4 Tips For Getting Your Home Ready to Sell

When you put your home on the market, it’s important to set the stage for a buyer to see themselves living there. You want people to fall in love with the house. Like going on a first date, you want everything to look its best. Staged homes often sell quicker and for more money than homes that look lived in. The way you live in your home and the way you market it to sell are two different things.

1. Stand in the doorway and look at each room

Try to see it from a buyer’s perspective. Where does the eye go?

2. Make sure every room is set up for its purpose

If you’ve been using the dining room as an office, replace it with a dining room table and take out any office equipment or desks in that area.

3. Declutter

Remove family pictures and knick-knacks. You’re going to be moving anyway, think of this as a head start to packing. Remember, you’re selling space. Take down any mirrors, remove lamps, clear everything off of your kitchen counter.

4. Take out some of the furniture

When we live in our homes, we tend to have more furniture, but when selling your home, you want to keep the room spacious. Decide which furniture to remove and what to keep. Rearrange the furniture that stays. We want to fine-tune the decor and re-accessorize so that each room has a better flow to sell the space.

In the bedrooms, you want to see the bed as a staging point in the doorway as you look into the room. You may need to flip the bed around and remove a dresser for a spacious feel.

Bottom Line

The investment in staging your home is less than a price reduction on your home. Clutter eats equity.

Chrysti Tovani

Chrysti Tovani is a Fair Oaks real estate advisor, life-transition specialist, and the author of Downsizing with Intention. Her work is built around one idea: making room for what comes next. Through The Making Room Framework™, she helps people sell long-held homes, downsize with clarity, and move through major life changes with confidence, care, and a real plan.

With decades of experience across real estate, mortgage, and title, Chrysti brings deep industry knowledge and thoughtful preparation to every move. She is a Seniors Real Estate Specialist® (SRES) and a Certified Probate and Trust Real Estate Specialist, and her approach blends strategic marketing, skilled negotiation, and emotional intelligence so each transition is handled with both precision and heart.

Chrysti is also the founder of I Love Fair Oaks, a hyperlocal media platform celebrating trusted businesses and community life in Fair Oaks, California, a beloved Sacramento County community known for its historic village, the American River Parkway, and a small-town feel that keeps people here for decades. She has called it home for more than 35 years. Chrysti is a licensed REALTOR® with eXp Realty of California, DRE #01118449.