When you sell an apartment or a house, the gurus will tell you: paint it all white. Remove any clutter, photos, indeed any evidence that a human being lives there. Create a “focal point” — this last is called staging — so that when a potential buyer walks into a room, their eye will automatically be drawn to the mantelpiece or whatever the selling point of that particular room is.

As a real estate agent, I find nothing wrong with any of these tips in concept. But just as I disagree with most of the beauty books that tell you how to use three kinds of concealer to achieve a “flawless” face – I find a lot of the staging advice to be over-the-top.  In reality, most of my clients are lucky to see me with lipstick and mascara; similarly, few sellers create the “perfect” home.

So let’s do five top staging tips for reality — if you are selling but have a life busy with work and friends, and don’t have OCD, here’s what you still must do:

1) Take out any strong evidence of “lifestyle.” For those of you who need a translation, this means “hide the porn” and the like. This doesn't mean stashing it in the kitchen cabinet. Since you never know which cabinet a prospective buyer will open, if you’re selling, just toss that stuff.

2) While we’re in the kitchen, clear off the counters. This means store things neatly. I just looked at an apartment to buy where the owner kept her hand mixer in her stove — which raised two thoughts in my mind: Is there really enough storage in this kitchen? Does the stove work?

3) Make it bright. You don’t have to paint everything, but you do have to change every weak and burnt-out light bulb. Also, raise the blinds and open the curtains before your home gets shown.

4) De-pet the place . While trust me, I am extremely pro-pet, if you have pets, you have been desensitized to what they smell like. In addition to changing the cat litter and vacuuming the dog hair from the rug, get a non-pet-owning friend to tour your house and give it the “sniff test.” It should not smell like pet. (Hint: You want the air to be neutral because some people, especially pregnant women, are extremely sensitive to perfumes. It shouldn’t smell like potpourri or Febreze either!)

5) If you clean nothing else, attack the entryway and the bathroom. Your entry should not have shoes, umbrellas, or a ton of old mail in it — and there should be hangers in the foyer closet for prospective buyers to hang up their coats. (They never will, but let’s push the fantasy that they could.) I am currently growing penicillin in my bathroom, but I know from many buyers that this is an ick factor, so do a big scrub with bleach and then a quick twice-a-week update where you swab the toilet and around the sink. If decluttering and cleaning is too much for you, confine your “mess” to the bedrooms and living room. There it might be a turnoff but won’t necessarily be a deal breaker.

-- Alison Rogers