Selling your home in the greater Portland area is becoming tougher as the economy slows.

Here’s some tips on how to grab buyers from Holly Hummel, a broker with Equity Builders Realty in Portland.

By the way, Holly knows what she’s talking about. She says she’s helped clients buy and sell roughly $20 million worth of property in the last five years.

Here are her 7 favorite things to focus on for maximum benefit:

Curb appeal, clean, paint, flooring, clutter, repair, stage

Holly reminds buyers they have one shot at making the first impression -- and in a competitive market with fewer buyers than before, that one shot is very important.

We followed her recently as she coached Kim Reavis on preparing her North Portland home. It was a good chance to see in depth how she applies her seven tips.

As we go through these, I’ve inserted one or more links to other information on the topic.

CURB APPEAL:

HomebuyingAbout.com

HGTVtips

Holly focused first on the fence, which had something green growing on the white paint.

“You have this great white picket fence,” said Holly. “Very cute. A lot of curb appeal but it could use some paint,” she said.

She also noted its leaning in a few areas and needs the gate re-attached. She suggested Kim get her paint brush out and fix it all up in the nice weekend weather.

Holly’s eye next zeroed in on a pile of stuff in front of the fence with a cardboard sign that read “free”.

“Obviously you have your free pile out here. Before you actually put the house on the market you’d want to get rid of all that,” said Holly.

Kim smiled and nodded.

Holly’s gaze swept across the front of the home to the driveway and yard.

“I think having the property edged, you’ve got a trailer here and some bark dust, what I would do is have everything manicured. You know? Having a manicured yard is the first welcoming thing when people come up to your house,” she said.

Kim wanted to know about cleaning the steps leading to her home.

"Do you think we should paint the front step and things like that?" asked Kim.

“What I would do is power wash the moss off and you know having a freshly painted step can’t hurt. Paint is the cheapest thing that you can do that makes the most impact," said Holly.

As they walked toward the front door Holly motioned toward the screen door.

“The next thing I see is you need a screen on your screen door,” she said.

“Yes”, said Kim with a sheepish smile, “we took it off so the cats could access the indoors in the summer time”, said Kim.

But Holly wasn’t done with the entryway.

"You've got spider webs and other debris up here,” she said looking around the eves at the front door.

“So, having first impressions, you only have one opportunity to make a first impression," she reminded Kim.

Kim wanted to revisit curb appeal.

“So spray washing the fence, the house, the walk?” she asked.

“Absolutely!” said Holly.

“All that is very helpful,” said Holly. “And again, not something that costs a lot of money,” said the broker.

INSIDE THE HOME: First Impressions

Sideroad.comTips

Getting the most for your home

It’s not officially on Holly’s list, but first impressions inside the home clearly an important factor to the realtor when buying or selling a property.

She wants the home to be bright and warm and inviting, to affect the buyer psychologically, to give them an uplifting feeling.

Its hard to feel that if you’ve already moved to a new home, and the house you are selling is cold.

"One of the things I see when I'm out showing properties,” said Holly, “I go into a vacant house and it feels like its 40-degrees in it. And those houses don’t get sold. Because myself and my buyer, we're wanting to run out of the house as quickly as we can,” she said.

“So, even though its not environmentally the best thing to do,” the realtor continued, “keep your house warm so its inviting when people walk in the house. They don’t feel like running out of the house---they feel like---how can they make it their home," Holly said.

Holly points out the many windows along the front, side and back of Kim’s living and sitting rooms.

"That's a good thing because what sells houses are light and airy rooms”, said Holly.

“People are light deprived in Portland”, she said.

“So going into a house seeing a light house is a very compelling thing for them,“ said Holly.

CLEAN

BloodhoundRealtyBlog

JamesBrittonTips

Holly is big on making everything as clean as possible, including all those windows.

"So one of things I would do,” she said looking at a smudged pane of glass, “obviously you're gonna have the house really clean, but you might also want to hire a professional window washer. Get all your windows clean, sparkling, bring the light in,” she said.

And then there’s something buyers would not see but would smell. Pets lived here.

"You know one of the things I noticed when we walked in the door is, sort of a pet smell in the house. And you probably don’t notice that because you have the pets,” said Holly gently

“Right,” said Kim nodding.

“And one of the things you want to do,” Holly continued, “is the moment a buyer walks inn the door, they want to have a really good feeling about the house. So you want to remove any pet odors,” she said.

PAINT

Paint can help you sell

HowToPrep

Lowes.com

Holly’s a big fan of paint. It will help get rid of those pet odors and make the inside of the home look fresh.

"It’s the single most effective thing you can do to brighten your house," she tells Kim.

They look at the door that opens to the double lot back yard. Its white with glass panes, and scratches on the outside.

"Obviously you have dogs that paw at your windows,” she tells Kim.

“And one of the things that I would do, is back on the window washing, if you have the windows washed it'll be brighter in here and the windows will be more attractive. The other thing is you should consider painting all your surfaces," said Holly.

She can’t say it too many times.

"If you paint that, if you paint your doors and walls it will be nice and fresh and bright," she reminds Kim.

She likes the choice of white paint on the ceilings.

"Having your ceilings be white opens up your rooms and makes it brighter,” she said.

They walk downstairs to the basement where the walls are dark and an old carpet lays on the floor.

“I would paint - particularly in a basement space that tends to be dark,” said Holly.

“I would paint everything bright white. I would take, I'm seeing why this house might have an odor,” she says looking down at the carpet.

“I would remove the carpeting, and I would paint the concrete floor a light color," she said.

Holly believes basements are a selling point in the tightening Portland area market. She says some first time home buyers are getting roommates to help pay the rent. The basement is often the roommate space—but they need to be bright.

KING file photo

A home goes up for sale.

Back upstairs, Holly walks into the home’s only bathroom. The room’s condition and feel is often a major issue for buyers.

"Bathroom's very cute!” she said. But again, she’s urges fresh paint.

“I would just make sure prior, looks like you could use some touch up painting in here, beautiful tile work really like the tile work. And my main focus on the bathroom would be just professional cleaning," said Holly.

FLOORING

Flooring

Holly complements Kim on her hardwood floors, but notes they are a bit worn.

She gently suggests a change.

"In this market we have less buyers and we want to make the best impression we can as soon as they walk in the door," she tells Kim.

“So, one of the things that you might want to consider is having your floors refinished. You know they're nice now but they would be stunning if they were freshly refinished and nice and shining,” she said.

Holly also recommends removing an older upstairs carpet.

CLUTTER

Unclutter

LifeOrganizers.com

Clutter is a big issue for sellers who are still living in the home. Get rid of it.

Holly suggests paying for a pod or something that allows you to clear out all the extra stuff we all accumulate over the years. It may look fine to you, but Holly says its too much for buyers and it will turn them off.

"So having everything be clean and neat is something that doesn’t cost you anything but gives you much more appeal to the property," she said.

REPAIRS

RepairIssues

Upstairs Holly pauses near the chimney which rises up through the second floor and into the roof. The ceiling near the chimney carries a rust colored stain.

Kim says there is some sort of leak. She’s had it fixed once and now its leaking even more.

It’s a big issue to Holly.

"I would take care of any issues like that before you put your property on the market,” said Holly.

“That would be a huge turn off to a new buyer---particularly in the entry level market because they're not going to have the money to do big ticket items like a roof repair," she said.

Kim assures her it will be fixed before the home hits the market.

Downstairs Holly suggests fresh paint for kitchen cabinets and new knobs on the front of the cabinet doors.

"You know if you freshen the surfaces it may not cost you a lot of money but it gives a feel to the house of yes this is such a sweet house rather than oh my god, I have to clean it there's all these little repairs I need to do!” she said.

“You know they can see the potential in the house,” said Holly.

STAGE

HomeBuying.com

What is staging?

Staging is a technique being used more frequently in the Portland market. It’s a tool for sellers who have already bought a second home and moved their stuff out, leaving a vacant house behind.

A staging company, for a fee, will decorate one or more rooms with attractive furniture. It’s aimed at the buyer’s psychology. It helps them see the empty house as a home.

Holly tells Kim she’s a huge fan of staging.

"A lot of people don’t have imagination,” she said.

“So, I think, in this market, I think its even more important than previous times to hire a professional stager, put in furniture because the -- the buyer would be more apt to see oh this could be so darling with my things in it rather than the staged items, but the staging makes your house from an empty place into a romantic, or homes and garden sort of feel," said Holly.

“So I think staging is critical," she said.

"With people trying to capture the fewer buyers out there, many houses are going to be staged,” said Holly.

“So if your house is vacant and cold and empty you’re not going to compete very well against the properties that are staged," she said.

Several companies in the greater Portland, Oregon area offer staging services.

Two of Holly’s favorites are “On Stage” 503-473-8838 and a furniture store which does occasional staging called “Sofa-Table-Chair” 503-231-2782.