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When staging your home for a quick sale, simply remember the the five senses: Sights, Sounds, Smells, Feels and Tastes.

Make sure your home LOOKS well-kept and cared for indoors and out. Cleanliness, inside and out, is the single most important aspect of the presentation.

Remember that first impressions last, so curb appeal is critical. Don't just mow the lawn, edge it. Don't just water the lawn, hose down the walkways and the drive. Don't just pull weeds, plant flowers. Wash the windows inside and out to maximize light.

Your home should not only look clean, but SMELL clean. Always use a mildly-scented air freshener, and keep the scent consistent throughout the entire house. In the darker, colder months, use scented candles to give a sense of warmth and coziness. In warmer months, a very light citrus scent invokes a sense of the outdoors.

Keep music playing softly in the background. Choose instrumental SOUNDS that are soothing and unlikely to offend the senses. No matter how much you happen to love a particular artist, your potential buyers may have vastly different taste. There is a reason that shopping malls and restaurants play the bland, generic music that they do!

Clutter will make a home FEEL small, chaotic, and confining. Give your home a feeling of spaciousness and order by clearing your counters and cleaning your drawers and closets. Put away all but one or two family photos. Plants are nice, but make sure your home doesn't resemble a jungle. If you do have plants, dust and shine the leaves.

If your garage is overflowing with treasures you cannot bear to part with, move everything to a storage unit until after the sale.

Finally, regardless of how great your TASTE is, it is unlikely that potential buyers will share your appreciation for African relics or mounted deer heads or lime green walls. After all, you are unique, and your buyer is unique. Keep your decorating simple, with soft, light earth tones and relatively smooth textures.

If you will be showing the home yourself, you can take a few more steps to entice buyers: If it is cool outdoors, bread baking in the oven will make it feel cozy and familiar. A bottle of wine open and breathing on the counter next to a loaf of bread fresh from the oven will make buyers want to pull up a chair and join you! If it is very warm out, a frosty pitcher of lemonade with lemon slices floating amongst the ice cubes will make your home feel like an oasis.

Most of all, be comfortable in your home. If you appear comfortable, you give the impression that your home is a nice place to be. If you are uncomfortable, that may make potential buyers uncomfortable to. Smile, be gracious and welcoming, and if your home doesn't sell right away, at least you will have a clean, comfortable place to enjoy until it does!

Learn more about this author, Gena Reddoch.
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