Donna Cole and Judee McCulloch of Room Runners say a house for sale should be prepared for presentation to potential buyers like any other product being merchandised. CREDIT: Blair Gable, The Ottawa Citizen © The Ottawa Citizen 2004

Home may be where the heart is, but don't let that blind you to the clutter.

Super cleanliness, a sense of space, ample storage room and a neutral decor are the order of the day for anyone trying to sell a home, say Donna Cole and Judee McCulloch, the owners of Room Remedy

The two sisters began their consulting service in the fall of 2002 to help vendors prepare their homes for sale. "We take pride in the fact that staging homes is our entire business, not an adjunct to a general organization business," says Ms. McCulloch. A relatively new concept in Canada, the staging of homes, they explain, is an established industry in parts of the United States, particularly California. "There," says Ms. Cole, "people expect to have their homes staged when they put them on the market. Here, we encourage realtors to use staging as a value-added service and clients are still at the point that they want confirmation from their realtor that staging will make it easier to sell for a better price."

Therefore, Ms. Cole and Ms. McCulloch direct much of their marketing attention to real estate companies.

"About 80 per cent of our time is working with real estate agents," estimates Ms. Cole, who spent a number of years in the real estate business writing feature sheets on houses for sale. "They are usually our contacts, liaisons, with clients."

The remainder of their business comes through referrals from banks, mortgage brokers and, now that Room Remedy is in its third year of operation, from previous clients.

Staging a home is much more than making sure every room is clean and preferably newly painted, emphasize the sisters, who recently completed an accreditation course in their specialty. It is also ensuring that some of the personal touches are removed.

The objective, says Ms. Cole, is to create "a model home with warmth. We want the home to look as though a family lives there, but people shouldn't be able to figure out who they are."

So pointers and distracters should be out of sight. Johnny's hockey trophies and Grandma's photograph should be relegated to a drawer. Certificates and holiday souvenirs should disappear from view.

Indicators of political views or "anything that could be considered in any way objectionable" should be removed.

The reasoning behind this advice is simply that if potential buyers focus on the vendors' lives, they will not have as clear a picture of the house.

General tidying is equally important, notes Ms. McCulloch. The toaster, coffee pot, kettle and assorted utensils should not be left on the kitchen counter. However convenient that might be for the cook, it could give a potential buyer the impression that the kitchen is short on storage room.

"For the selling period," says Ms. McCulloch, "this house is a product being merchandised. The vendor may have 25 years of memories tied up in the home. Other people don't."

Therefore, "de-clutter, de-personalize, repair and re-arrange." Clear the view and make it easy for buyers to "feel instantly at home, so that they don't have to work so hard at imagining themselves in this house."

The pre-sale spruce-up is best viewed as the beginning of early packing for the move, points out Ms. McCulloch. "It's all part of creating your home's best first impression. The idea when staging a home is to draw attention to its best features. Sometimes out-of-towners may see 10 homes in a day."

And before they begin the round of touring houses, many people surf listings on the Internet, she adds.

"That first impression is really all you have. If your home looks fantastic on the Internet, people will be more interested in going to see it."

When they do, it is helpful if the objective eyes of the Room Remedy consultants have guided the vendors on dealing with any minor repairs and re-organizing their belongings to make the most of the space and create an impression of newness.

The advice may be as simple as removing a painting or wall hanging and replacing it with one of a more suitable size, rearranging furniture or adding more lighting.

"It's economical because, whenever possible, we are using decor and furnishings that the homeowner already owns," points out Ms. Cole. "Sometimes, all it takes is a few small changes, which may not transform your home, but can make a dramatic impact on buyers." The initial examination of each room, followed by a detailed report on how owners can showcase their homes most effectively, costs $225. Additional consulting services are $75 an hour.

In some cases, recommendations may include adding or exchanging some furniture or accent pieces. On these occasions, Room Remedy can rent the furnishings from their inventory until the house is sold.

"We are not trying to make money on the furniture and accessories, but they have to earn they keep," says Ms. Cole.

Over the last few months, she says, an increasing number of "remedied" houses have been unoccupied properties. "We're finding that most of the recent work has been in staging vacant houses or homes devoid of artistic work and good lighting.

"Therefore, we often bring in art and extra lighting, which is a very important element in showing a home. And, for empty houses, we also need furniture."

This has meant that the sisters, who started their business with $5,000 of their savings, have had to invest a further $10,000 to purchase pieces to be placed in clients' houses during the selling period.

"We also work with furniture companies to rent some larger pieces, but we have had to enlarge our inventory of lamps and art," says Ms. Cole.

Room Remedy rents trucks and labour when furniture must be moved, but, she says, as soon as the company has passed the break-even point --anticipated within the next few months -- the intent is to purchase a truck for the company.

She recognizes that "the next issue will be storage. But, so far, we have managed to move pieces from houses to house. It's a game of chess."

What's best about the job: Seeing the dramatic effect that even minor reorganization and clearing can have in staging a home in preparation for sale.

What's worst: Having staging viewed as a regular part of pre-sale activity.

Biggest challenges: Co-ordinating the timing of the placement of furniture and accessories in various staging points.