Preparing a home is one way to sell it quickly

By MATTHEW McGRATH
No matter what the market looks like, selling a home is about getting people into the house and getting them to imagine themselves living in that space.

And, let's face it, the housing market has been better.

The number of homes selling are dropping, prices are falling and the number of homes on the market are increasing, along with foreclosures and repossessions.

The National Association of Realtors, in its April home sale forecast, does not expect the housing market to get any worse. But, it also does not expect that the housing market will get any better for at least six months.

As any real estate agent would say, the more time a house spends on the market, the less likely the owner will get their asking price.

Despite the market, preparing a home for sale, or staging it, is one way to close faster.

"It's just the basics," said Robert Bornstein, the owner of Homeowner Concepts and 123 Realtors in Toms River. "You have to improve curb appeal and reduce the clutter in your home."

"A couple of years ago, this would not have been necessary," said Phyllis Pamfumi, owner of Restyled to Sell in Old Bridge.

Now, it's absolutely necessary, she added. "Especially, in this market."

How to stage a home for sale depends on the type of home being sold and the neighborhood where it's located.

"You don't want to put in granite counter tops into your kitchen if you live in a moderate neighborhood," said Stephanie Singer, a National Association of Realtors spokeswoman. "That may not be the type of improvement that buyers want."

New siding, windows or landscaping might be warranted outside. Inside, new carpeting could be installed, new paint applied, and family photos or other knickknacks removed.

"You want to create the illusion of space," said Jayne Camlin, an agent with Gloria
Nielsen Realtors in Englishtown. "You can't sell how you live."

Rearranging furniture or painting a room to accent the home's highlights is important because it draws buyers' attention away from the sellers' lives and into the way they think their lives could be in a particular home.

"They are not buying your furniture," Pafumi said. "They are buying the fireplace; they are buying the picture window or they are buying the square footage."

Singer recommended checking the competition by going to neighborhood open houses. It's a good way to compare a home to others in the same area, she said.

"You want your home to look like others around it," Singer said.

Staging a home before it goes on the market is the key.

"A lot of people stage the home after it has been on the market for six months. By that time, they have already gone through two price reductions," Pamfumi said. "When it's market-worn, we have to stage it to get that asking price."

Potential buyers need to be "wowed," when they walk into a home, Singer added.