MOVE-IN READY : Fresh paint. New carpet. Lots of light and open space. Must see to appreciate. Some O.C. agents and designers think they have the key to unlocking a house’s sales potential, even in a sluggish market.

Thinking about planting a “For Sale” sign in front of your house? Better tour some model homes first. Then reach for the paint roller, wallpaper remover and the phone numbers of your favorite home improvement professionals.

Orange County’s recession-battered resale market is so competitive, real estate agents say, that successful sellers these days are the ones who make their properties look like model homes.

“There are so many others for buyers to choose from. Sellers are competing with one another and with new-home builders,” said Tom Nash of Re/Max of Irvine, who specializes in residential sales. Agents who once simply advised sellers to clean out their closets and put on soft music to sway buyers now offer computerized lists of suggested improvements. Some refer their clients to interior designers to get a fresh perspective.

At the minimum, today’s sellers find themselves cleaning, rearranging furniture, uncluttering and depersonalizing their homes before they are listed. Others install new carpeting, remove wallpaper, repaint walls, redo kitchen countertops and send appliances out for refinishing.

Some determined sellers replace old aluminum sliding doors with French doors, install new chandeliers or add electric fireplaces.

Homeowners who want to sell are competing with the architecture of the ‘90s--clerestory windows, plant ledges, dramatic high ceilings and lots of light, open spaces, Nash said.

“We are very specific, even adamant about things that need to be changed. When you take a car that’s been off-road to a dealership, they don’t put it on the lot that way. Each home should have a good going over, a detailing,” he said.

Sellers must decide how much time and money they can or will spend polishing up the place, weighing factors such as cash available, need for repairs, condition of competing properties and importance of a timely sale.

Many of the basics that designers and real estate agents recommend--such as painting and removing clutter--are not costly, though.

To help give their lived-in abodes the look of a model home, some sellers are hiring interior designers who specialize in redecorating for resale.

Interior designer Joan Linder of Newport Beach is among those who will analyze a house and present the owner with a checklist of recommendations to make it more attractive to buyers.

Walter Nutting, also an interior designer, specializes in resale work as well. For years, he has worked on high-end properties on the Newport Beach market, but lately owners of properties in the medium price range are also seeking help, he said.

Designers typically charge $50 to $100 per hour, but some offer their services to home sellers for a set fee that may be lower.

What they offer, they say, is a fresh look at your house--a place you may be too comfortable with to see through the eyes of a potential buyer.

In a Mission Viejo home that had been on the market for six months, Linder spent five hours rearranging the furniture. She added a few new accessories, but the key change was eliminating unneeded furniture, creating conversational groupings and incorporating the stereo equipment that had lined the walls into existing bookcases. When the owner returned, she couldn’t believe it was the same house, Linder said. It sold within two weeks.

“Just balance and proportion can do so much. Sometimes all you have to do is rearrange the pictures and lamps and create an intimate setting,” she said.

She often does more than that, though. For one client, Linder began on the outside to make an older house look larger and more modern. She had the brown trim, brick columns and side fences painted white to blend with the ivory stucco. Inside she added a focal point for the living room, an electric fireplace with black marble hearth and mantel. Some furniture was rented to complete the look; carpets were cleaned, and a soft drapery top was added to vertical blinds in the living room. The house sold in four weeks, she said. In this case, money spent on improvements boosted the house into a higher sales bracket.

But in most cases, improvements made to market the house are just going to put it one step ahead of the competition, Nutting said.

If you are going to spend money, Nutting says it should be spent on the background. His advice: Invest in an inexpensive carpet that looks clean and new, bright, white paint, strategically placed blooming plants at the entrance and perhaps one piece of furniture in the right spot.

Many real estate agents are quick to point out that sellers today often have financial problems and can’t afford to spend money on pre-sale improvements.

Agents are seeing a lot of deferred maintenance now that they haven’t seen in the past, said Mission Viejo-based Nancy Gromme of Century 21 Freedom Realty Group.

Although sales and buyer interest are up, prices are soft, and in many cases the sales price barely covers the sellers’ loan, said Cherie Hartman, branch manager of Coldwell Banker’s Dana Point-San Clemente office.

In those cases, the sales agents agree that the best thing to do is spend whatever you can to make the outside look attractive, clean the inside and remove clutter, personal items and large pieces of furniture.

Carlos Herrera of Casa Blanca Realtors in Orange tells his clients not to spend too much on major remodeling because they are not going to recoup that money in the form of a higher sales price.

Buyers, particularly in the older areas of the county where Herrera concentrates his efforts, are making very low offers, he said. He says money is better spent on a professional home inspection so sellers will know what they need to repair.

“Buyers nowadays bring in their own inspectors to find leaks under the sink, loose toilets and improper wiring in the garage. The sellers may not want to fix everything, but at least they’ll be aware of it” and be one step ahead of the potential buyer, he said.

After making decisions about repairs, you can concentrate on making your house look its best with these tips from designers and real estate agents:

* Open up spaces and make rooms look bigger by putting excess furniture in storage. Nutting says houses actually sell better when they are empty. “People are looking at your furniture and family pictures instead of the house,” he said. Others, however, say it’s better to have some furniture, even if you just create a fireplace grouping with a wing chair, table and lamp.

* Let in more light and update the room by taking down heavy window coverings. If there’s a view, simply leave the windows bare so buyers can see it. If not, add window coverings that are light and inexpensive.

* Consider having appliances from another era refinished. Linder said it costs about $125 to refinish a refrigerator, an update she says is often worth the investment.

* Create focal points in rooms. Some homes have no focal points, and others have too many, Linder said. Simply putting a bright floral arrangement on a table can create a focal point. A strategically placed folding screen can eliminate focal points in a room with too many windows and doors.

* Take the emphasis off problem spots by directing the viewer’s eye elsewhere. If a floor is not in good shape, put down an area rug to create a focal point.

* Buy a new blanket in a compatible color and lay it corner to corner over a shabby bedspread, suggests Laguna Niguel interior designer Betty D. Hyde, who has done a lot of resale design work. You get a new look for a small price, she said.

* Clean chrome bathroom fixtures with lemon oil to make them sparkle or buy new fixtures, Hyde recommends. She suggests buying a few new towels in fresh, bright colors and using scented bath oil often to make the whole house smell good.

* Many designers advise painting dark woods white for a more contemporary look. Dark carpeting also has to go, according to Nash. And while you’ve got the paint out, Nutting advises, remember to paint the insides of cabinets as well.

* Make a small bedroom look larger by unifying elements. In one house, Linder used a decorative screen to cover a window and repeated the screen on a nearby wall. Large-scale pictures also make a room look bigger, she said.

* When it’s time to show the house, make sure the dishes are put away, the toilet seats are down and soft music is playing.