If you want to sell your home in a timely manner, you have to take some proactive steps that will allow those targeting buyers your realtor is bringing by in a better position to fall in love with the property. Taking the time to make these changes will increase the chances of a buyer wanting your home before anyone else has a chance. Here are 7 steps to from Charleston Luxury Homes sellers over at Premier One:

1. Open House – During the open house, make sure there are some cookies baking in the oven. The smell of cooking in the kitchen can often trigger an emotional response with buyers that makes it hard for them to forget all about your house.

2. Curb Appeal – Rent a power washer and spend a day scrubbing clean the sidewalks of debris, the driveway, the rain gutters, the siding on the house, the fence, the deck around the patio, even the garage door. Make the house look appealing to those buyers driving around on the hunt.

3. Disappearing Act – When the realtor calls to tell you they are bringing over a potential buyer, get everyone in the car and disappear. The last thing a buyer wants is to see the family sulking around as they go through your cabinets and closets. Let them have free rein in the house.

4. Clutter Free – To allow the potential buyers to easily picture themselves living in your home, you have to make it visually appealing for them. This means getting as much clutter out and into storage as possible, besides, it will make the rooms appear larger too.

5. The Experts – Call in the professional cleaning experts to give the interior of your house a good scrubbing. These cleaning crews will restore flooring, carpeting , upholstery, appliances, even the shower wall tiles.

6. Taking it Personal – Take down family pictures, anything that connects your family to the house. The trick here is to allow the new buyers to imagine themselves living in the house, not trying to picture all those images of your family not living there any longer.

7. Open the Curtains – You don’t lie in a dungeon, open all those curtains, and allow natural light to give the buyers the ability to see what they are going to be buying. Turn on lights so the buyers can simply walk in and out of the rooms effortlessly.

There you have it, plenty of tips in this checklist for staging your house so that you get buyers invested quickly to the point that thy will not let another buyer take the house from under them.