Want the inside scoop on speeding up the sale of your house in this tumultuous market? Get rid of some stuff. Clean a little deeper. Organize your accessories. Take down the kids’ trophies. Update your floors and cabinets.

Daunting? Perhaps. But what if all of this busy work meant that your house will sell for close to 7 percent more than a similarly-sized home? Or that it will sell up to 50 percent faster?

The home staging industry has grown exponentially because of these statistics. And the trend has gathered steam thanks to the current market and because of increased exposure on television networks such as HGTV.

The concept of staging is simple: Improve the value of a property by reducing the home’s flaws and updating its characteristics, and create a living space potential buyers can see themselves in. Hiring a stager comes with a cost, but it can facilitate your sale.

Staging vs. Decorating
Although they share similar visual philosophies, staging a home is not the same as hiring an interior decorator.

“Decorating personalizes to your taste, but staging de-personalizes and prepares the home for the broadest range of buyers,” says Stella Pseekos, who stages homes for Truberry Group with Styled to Sell. “The objective of staging is to sell the house in less time and for more money.”

That said, a design background certainly doesn’t hurt. “Many of the tips I tell people have to do with architecture, balance, pattern, color, creating a mood, etc. That takes design experience,” adds Sharon Wong, of Ready Set Sell.

Every staging professional has their secret, and there are many techniques used to stage a property. Most revolve around a basic checklist: de-clutter, de-personalize, update, paint, rearrange and accessorize. Staging can entail a complete overhaul or just a few tweaks, depending on the size of the house and the shape it’s in.

De-Clutter
Consensus is that clutter is the No. 1 deal breaker for potential home buyers. Time to purge by following this simple rule of thumb: if you haven’t used it in three months, box it up and store it. If you haven’t used it in a year, get rid of it all together. If you simply can’t part ways with something, get creative with storage containers. But get it out of sight.

“If it’s too cluttered, the buyer will automatically think they don’t have any place to put anything and they’ll be turned off right away,” says Helen Fagan, of 2 Broads and a Brush. “Create an environment that buyers can see their stuff and themselves in.”

“Clutter is the kiss of death. Nothing is worse for a house on the market – and when you live there, you get used to seeing those things,” adds Rhonda Pettit, of Divine Designs Unlimited. “A stager will get a fresh set of eyes on your home and help you realize that less is more.”

De-Personalize
Take the time to de-personalize. Potential home buyers will have a hard time connecting to the space if there are pictures, cultural or religious items or awards everywhere.

“You don’t know who the buyer will be, so neutralize everything. Pack up your personal things and get them out of there,” says Fagan. That even includes priceless collections or valuables.

“Put away your family photos, any religious objects, your doll collections and your Elvis plates,” Pseekos says. “Even wallpaper is personal. I don’t feel that any two people have the same taste in wallpaper. Remove it.”

Downplaying the presence of current homeowners will help potential homebuyers feel more at ease and allow them to imagine their own possessions in the space. Some stagers admit this can be a touchy topic to navigate. “You don’t want to offend them or criticize them for their taste,” says Pettit. “You just need to let them know you’re trying to get the most mainstream appeal and to do that, they need to put themselves aside.”

Update – outside and in
Mainstream appeal starts from the outside. Spice up the front entry – give your door a new coat of paint and some new hardware. While out there, make sure your landscaping and lawn are in tip top condition. A typical home buyer decides if they’re attracted to a home or not in the first 8 seconds of seeing it. Curb appeal is of the utmost importance.

The goal is to get buyers inside, of course, so focus on improvements throughout. According to Pseekos, if the home is more than 25 years old, chances are good something will need to be updated – the carpet, walls, faucets or light fixtures. “You’re competing with a lot of newer homes and you won’t have a chance if you don’t update,” she says.

Lighting is a huge factor in increasing appeal. Dress up your windows to show off natural light, increase the wattage in your lamps. Install dimmers so you can vary light levels according to the time of day.

While you’re on a roll, eliminate all negatives – dingy light switch covers, pet or smoke odor, dirty carpet, dated cabinets or blinds, etc. Also, paint your dramatic walls. Neutral colors will increase compatibility with any type of furniture. Finally, add props.

“Distract the eye from the negatives in the home by throwing in some props and updating with some work. If it’s an empty house, buyers will have nothing to look at but the dated cabinets,” Pettit says.

The props
Some of the staging tricks include setting the dining room table, adding books to empty bookshelves, placing a bottle of wine in the kitchen and plants on the patio. It will help buyers visualize a personal situation in that room, as opposed to having an empty, detached space.

“Stage enough familiar props so they can see themselves in that space – just some smaller things to get them to feel a little homey, to make an emotional attachment,” says Pseekos.

The most common accessories Wong asks the seller to update are towels, shower curtains, candles and bedding. “We’ll add draperies, candles, a love seat, a rug, whatever we think it needs to make that house sell. It’s strategic,” Fagan adds.

Don’t overdo it, however, or you’ll have to revisit the de-clutter phase. “There is a thin line that too much stuff will distract. You want to show off characteristics of the home, not walk in and see props everywhere,” says Pettit.

The cost
HomeStaging.com estimates that the cost of hiring a professional stager can be anywhere from 0.75 percent to 1.25 percent of the sales price, which means it would cost about $2,000 to stage a $200,000 house. This includes the consulting fees, set up/tear down fees, updates and prop rental. Most stagers have storage spaces full of every type of prop and furniture piece.

Some charge by the square footage and some charge by the hour. All believe it’s a necessary addition to the budget. “Really what we charge is a small cost for the return you get,” Fagan says.

“A lot of people look at this as an extra expense, but when you look at the difference of reducing the price of your home because it’s not selling, this is a small investment. Buyers have plenty of houses to choose from. Make yours stand out,” adds Pseekos.

The product
Detaching yourself from the emotional value of your house is perhaps the most difficult part of putting it up for sale. Stagers are not only there to make your house look better, but also to help you stay focused on the objective.

“Sellers have to look at their home as a product they’re trying to sell, and make it the most competitive product out there. That means they have to cut the emotional ties, and that can be difficult,” Pettit says. “But I’ve never run across anyone who regretted having their home staged. Never. I can’t make guarantees about the sale, but I can guarantee it will look better, it will show better and it will be more saleable.”

Alicia Kelso is editor of Luxury Living Magazine.