Making Way for a Quick Sale

Evelyn and Robert Humpherys are ready to leave their starter home for something larger. They enlist of the help of the Designed to Sell team to turn this house around in short order and for top dollar.

Real estate expert Shannon Freeman is the first team member to get a look at the house. She is immediately impressed, going so far as to say that every homeowner should model their home after this one. Once inside, though, she says the Humpherys have blown it. A valuable dining area is being misused as a sitting area, the bathrooms are outdated and out of shape, and the master bedroom is cluttered with too much furniture.

Designer Lisa LaPorta arrives next. Her concerns echo Freeman's, but she takes it a step further and lays out a three-step plan below to get this place ready to sell. She wants to turn the sitting room into a breakfast area and concentrate on the home's two bathrooms.

Step 1: Serve it up. Create spaces that leave no question about a room's purpose and value.

Step 2: Update your assets. Modernize tired features to boost the bottom line.

Step 3: Deliver the goods. Buyers are looking for renovated bathrooms, so give them what they want.

Pitching in to help the Humpherys beef up their buying power are carpenters Steve Hanneman, Brooks Utley and Adam Hughes. See how they did below.