10 house-selling secrets

Solution: Gould decluttered, storing 10 boxes of toys and leaving just a vase of flowers and a couple of small sculptures on the coffee table and mantel. Plum-colored chairs from another room replaced the older, worn-out flowered armchairs.

This house sold the week after Gould finished her staging - much to the owners' relief, since they'd already bought another home.

Listed: $688,000
Sold: $667,000 (97% of list)
Staging costs: $5,000

NEXT: A too-bare family room...