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Some of the changes Charles and Carole Ray made when they staged their Botetourt County home:

Photos by Jenny Kincaid Boone

The kitchen: Cleaned countertops; removed unnecessary clutter

Dining room: Set the table to help buyers visualize eating there

Staging tips

• Examine plants. Prune bushes and trees. Keep plants from blocking windows.
• Clear unnecessary objects from all furniture.
• Evaluate the paint condition of the house from the outside, including the trim and the front door.
• Keep the thickest towels on the racks in your bathroom for a hotel-like look.
• Have carpet steam-cleaned; sand and restain hardwood floors.
• Reorganize and clean closets.

Source: Stagedhomes.com; Dressed to Close, an L.A. home staging company

Home staging projects and the impact on the home sale price

Lighten and brighten

Increase in sales price: $768 to $935

Clean and declutter

Increase in sales price: $2,093 to $2,378

Landscape and trim

Increase in sales price: $432 to $506

Staging furniture

(rearranging it or moving it to different areas of the house)

Increase in sales price: $212 to $1,089

Source: Stagedhomes.com; based on a 2003 survey of 2,000 real estate agents nationwide

Charles Ray packed away his golf collectibles. He and his wife, Carole, removed family pictures from shelves.

They have agreed to put away every dish after they use it and wipe off the bathroom sink daily until they sell their two-story house in Botetourt County.

Maybe that won't take long, they reason, because the Rays' house has been "staged" -- real estate parlance for a makeover.

Their living room looks larger because they swapped the placement of an ottoman chair and an easy chair.

In the kitchen, the countertops are spotless and empty.

They turned an area in their bedroom into an attractive study by placing a table in front of a bay window. On the table sits stationery and a pen. Visitors can gaze out the window for a mountain view.

The secret to selling the Rays' home faster, advised their real estate agent, Becky Barber, is to depersonalize it. Once a house is on the market, "it becomes a product, rather than your home," she said.

Homes that have been staged sell about 50 percent faster than homes that have not, according to Stagedhomes.com, a national resource for home stagers. Homes also gained 5.8 percent more equity if they were staged first, listed and then sold, rather than if they were listed before being staged, based on a study by Stagedhomes.com.

That is welcomed news for a growing number of certified home stagers in the Roanoke Valley. As the real estate market softens nationally, homeowners need as much help as possible to make their properties attractive to buyers.

"The market is just flooded with inventory," said Barber, who is a Realtor with Long & Foster and is accredited to do home staging. "We're looking for every competitive edge that we can find."

The transformation

Walking through the Rays' home recently, Barber pointed out some of the changes and why they were made.

"You can visualize yourself having dinner in here," she said, referring to the dining room table, set completely with dining ware, light green place mats and two candlesticks in the center.

Barber is a home stager. She helps people transform their houses so that they look attractive to potential buyers. And in the long run, she said, these homes will sell faster and in some cases, for the exact listing price.

Changes might be minor, such as moving certain pieces of furniture to make a room appear larger or packing away unnecessary clutter. Work also may require small repairs, such as painting a bedroom a neutral color or trimming bushes in the front yard.

Some people double as home stagers and real estate agents. Others work primarily as stagers.

Kay Gauss is a local Realtor who offers home staging consultations separately and with her real estate sales.

Gauss begins her consultations by walking through a house with a checklist and a camera. She photographs the rooms and considers what could be done to make them appeal to buyers.

She once worked as an assistant to an interior designer. Though the design experience pays off, she said, home staging actually is "undesigning."

"Psychologically, you want anyone to walk into the house and see themselves there," said Gauss, a real estate agent with MKB Realtors who is accredited in home staging. "You really want to simplify it."

Her staging checklist includes thoroughly cleaning certain rooms, such as kitchens and bathrooms.

Work also may involve decluttering, which requires cleaning out, packing up and organizing rooms.

And exterior suggestions may call for minor yardwork. That includes mowing the grass, planting flowers or adding mulch to a flower bed.

Gauss hands homeowners a completed suggestions list, and if they agree to the changes, they get to work. She may help out with some of the jobs or hire workers for specific projects, such as painting.

Once the house is staged, Gauss may market it on her own Web site, Starteamstagers.com.

Her staging fees range from $100 for a 1,000-square-foot house up to $250 for a 4,000-square-foot home.

Some Realtors don't charge staging fees for consultations if they already are selling the home.

The results

Despite the benefits of home staging, it's sometimes difficult to persuade a homeowner to make the needed changes, even minor ones, said Wanda Richards, a Roanoke-area real estate agent with Long & Foster and an experienced home stager.

Some people are uncomfortable living in their house after it's been staged and the layout and decor are different, she said. Cost of the service also may be a factor.

"You have to have the right seller who's at the right place mentally to do home staging," Richards said.

However, she has seen the benefits. Recently, Richards sold a house in Salem in less than two weeks after it had been staged.

In the next few months, she plans to add to her services by offering her own staging crew. It will include people who can do various jobs, such as painting, cleaning and boxing up clutter. Richards said the work crew will be available for free to her real estate customers, though they would pay for certain supplies, she said.

Meanwhile, in the first week that the Rays' home was staged, they said it wasn't too difficult to keep the house in tip-top shape to show off to potential buyers.

Charles Ray even said he preferred their home's new and staged look.

"I wish I had thought of this before" preparing to move, he said.

The couple's effort appears to have paid off.

As of early last week, potential buyers already had put a contract on the Rays' house, less than a week after it was listed for sale.