The Real Estate Team of Sandee Abern and Clint Wolf

Helping Lake County, Illinois home buyers and sellers for over 19 years!

Staging Your Home

Before you start showing your home, it's a good idea to think about

how best to present it to buyers. This is called staging. Here are

some staging tips...

1) The most important staging tip is to make sure that your home is absolutely clean. In fact, your 

home should sparkle! A dirty, untidy home doesn't show as well and tells perspective buyers 

that your home is probably not well taken care of. 

2) Check out your kitchen. Clear off your countertops of unneeded appliances or knick-knacks. 

Make space in your cabinets & make sure that they are extra clean. Clean your appliances, 

walls and floors. Clear off & dust off the top of your refrigerator. Make sure that any 

windows in your kitchen (and throughout your home) are clean & clear. Avoid strong 

cooking smells (it's not a bad idea to put out some potpourri when people are looking at home). 

3) Inspect your bathrooms. Like your kitchen, these should be sparkling clean. Make sure that

all soap scum has been scrubbed away. Replace any damaged or discolored grout. If

possible, replace any broken ceramic tiles. Make sure that your hanging towels are clean &

orderly. Make sure that your vanity is clean and organized. Make sure that your vanity

mirror is sparkling clean. Consider leaving out some scented soaps or potpourri. 

4) Make sure that your closets are as open and empty as possible, so that buyers can

appreciate their size. Give away any old clothes that are cluttering them up. Remove

out of season clothing and pack it away. Remove boxes and cartons. Replace any burned 

out closet light bulbs. Make sure that your closet doors open and close easily and 

line up correctly. Arrange clothing so the closet looks neat & orderly.  

5) Make sure that your family room looks nice & neat. Put away toys and other clutter. 

Arrange furniture so it looks nice. Make sure that the carpeting is clean & in good 

shape (this applies to all of the carpeting in your home). 

6) Carefully inspect your living and dining areas. If you have a fireplace, make sure

that you have logs in it. If any blinds are bent or otherwise damaged, replace them,

If possible, replace any damaged floor tiles. Remove cob webs. Clean lighting fixtures.

If you have hardwood floors, polish them. Place a tasteful centerpiece on your

dining room table. Touch up any paint blemishes. You get the idea.

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