Selling a house is about selling a lifestyle, and helping potential buyers see themselves living in your home. So, if you want to find a buyer quickly, clean up, fix up and put away those personal mementos.

“You need to depersonalize, and get rid of the clutter,” said Lyric Turner, owner of Red House Staging in Washington. “Roll up your sleeves, use elbow grease, and clean and pack everything up. ”

Turner’s mission is to make a house on the market look photo-shoot perfect. Clients can pay anywhere from $225 to $375 upfront for her team’s advice on how to make their home stand out and improve their chances of clinching a deal at an open house.

Among her advice — hide soap dishes, cleaning supplies, trash cans and anything else that can conjure up images of real life.

“People don’t want to be reminded of their own lives. Even if they’re complete slobs themselves, they want to see themselves living in a clean, organized space that’s arranged beautifully,” she added.

Home stagers will also point out what needs to be fixed — like a leaky roof — and make suggestions about upgrading appliances or repainting with fresher, more neutral colors. This type of effort pays off, especially now, when the economy is down and the market is tough, by offering buyers a move-in-ready home that requires little or no further investment.

Smaller homes with two or three bedrooms particularly benefit from the discerning eye of a professional home stager.

Staged properly, an awkwardly shaped house with tiny bedrooms and a narrow passageway can be “made chic and roomy,” Turner said.

Mary Charters, a real estate agent based in North Potomac, said she will use a home stager on occasion, depending on how much attention a property requires or how sensitive a home seller might be to criticism from a real estate agent.

“Good staging can make a difference. In Montgomery County right now, there is one buyer for every 25 houses on the market,” Charters said.

There is no one national organization that accredits home stagers, but the two major associations for stagers are the International Association of Home Staging Professionals and the Real Estate Staging Association. When looking for a stager to help sell your home, always ask for references as well as a portfolio of their work.