She's Got The Look

Nothing mucks up a model like furniture and accessories that aren't properly sized for the house, says Joel Armstrong, senior vice president of real estate development for Boca Raton, Fla.–based Levitt and Sons. It drives him nuts, he says, to walk into a model with small bedrooms and see four-poster beds that overwhelm the space. De-Walt has the same beef with accessories and artwork that are undersized for great rooms or volume ceilings.

Builders who use merchandisers regularly say they get the best results when they bring the merchandiser in at the design stage. It helps the architect create floor plans that make the best use of the space to place furniture. “I can't tell you how many times we've moved windows to make room for a king-sized bed in a master bedroom,” DeWalt says, “or moved a door so a dresser will go in a bedroom.”

If a house is overdecorated, prospective buyers can't imagine their own furniture in the space, says Diane Saatchi, senior vice president with The Corcoran Group, a real estate firm in East Hampton, N.Y. “There should be nothing wacky,” she says. “No room should make them say, ‘What is this room for?' If it's a kitchen, it should look like you can actually cook in it.” Make the spaces practical so people can imagine living in it. “A lot of decorators don't pay attention and [place] the seating in a way so it doesn't face the TV or place the bed in a bedroom so the TV, phone, and fireplace aren't in the right place. ... Be extraordinarily practical.”

If you're merchandising on a tight budget, you'll get the biggest bang for the buck with paint, says Jan Roberts, director of design and merchandising for Chicago-based Town & Country Homes. The current trend is regal tones—purples, golds, greens, and reds—and paint techniques, such as glazing to create an Old World look. “It's warm, inviting, and makes you want to sit there and say, ‘Wow, this feels good,' ” she says. Window treatments can be dramatic without being expensive, and pillows can do wonders for dressing up sofas and beds. Also, you don't have to spend a fortune to get great accessories these days. Roberts says she finds a lot of accessories at Cost Plus World Market and T.J. Maxx and More.

Whether it's making the maximum use of natural sunlight or showing off artwork with track lighting, you need to illuminate your wares. “Lighting in the house is like an exclamation point,” Roberts says. “You have to get it right.” She likes under- and over-cabinet lighting, toe-kick lighting on raised vanities in master baths, downlights in art niches and butler's pantries, and stair lighting.

One sure way to annoy prospective buyers is to merchandise models with options and upgrades you don't offer. While some items are clearly decorative pieces, other features, such as built-ins, cabinetry, lighting, and molding, could easily be viewed as available upgrades. Make sure your merchandiser specifies items you actually offer for sale.

At the same time, don't hold back on what you can deliver. It is important to let the buyers see the home at its full potential, Decker says. It allows them to visualize all the fun possibilities and keeps them engaged in the sales process by keeping their dream alive. “Many buyers want to customize and make their new homes more unique,” she says.

Whether you're targeting first-time buyers or active adults, you have to include children in your merchandising at some level. It might just be a stuffed animal or a basket of toys or books in a corner of a family room, or it could be a themed bedroom, a game room, or a kitchen bulletin board with the schedule for youth swim league at the clubhouse pool. “If children are going along with their parents to look at models,” Hilton says, “memory points are like a Happy Meal.”

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