pet items.

• Warm a few drops of vanilla inside the oven door.

• Smoke outside; remove ashtrays.

• Open all windows an hour before the buyer arrives.

• Keep the trash can clean.

5. Freshen the kitchen
The kitchen is everyone’s favorite room in the house.

• Clear all countertops.

• Replace cracked, scratched or broken appliances.

• Re-grout the tile.

• Wax the floors.

• Update kitchen knobs.

• Paint or replace cabinet fronts.

• Put in a window; it can increase the value of your home by 10 percent.

6. Clean the bathroom
No one wants to move into your bathroom.

• Scrub the walls and floors.

• Clear off all shelves and put away personal items.

• Re-grout tiles and replace caulking.

• Hang a new shower curtain.

• Buy fresh hand towels and rug.

• Replace old soap.

7. Add color
Touches of yellow and other warm colors say ‘welcome home.’

• Buy new throw pillows for the sofa and bed.

• Add a fresh ficus tree.

• Define areas with colorful rugs.

8. Don't empty out the house
An empty house makes the seller look desperate. Buyers generally don't pay full price for an empty house. In addition empty rooms look smaller.

• Rent or borrow furniture if you need to in order to make the home look lived in and give the buyer a sense of space.