I have a covered porch on which I have several containers. What seem to do well there are begonias, which you could find in yellow. I particularly like Rieger begonias (or is it Reiger?). Anyway, hope that helps!

Lisa

Will you be living there while it is for sale?

curb appeal is nice but it's really the interiors that will be the clincher. Choose any bright flowers - that's all. Yellow shows hot energy, blues are cool energies. Curb appeal invites people to visit your yard and into your front door. It's how you set your interiors that will be the clincher. Good luck on this. If you wish to get ideas on how to draw people into your house, just look no further than the pottery barn catalog. I like to ape the settings, follow the colour schemes, etc. Also, just something that stirs memory - baked apple pies or cinnamon buns. The aroma of cinnamon will evoke warmth and coziness.

Chocolate chip cookies just baked; another wonderful home smell.

Fresh coffee wafting through is supposed to help.

I've "staged" two houses for sale and they sold pretty quickly. It's true: the interior sells. Wash your windows, open your drapes--light sells. Put up mirrors to expand the space, take down family photos (impersonal is best), a few large indoor plants (palms, etc.), neutral but not bland wall colors, clear up all clutter. If you must, put stuff in storage or in someone's garage. You want to give the impression that there will be more than enough space for the buyer's stuff. So, you want some decoration but not too much (think candles, paintings, mirrors, plants) and super duper clean. Hope that helps!

right. The idea is to allow the potential buyer/s to envision their own things in that house. I also like to use the Ikea catalog to help with the set up. The way the beds are set up. The way the sheets are selected. The kinds of curtains chosen - like if you want to enhance the room - don't choose a busy curtain. Your eyes will be drawn towards that curtain and not the surroundings. If you want the buyer to look out from the window, make sure that tree or shed is neat or the grass is mowed. Stash away childrens toys.

So hide away knick knacks, remove the dogs or cats. If the walls need to be repainted, paint them a neutral shade (light shades not dark) - Light expands a room, darks create a somber mood.

Organize closet spaces because buyers will look in there. I know I would since I would love to see how much space is available for storage.

Minimize busy designs on fabrics (like curtains). Limit the number of wall hangings to a few.

Avoid strong perfumes in a room. this can sometimes be a deterrent.

Those are all great tips and as a realtor I agree, if we have 4 houses exactly alike but differing colors such as green, blue, grey and yellow the yellow sells first and everyone thereafter whines that they did not get the yellow one. (soothing yellow not Big Bird yellow)
Personally not wanting to mess up the kitchen with baking.
I go with a pumpkin, spice or cookie scented CANDLE! Sorry too many burnt mishaps before an open house turn people away! Coffee,,,gag.
If you can remove extras into a storage lockers. If you get a call for a showing and have a pile of laundry ,toys or dishes messing the place up gather them up and put them in the trunk til the folks are gone. Just don't forget them!
Sounds like you have alot of people with some GREAT ideas.
Price it right. Sellers usually think THEIR home is worth more than every other on the block, so be realistic. The market is shaky . Everyone is looking for a STEAL!
At least here for sure!
Good luck.
Tanya

Thank you ALL for such great feedback!
Having a garage sale this weekend so what doesn't sell is that much closer to the curb. Getting rid of the clutter is the best thing I've ever done and now I won't be there to enjoy it :( The interior is in good shape with a newly remodeled kitchen and my garden is in full fall bloom - I guess that can work either way for me, depending on the buyer. We'll see what happens.

I use clove scent around the kitchen and lemon or vanilla in the rest of the house. I'm getting ready to sell my parents' home and planning for the staging furniture pieces, interior scent, and flowers outdoors is our next step.

Large pots near the garage door and the front door with yellow mums and some silk maple leaves in fall colors is on the agenda. Windows have all received new treatments, in light colors and fabrics. Floors have been thoroughly cleaned, polished and scrubbed to reflect as much light as possible. Carpeting is steam cleaned and all kitchen surfaces are disinfected and sweet smelling, including the insides of cupboards.

Staging pieces are shiny and only the most interesting bits have been chosen, to look tidy and homey at the same time. Esthetics are everything when you sell a house. How it looks and how it smells can make it or break it. If the roof is new or the furnace is high effeciency, buyers can't see that and won't really care. They want clean.
Cheryl

staging is just a step - making a house look attractive but the next steps are home inspections. If there are serious structural damages for example, these professionals will uncover them. That's the way we do things in Canada.

so if there's serious problems its best tackled now. Or if there are minor issues - the people making an offer for the house, may try to bargain down the price based on how much it would take to repair the problems.

Ianna - I was thinking the same thing. We don't do 'stagings' at all in the UK. You just go to the seller's house by appointment and have a good snoop around. If you like what you see you get a proper structural survey done. Since it takes weeks to sell a home and prospective buyers go separately by arrangement with the seller there's no way the homeowner could keep up the 'performance' that long. When we've bought houses the family has always been there and so has all their junk! That's what makes it a home rather than a show house.

I think color choices--and many other things--vary by region of the US, not to mention different countries. Know your area, if you don't already.

We lived in a beautiful Monterey colonial in California but had a hard time selling it because so few people wanted a two-story house. Here in New England, one-story houses are not popular, except for people who have problems climbing stairs.

But everywhere, three things are true: clean, de-clutter, de-personalize.

Hi Flora, staging is a relatively recent phenomena and gaining in popularity as home selling becomes increasingly competitive.

I quite agree that local tastes will dictate how a house will sell. For instance in my neighborheed were there's a large Asian community, houses with the no. 8 will sell quicker than houses with #4. 8 is considered good luck for the chinese and 4 closely resembles death.

Yellow homes do not sell well - not many in Ontario that I can see. Most homes here stay rather conservative - lots of brick homes stone homes, or french or country style homes. So much so, they all look like cooker cutter homes and I keep yearning for houses that resemble some houses in areas of Georgia, Virginia for instance.. Oh well. I like bungalow style homes. As for colours - I might say, the sun has something to do with the way colours reflect over here. In florida, bright colours including pink seems to be okay but that won't work in Ontario.

I really wouldn't worry about "the color yellow". Some people don't really like yellow, you know. I would just make your yard look very nice and welcoming and pleasing. Nothing too extreme.

Make sure that you declutter your house and remove some furniture if nessesary. Your house should look like a model house. Put your stuff in storage and only leave things that look pretty and restful and non-cluttery. It should look like a display, not really a functional house.
Like others have said, make sure there's enough light.
Any rooms that are painted extreme colors or have textured paint or weird wallpaper should be redone in a neutral.
Many people don't really realize how easy it is to repaint, so when they look at a house they might buy, they think "ew, I hate that paint color"... and they can't look past it, even though they're buying a several hundred thousand dollar house and repainting a room costs almost nothing.

Thank again everyone for your kind suggestions. Had a successful gararge sale. Things that didn't sell were 1 step closer to the curb. Got some nice staging advice and have decluttered. Thirteen years in the same house lead to way too much stuff. Will be moving some furniture to the garage. Looks much roomier now. Keep your fingers crossed!

Keep us informed. I'd love to know what the feedback is from your openhouse and such. I just bought my house two years ago. I had a check list and this house filled all the requirements. Of course since living here I've thought of several requirements that should have been on my list that weren't.

I'll check back in, ok?