Take a fresh look at your house. It looks great to you, but you have to look through the eyes of potential buyers. They need to be able to picture themselves in your house. Take a good, hard look both inside and out. Be critical because your buyer will be. It is essential to have your house clean, organized and inviting.

Curb Appeal
A good first impression is essential. Your lawn and the front of your house are the first things people see when they arrive.

• The lawn should be pristine, nicely mowed and edged. Weed the flower beds and trim shrubs. Colorful annuals will have an immediate impact and fresh mulch is always a good idea.
• Give the front door a good scrub or fresh paint. Add a tasteful welcome mat.
• Check to see if shutters or trim need a paint touch up. Fix damaged gutters, siding or shingles.
• Clean all windows inside and out.
• Eliminate clutter and keep lawn decorations to a minimum. Put away all the toys. Remove or update old light fixtures or lawn furniture.
• Keep everything tidy. Sweep the sidewalks, porch and driveway. In the winter, make sure snow is shoveled and sprinkle ice melt as necessary.

Stepping Inside
Once again, you have to make a great first impression. Everything must be sparkling clean, neat and appealing. There are many inexpensive ways to put a fresh face on your house and most of them only cost you some time. This is a ceiling-to-floor, roof-to-foundation clean-up project.

• Declutter, then declutter again; rent a storage locker if necessary until your home sells. Potential buyers are seriously put off by clutter and we all have more than we need.
• Remove personal items such as family photos and collectables.
• Organize closets. The less you have in a closet, the bigger it looks.
• Every space will be inspected by potential buyers. Straighten attic storage, the garage, and the basement.
• Shampoo carpets and clean wood floors.
• Polish the wood work around door frames and wooden cabinet doors.
• A fresh coat of paint will give tired rooms a lift.
• Pay special attention to the kitchen and bathrooms. Scrub sinks, mop floors and repair discolored caulking.

Small Details Count
Potential buyers will see many properties so you want yours to make a lasting positive impression. Having all the little things fixed can make a big difference in the perceived value of the home.

• Remember that they will look in the small places, like medicine cabinets and kitchen drawers, as well as in every closet. Look at every space with a critical eye.
• Add a vase of fresh flowers or a plant near the entryway.
• Be sure kitchen and bath towels are bright and clean.
• Check all doors, knobs, drawers and windows to make sure nothing sticks or rattles.
• Dust ceiling fans and light fixtures.

Stay Ready for Showings
Get into the habit of keeping everything tidy all the time while your house is on the market. You want it to look like a model home — clean, uncluttered and fresh.

• Make beds and clean up daily. Pick up papers and dishes. Vacuum, dust and remember to remove kitchen trash before each showing.
• Let the light in. It makes rooms seem more spacious and gives a positive feeling to your home. Open all the shades and window coverings during the day. At night, turn on as many lights as possible.
• The nose knows, so be vigilant against unpleasant odors. Smoke, greasy cooking smells, pet odors and even strong room fresheners are unpleasant. Air out the house before a showing. If you can, put on a pot of coffee or boil some cinnamon in a little water on the stove. You want your home to smell sweet, but subtle.
• Keep your thermostat at a comfortable level. You don’t want potential buyers to notice the temperature — neither too hot nor too cool.
• It’s best for pets to be elsewhere during a showing. Either take them with you or arrange for them to stay with a friend or family member. If this isn’t possible, they should be penned in the backyard or kennel. Try to keep indoor pets in a specific room and then put a sign on the door.
• Stay vigilant. You need to make sure your home is available to been seen with very little notice. That means less than an hour or possibly even five minutes.

Remember that after location, the most important item to a buyer is a well-maintained home. Many flaws can be overlooked if the buyers know they can move in without a lot of trouble and expense.

It is tempting to determine the asking price of your home by figuring what you originally paid for it, adding the cost of improvements plus a healthy profit, and then put it on the market. This is a rookie mistake, however, and can cost you a lot of time and money.

It is essential that you place a smart, competitive price on your property. If the price is too high, your home stays on the market longer, increasing your expenses along the way. You may think it’s a good strategy to start high and then reduce the price if necessary. But, if potential buyers see a history of a dropped asking price, they will either wonder what’s wrong with the home since it hasn’t sold or they will think you must be getting desperate and will offer an even lower price.

Your real estate agent can tell you that sellers who list competitively from the start get a better price than those who list high and then go lower and lower. Let your agent help you avoid the overpricing trap. Together you can review a comparative market analysis of similar homes to yours that have sold in your area recently.

Also, consider your local market conditions. Are homes in your neighborhood selling quickly? Is it currently a buyer’s market or a seller’s market? Are you listing during the spring homebuying season or in the middle of winter?

Remember that some buyers are motivated by more than just price, so plan to be flexible to get your home sold quickly. When do the buyers want to move into the house? Can you, the seller, finance the the home? Are you willing to leave the patio furniture or an area rug? Be open and creative as you review the buyer’s offer.

Price your home based on reality, not just wishful thinking, and depend on your agent to be your best ally in finding your bottom line.

Some sellers hesitate to stage their home because they think it’s too much work or it’s too expensive or they really like their own decorating. So, why should you stage your home before your list it?

In brief, it will help you sell it faster and for a better price. Having your home on the market is difficult and you want the experience to be completed as quickly as possible. Staging gives you a chance to highlight your home’s best features and downplay the worst. You never get a second chance to make a first impression and your home is going to be scrutinized by many potential buyers. You want them to be able to see themselves living in your home. That means moving your personal touches out of sight and creating clean, open spaces to help buyers visualize themselves and their furnishings in it.

It’s hard to look at your home objectively and make the best choices for decluttering and rearranging. Your real estate agent can help you with that. Frequently, agents arrange for professional stagers to come in to make the hard decisions about what pictures to remove, how to arrange the furniture and make suggestions for quick updates that will make your home shine.

Staging gives you a headstart in getting ready to move. You must pack everything anyway, so start with the declutter process. Rooms crowded with stuff give the impression that there isn’t enough storage. Also, there are likely some minor repairs that will show up during inspection — get them done before listing as part of the staging process. Disrepairs make buyers think that your home hasn’t been maintained well so take care of anything that may catch a critical eye.

Stage the whole house to make the best impression. Give special focus to the front entry way and the room visible from it, the main living area, the kitchen, the master bedroom and any bonus areas, like a deck or den. Consider this list of inexpensive changes you can make to effectively stage your home:

• Make sure the living room is arranged for conversation as well as for viewing the television. Buyers need to envision sitting in the space and talking without having to move a chair. Accent the room’s best feature, such as adding a pretty plant near the fireplace hearth to draw the eye.
• Painting is an inexpensive fix to a tired room. Choose neutral colors for living spaces and more dramatic ones for bathrooms and the dining room. Neutrals need to be warmer tones like tan or khaki, not just an off-white.
• If your kitchen cabinets are dated, stain or paint them. Replace scratched or nicked door pulls.
• The master bedroom need to appeal to both sexes, so remove bedding and accessories that are too gender-specific. Paint the walls a neutral color, but choose a bright bedspread or comforter to give the room a focal point.
• Buyers love plenty of storage space and they will open every drawer and closet door. Unclutter all of them and organize your shelves to show off how much storage your home really has.
• Let the light in. When a showing is scheduled, open all the blinds and draperies. Turn on lamps and overhead lights. Make all the rooms look as light and airy as possible.
• If you have children or pets, visually reduce their presence so the home appeals to buyers who don’t have them. Confine children’s toys to their rooms, pack many of them away and organize the rest attractively. Place pets’ food bowls and litter boxes out of sight. Be conscientious about pet odors, too. If you need to get rid of old carpet that has trapped smells, do it!
• Your staging has to include the outside, too. Curb appeal is essential — you don’t want buyers to just drive-by. Add planters filled with plants and flowers by the front door. Trim shrubs and low hanging branches. Make sure the lawn looks good all the time. Take care of peeling paint and loose doorknobs. Replace a worn welcome mat with a new one. Powerwash the deck or patio and arrange the furniture into conversation areas.