Real: Selling home? Try these cheap staging tricks

When it comes to selling your home, appearance is everything. But hiring a professional "stager" to prepare the home for prospective buyers can cost from $50 to $150 an hour.

Fortunately, homeowners can take matters into their own hands, using inexpensive staging tips from Realtors Jessica Page of Innovative Real Estate in Denver and Jennifer Radice of Coldwell Banker in Boca Raton, Fla.

First, pack away personal items.

"The reason you want to 'de-personalize' your home is because you want buyers to view it as their potential home," Page says.

Prospective buyers won't be able to picture themselves in the house if they're surrounded by dozens of photos of your children and grandparents. "Pictures are extremely distracting. You cannot believe how long potential buyers will stop and stare at people they do not know in photos," says Radice, who also recommends removing any religious items from plain view.

Besides attracting the buyer, "you want the buyer's agent to enjoy showing the home. You never know whom they may have if this particular buyer is not interested," Radice says.

Rid your home of clutter so buyers can focus on the house's bones, not the titles in your CD collection.

Radice recommends removing items from countertops in the kitchen and bathrooms.

"If you have kids, get rid of the toys all around the house. For all you know, the buyers could be empty nesters," Radice says.

She suggests putting things in boxes and neatly stacking them in a garage corner. Anything extra should go in a small, rented storage unit. Even better, ask a friend or relative to hang onto your items for free.

Rearrange the rooms to reel in prospective buyers. Make sure each room has a distinct, useful purpose.

Page suggests touring builders' models to see how the rooms are furnished. "Builders are experts on preparing their product for prospective buyers," she says.

Radice says closets should be "neat and organized."

If your home has been painted recently, consider yourself ahead of the game. If not, take a paintbrush to the rooms that need it most. Sellers who paint the interior of their home will see a large return on the investment, Page says.

"Fresh, neutral paint on the walls, trim and doors is worth its weight in gold -- it makes everything appear clean and new," she says.

No one wants to look at a dirty home -- especially not prospective buyers. So make sure your house or condo shines from top to bottom.

Cleaning and deodorizing a home before every showing "should be first and foremost," Page says. "When buyers see an unkempt home or smell something when they first walk in, they become turned off immediately."

Radice suggests having the house professionally cleaned so everything is spotless -- windows, sliding glass door tracks, garage, basement, ceiling fans, etc.

"This is worth the money spent," Radice says.

She also recommends baking cookies, bringing cinnamon sticks to a slow boil in a pot of water or using air freshener to mask smells before each showing. Ridding the home of litter boxes is also a must.

Don't overlook the home's exterior.

"Curb appeal is just as important as cleaning the inside of the home -- it's the buyer's first impression of your home," Page says.

Radice agrees. "You only have one chance to make a first impression. There are so few buyers out there -- you want your home to stand out."

Mow the lawn, clear the sidewalk and driveway of clutter and debris, and make sure the house number is easily visible.

You may need to pressure-clean the exterior of your home, driveway and sidewalk.

Another valuable low-cost solution? Mulch.

"Mulch is cheap and covers a multitude of sins. It makes everything look trim and neat," Radice says.

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As applications for home purchase loans saw a weekly surge, mortgage rates rose in Bankrate's latest weekly survey.

The average rate on the benchmark 30-year fixed-rate mortgage climbed by 7 basis points to 5.08 percent. A basis point is one-hundredth of 1 percentage point.

The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage rose slightly to an average of 4.27 percent, up 2 basis points from last week. Jumbo fixed mortgages, or generally those for more than $417,000, averaged 5.57 percent, up by 2 basis points from last week.

Rates on adjustable mortgages were down, however. The 5/1 ARM averaged 3.87 percent, a decline of 2 basis points from the week before. With a 5/1 ARM, the interest rate is fixed for five years and adjusted annually thereafter.

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service. Reach Melissa Neiman at editors(at)bankrate.com.)