For realtor Donna Evers, selling a house is about more than setting the right price. It’s about presentation.

“If you walk in [to a house] and see blank walls, it’s not the same thing,” said Evers, owner of Washington-based Evers & Co. Real Estate. “It’s like putting makeup or really nice clothes on someone. It makes a difference.”

“Staging,” dressing up a house before showing it to potential buyers, has become an increasingly important part of selling a home as rising inventories and dipping prices have shifted real estate into a buyer’s market. Evers’ firm offers staging services, which include decorating an empty home with furniture, pictures and other accessories to give it a lived-in look, for a nominal delivery fee. A handful of local companies also offer the services to home sellers with monthly rental fees that range up into the thousands.

While the price for dressing up a home can be high, stagers say that it can add tens of thousands of dollars to the selling price of a house.

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“Here’s the whole secret to staging, why it’s so critically important,” said Evers. “A house buy is an emotional buy. When you walk into a house your emotions say yes before your mind does. But if they walk in and there’s no answer that registers with their emotions — even if the prices is right — there’s no way to change that.”

Alexandria-based Antique and Contemporary Leasing has been in the business of staging since 1974. While the company is continuing to bring in business in the down market, said Alice Wilson, the manager and design consultant for the firm, some home sellers have been scared off by the monthly rental fee.

“People are concerned that their house will be on the market for a long time and the rental costs would be prohibitive,” she said.

Instead, some of their clients are turning to the company to provide consulting services on how to rearrange their own furniture rather than stock their house with the company’s furnishings.

However, most consultants contend staging is one of the best investments in a slumping market.

“It’s one of the most important things you can do,” said Wilson. “If there are 20 houses on the market and there’s one that’s outstanding because it’s been staged, it’s going to stand out. I think it’s more important than it’s ever been.”

Local

Other companies that offer staging services:

» Cynthia Anne Interiors, www.cynthiaanneinteriors.com, 301-373-6183

» StageMaster Homes, www.stagemasterhomes.com, 703-203-8957

» The Back Door, www.thebackdoorinc.com, 703-237-6117