Let's get started on how you stage your home for a showing. Staging your
home is a very important part of selling it.
Simply put yourself in the position as a potential buyer. When you enter
your home it should be warm and inviting.
The atmosphere in your home should be very calm and relaxing. 
This is accomplished by sound and smell. Before the showing find a radio
station or CD that has lite jazz or relaxing music. We recommend you place
the radio in a central location in your home. The volume should be set at a
lull. Just enough volume so that the potential buyer can hear the music.
Setting the correct tone... but be careful so that it does not become a
distraction.
 
The smell.... when a potential buyer first enters your home it should be as
relaxing as the soft music. In a perfect world, baking a loaf of bread or
cookies would be the ideal solution. As we all know that takes time and is
usually not an option. So try setting out some potpourri or lighting some
scented candles. This will work just fine.  The two most popular scents in
our survey turned out to be "warm apple pie" and "cinnamon rolls". We have
found that placing these scented candles in the kitchen on the stove and
lighting them 1/2 hour before the showing allowed the scent to work it's way
through the entire house.
 
The most important key feature in setting the stage is to make sure that the
temperature inside your home is comfortable!
If showing your home during the winter and the exterior temperature is 30
degrees..... when that potential buyer walks into your home...you want the
temperature to be warm...not set at 65 degrees. Remember.....you want an
inviting atmosphere.  So therefore set your thermostat at 72 - 75 degrees.
Soft music, apple pie and a warm home as they enter.... you have now
accomplished that inviting atmosphere.
 
If you are showing your home during the summer months the temperature is
just as important. If you have an air conditioner turn it on. Or open the
windows and allow the breeze to enter your home. Again you should maintain
the 72 - 75 degree margin if possible. Make the house comfortable.
Remember you are trying to set the stage of making your home as pleasant as
possible every single time a potential buyer walks through your front door.
 
"Never" forget that you only have one chance to make that great "FIRST"
impression. Within the first three to five minutes that a potential buyer is
in your home...they have already formed their option on whether they like or
dislike your home. Within a matter of minutes they have decided if your home
is their Dream Home!!
Remember...you are always the one that sets the stage, not a realtor.
 
So.....put forth your very best each and every time you show your home. The
end result, "The sale of your home"! It will be worth all of the time and
energy that you have put forth when you walk away from the sale of your
home,  with the check in your hand..... not a realtor's.