Home improvements: in a tough market, sellers spruce up smarter.

• Author: Warren, Larry
• Position: Executive Living

Let's face it. As much as everyone hates admitting it, the booming Utah real estate market is changing. Although it may not be as extreme as our neighbors in states to the east or west, it is slowing down, and inventory and foreclosures are going up. And easy financing? The days of stated income loans, low teaser rates, and other shaky mortgage schemes are ending, narrowing the pool of buyers as the sub-prime meltdown continues.

Despite the changes and rumors swirling in neighborhoods along the Wasatch Front, a sale can be made, it just might take a little more work, experts say. There are tried and true methods to get your house to rise to the top of a buyer's list, and some new tricks, too. "The key now is to stage a home," says Gordon Sloan, Group 1 Real Estate broker. "The emphasis is on marketing it to look the way the customer would have it, rather than how you use it."

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

That means if you use your formal dining room as a playroom and it's full of brightly colored plastic toys, get rid of them and bring back the dining table and chairs.

"Make each room look like it has a purpose," adds real estate agent Trela Bird of McDonald Group GMAC Real Estate. Buyers want to see a room where they can visualize their furniture in the space, Bird says. If you have a home office in a spare bedroom with a bed in it, think about what use would sell the home best. In most cases that would mean removing the office equipment and dressing it up as a full time bedroom, while re-staging a little-used nook as an office area.

The tricks behind staging all start with one basic premise - the removal of clutter. Family photos and memorabilia, overflowing book cases and tables covered with knick-knacks are distracting. Buyers don't want to see how you live; rather they want a blank enough slate so they can picture how they would live in the house. Pay special attention to the kitchen. "That is the key room in the house," Sloan says. Agents go so far as to suggest renting a storage unit, if necessary, to thin out personal items and miscellaneous furniture in a house.

Just like a beauty queen preparing for a pageant, houses need "lipstick" before they take the stage. Decluttering may reveal dinged walls, faded curtains or stained carpets. Here is where a small investment can pay big returns in a higher sale price. "Start with the front door," says veteran agent Leslie Thorup with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage. "That's your first...