Q&A: Should I have my home tested before I put it on the market?

Should we test our older home for radon, mold, and lead before trying to sell it? Would this help us stand out in a tough market?

We spoke with three regional vice presidents of the National Association of Realtors—each with more than three decades of experience selling homes in up and down markets.

"Buyers want to get their own tests, and they tend not to believe the seller's tests," says Mary Davis, a real-estate agent in River Edge, New Jersey. John Veneris, a real-estate agent in Downers Grove, Illinois, adds that home buyers should "wait until the general inspection to resolve any problems."

Robert Bailey, a real-estate agent in Santa Cruz, California, suggests that before homeowners put their house on the market, they get an idea of what problems exist by doing a general and pest-control inspection, along with a visual inspection for such problems as mold. (Keep in mind that mold-testing kits proved generally ineffective in Consumer Reports testing. Lead and radon kits fared better although quality varied in some cases very widely between brands.)

But time and money invested in home repairs and regular maintenance can pay off when it's time to sell. Water damage and cracks in the foundation won't go away and could be a deal breaker. A general professional home inspection is not required, but recommended as part of the selling process. And a property condition disclosure form is required in 44 states and the District of Columbia, according to NAR spokesman Walter Molony.

Buyers should be aware that Alaska, Arkansas, Kansas, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming do not require this form, but federal law mandates that any seller of a house built before 1978 must disclose if lead paint was used as an interior or exterior finish.—Kimberly Janeway

Essential information: Find out why staging your home might help close the deal and how to get the most for your house in a soft market.

10 Questions for . . . Barb Schwarz, Professional Stager

In this installment of 10 Questions for . . . , Associate Editor Kimberly Janeway interviews Barb Schwarz, staging guru and CEO of Stagedhomes.com. Schwarz explains staging and how it helps to sell houses.

Who coined the phrase “home staging”?
I invented the industry 36 years ago. I had an interior design business and then went into real estate in the early ‘70s and was shocked at the way the houses looked. I started thinking about decorating houses to sell them. I used my theatre experience to set the scene. Staging is preparing your home so that the buyers can imagine living there with their own things. But most people have too much stuff and they don’t think to put it away. I’ve taught more than one million realtors and decorators about staging via my seminars.

But don’t potential buyers like a house that’s neat but lived in?
Just because you lived in a home one way isn’t the way you sell it. A home becomes a house, then a product to get top dollar. That’s why you do the staging—so the buyer doesn’t look at the stuff, but looks at the space.

What does a stager actually do?
First, I chat on phone with the potential client and then visit the home. I bring my credentials and pictures of my work. I take notes and photos and then I’ll write a proposal. I work on full homes, vacant homes. I have inventory for rent. Usually in lived-in homes you don’t have to buy or rent anything. Staging includes cleaning, packing up stuff, rearranging and moving furniture from one room to another, displaying art, and maybe even painting rooms.

Packing up stuff? What happens to the stuff?
The homeowners might have to get portable storage or box it up and put it in storage and get rid of it for now. Or they can have a garage sale or give things to charity.

Tell me more about staging. What are the steps?
1. Get it clean (stager arranges this or owner does it)
2. Make it clutter-free (seller or stager does it)
3. Use color wisely. Put soft colors, neutrals, on the walls and floors. This expands the size of the room. No red bedrooms, no purple. Put the punch in accessories.
4. Compromise. When you can, put the money in something that’s in poor condition, such as replacing a vinyl kitchen floor that’s in bad shape. But if the bathroom counter is pink, diffuse it and go retro by hanging black hand towels, putting up a new white shower curtain, and painting the walls white.
5. Creativity. Staging is not about spending money. I can stage homes with a ball of rope and a pair of clippers. Angle the bed so that it opens walls and makes the room look bigger. Use nice sheets and pull back the bedspread to show off the sheets.
6. Communication. What is each room communicating to the buyer? Do we have to change the message? Is the room calm, peaceful?
7. Commitment. The seller has to be committed and say they can do this and not be afraid of changes.

A saintly appeal to help sell homes

In a sluggish housing market, homeowners clear clutter, rearrange furniture, and replace kitchen appliances in hopes of enticing buyers. But some sellers bury a statue of St. Joseph in their yard to try to help close the deal. As noted on Snopes.com, people have been relying on the heavenly help for years.

"The statue surfaces every time we have a soft market," says Walter Molony, a spokesman for the National Association of Realtors. "I don't think anybody's analyzed whether this works, but there are people who really believe that it helped them."

Mary Ann Giacobbe, a real-estate agent in New Rochelle, New York, a suburb north of New York City, says she usually has a bag of statues on hand for clients who want one. "I don't care what religion you are, homeowners are doing it," says Giacobbe.

St. Joseph is the patron saint of the home and family, and although the practice of burying the statue is popular, even with non-Catholics, the origins of the tradition are unknown. The Catholic Church does not sanction this practice, according to Stephen J. Binz, the author of St. Joseph, My Real Estate Agent. "I was selling a home and it had been on the market for nine months, and I was desperate because I was carrying two mortgages," says Binz. "My Realtor, who was Presbyterian, suggested burying a statue and I thought it was superstitious and I didn't do it." Months later, Binz decided to devote prayer to St. Joseph and bury the statue upside down in his yard. Several days later the house was sold.

You can find St. Joseph statues online for about $5 and up, including kits that come with a burial bag. The Original St. Joseph Statue Home Sales Kit from the St. Joseph Statue Store is shown.

If you want to rely on more earthly efforts to help you sell your home in this rocky market, read our expert advice in "Buying, Selling, Remodeling" from the September 2008 issue of Consumer Reports.—Kimberly Janeway