One of the most sought after custom built items are shelves. Perhaps this is because people have such varying needs for shelves. Whether a free standing book shelf, closet shelves, or shelves to cover an entire wall, there are plans for furniture to accommodate. With some careful planning and a little skill, it is possible to build your own custom shelves and save money in the process.

First, determine what the shelving is to be used for. If they are to be used in a closet, there are whole separate sets of plans available. Custom closet shelving is a huge business, but there are plans for furniture available online and in books that will walk you through the process of building your own. Try the local library for books if an internet search does not yield the desired results. Next, consider what the shelves are meant to hold, and where they will be located. If they are going to hold items that are very heavy, it may be necessary to look for plans that involve extra shelf support.

In the case of bookshelves, simple plans may work just fine. Make sure they allow for the proper number of shelves, and that you have the tools necessary to ensure they are level. Wobbly bookshelves can be very dangerous. For more intricate shelving, it may be necessary to follow more detailed plans. The best way to begin a project of this magnitude to is to follow the plans and complete the project in your head first. Go from step to step and make sure you know exactly what is happening at each step, and that you know exactly what the project is supposed to look like at this point in the process. This can prevent you for starting on a certain set of plans and discovering part of the way through that they are vague or incorrect. It may be helpful to check out a book on how to read plans for furniture from the library.

The main thing to remember is that to begin any project, you must be prepared. Find good plans and make sure you have all the necessary materials. If, after careful evaluation of the plans, it appears that you do not have the skills necessary, consider taking classes in order to better prepare yourself to take on the project. Plans for furniture can be complicated, so if all else fails you can always hire a professional like Custom Shelves NYC   to follow the plans you have chosen.

You’ll find many brochures in paint stores, showing various combinations of exterior paint colors. But most people don’t realize that most of those combinations actually include three colors, and not just two. Limiting your exterior paint scheme to just two colors also limits your income potential.

For a fast sale, think fun colors and go for a third, or even a fourth, exterior color. Think “Disneyland Main Street,” where every shop is painted in glorious multi-colors. Adding more colors will also add definition to the various architectural details of your home. Use gloss or semi-gloss paint on wood trim.

The Psychology of Exterior Colors

When choosing exterior colors, take the sales price of your home into account. Certain colors, especially muted, complex shades, attract wealthy or highly-educated buyers, whereas buyers with less income or less education generally prefer simpler colors. A complex color contains tints of gray or brown, and usually requires more than one word to describe, such as “sage green,” as opposed to “green.”

On the other hand, simple colors are straightforward and pure. Generally, houses in the lower price range sell faster and for higher prices when painted in simple colors like yellow or tan, accented by white, blue, or green trim.

The Psychology of Interior Colors

Using colored, rather than bland, white walls will increase your profit potential. Lynette Jennings tested the perception of room size and color, and discovered that a room painted white appeared only appeared larger to a few people when compared to an identical room painted in color – and the perceived difference was only about six inches! Most people also look better when surrounded by color, and feel happier, and since buyers pick houses that make them feel happy, that knowledge can put dollars in your pocket at closing!

Entryways should bring the exterior colors into the house. Repeating shades of the exterior throughout your home will make the entire home seem to be in harmony. Living and family rooms painted in a slightly lighter shade of the exterior color will ensure that you’ve picked a color your buyers like, because if they didn’t like your exterior colors, they wouldn’t have bothered to look inside. If they loved the exterior colors, they’ll love the interior, too.

When choosing interior colors, consider the use of each room. For instance, kitchen and dining areas that are painted in “food colors,” such as coffee browns, celery greens, and scrambled egg yellows, feel natural.

Since, deeper shades of color imply intimacy and serenity, I like to paint master bedrooms a medium shade of green or blue for warm selling seasons, and rouge red for cooler weather. Other bedrooms can be painted in creamy tones of green, blue, or a pale shell pink. (See the chapter on the Psychology of Color in my book “Joy to the Home: Secrets of Interior Design Psychology” for further information.)

Selling Season

Always consider your selling season (the time of year you’ll be marketing your home) and climate when choosing colors. Estimate the amount of time you’ll need to get your home ready for sale, and then add on extra days for unexpected delays. Use cool colors, such as blues, greens, and grays, to sell during spring and summer, and warm colors, such as yellows, reds, and maroons, when selling in the fall and winter.

Color Intensity

My husband and I usually use lighter colors when painting the exteriors of our investment dollhouses, because it makes them appear larger. On the other hand, our cabin in the woods looks richer when painted a darker color. When we decided to have it painted, I considered the usual cabin colors of dark brown and barn red, but fell in love with Olympic’s gorgeous “Gooseberry” plum color.

When getting ready to paint your house, look at the colors of neighboring houses and choose colors that harmonize, yet stand out from the crowd. Colors that clash badly with other houses will detract from the overall neighborhood.

At the beginning of the article, I told you that homes with yellow exteriors sell the quickest. But which shade of yellow sells best? First, the yellows to avoid: yellows with green undertones look sickly to most buyers, and yellows with orange undertones give buyers an impression of cheapness.

The best-selling yellow exterior color is actually a pale, sunny yellow, especially when complimented with one or more carefully-chosen accent colors. For instance, a semi-gloss white trim will give your home a clean and fresh look, and adding a third color, such as green, can make your home even more attractive to prospective buyers.

Colors affect human beings in many ways, and by using the principles of Color Psychology, you can make your home stand out from the competition, sell more quickly, and at a higher price.

While home prices have taken a plunge, there’s still a bit of good news to be seen coming around the corner. The values have stayed fairly level since the start of 2011, which means our market is getting stronger daily. It’s entirely possible things will keep moving toward the right direction. So remember that we still have a buyer’s market, and that means sellers have to work harder to show how much value they still have out there. To help sellers get their best price, we’ll cover a few tips to help out:

Study The Local Market – It’s extremely important to keep on top of your local housing market. Whenever you’re armed with a good feel for what real estate prices seem to be averaging for your area, then you will better know how much your home can bring you.

Curb Appeal – One good way of getting your price is to have lots of curb appeal. When buyers drive past your home, they’ll look it over closely, and you need to be ready for their scrutiny. Add some lighting here and there, do some landscaping, maybe paint a few spots, and you’ll be surprised what a difference it makes.

Paint Your Walls – This move is by no means mandatory, but oh what a difference it can make. The price of paint will seem very inexpensive against the extra cash you can get in your asking price once you’ve painted the walls.

Clean Your Home – You also should try to get that home as clean as possible. This helps with getting your asking price. If your house is cluttered and full of dirty spots, then buyers are going to be turned off. It doesn’t matter that they were once interested, it’s good odds they won’t meet your asking price. Make your home shine before you show it. Pay special attention to the bathroom and kitchen. This kind of work pays off well.

Hire A Home Inspector – This is a good tip as well. Be sure to hire yourself a home inspector. They’ll help to find any problems in need of repair before a buyer hires one. This approach enables you to ask for a price that’s higher and to sell the home faster.

If you take these tips to heart and do them, you’ll surely get more for your home than if you don’t. Anytime you improve on your home, in any way, it improves your home value, and your ability to get the best price.

1. Clean your home (inside and out) and get the yard looking spic-and-span.
2. Set a sales price based on selling prices of homes nearby of similar size and amenities.
3. Put a FSBO sign in your front yard with your phone number and/or email address.
4. Place an ad in the real estate classified section of your local paper.
5. Pass out flyers to your neighbors and put at your local shopping mall, stores, libraries, and apartment complexes.
6. Hold an open house.

Now let’s look at them individually. Cleaning up and doing whatever maintenance seems self-explanatory, but be aware that you get used to certain things (especially odors) when you live in a home everyday. So it’s worthwhile to ask someone to walk through your house and give you an honest appraisal of things that need to be fixed or smells that need to be addressed, such as sticky doors, squeaky hinges, and the cat box in the utility room.

Setting a price can be a bit tricky, but you can find out what other homes are on the market by calling the agents listed on signs in your neighborhood and asking the prices of their houses. If the homes have been on the market a long time, you can assume they’re over priced.

Putting a sign in your yard is easy. They’re available in most hardware or department store, and they’re cheap. Yet most agents will tell you that signs are the best advertising mediums, since people who see yard signs are cruising the neighborhood. That means they’re in the market for a home in that area, so if you put a sign out, you’ll get calls.

Now a word for those who are squeamish about putting your phone number on a sign. You can substitute an email address to protect yourself from unwanted calls. It will limit your number of prospects, but it will give you a greater degree of privacy. Since you’re moving anyway, it might be best to list your phone number. If you know how to put pictures on the Internet, you can list you website address on the sign.

Placing a newspaper ad is easy, but make sure to give accurate information and make it enticing. Be brief, but tell buyers what’s special about your home. Even with the advent of the Internet, a majority of homebuyers still cruise neighborhoods and religiously peruse real estate ads, especially on Sundays.

Putting up flyers in the area will also let people know your home is available. This can be especially effective for apartment dwellers longing to own a home of their own.

Open Houses

Handing out flyers to neighbors and inviting them to an open house can be your most effective selling tool. After all, your neighbors are happy living in your area and often have friends or family they’d love to have closer to them.

You’ll notice I didn’t suggest holding an open house and inviting the world. The type of open houses you see agents promoting are for the agents to get leads on home buyers. Few houses sell at open houses.

There are other factors to consider after you’ve found a buyer, but you can generally find help through a lawyer or an escrow company. The bottom line is: you CAN sell your home yourself. It just takes time, diligence, and attention to detail.

It can be a difficult decision whether to purchase a resale home or a new home from a builder

Although new homes typically have a higher sales price than comparable existing homes, buyers are willing to spend more up-front with an understanding that part of what they are paying for is assured low maintenance costs. A builder’s warranty, along with brand-new roof, appliances, furnace, and other operating systems that make major repairs unnecessary, work together to counteract possible slower appreciation initially.

Buying New Versus Resale

In today’s highly competitive market there is a vast array of choices to be made when deciding on the type of dwelling you wish to reside in. Below is a comparison of the advantages and disadvantages of buying a new home versus a resale home.

Advantages of a New Home

One of the primary advantages of buying a new home is the ability to decorate your home from the beginning exactly the way you want. You can pick all the colors, which range from paint to carpet. You can also make the tile and cabinetry selection for the kitchen and bathrooms.

Often, new homes will have more modern conveniences, better insulation and can be more energy efficient.

Disadvantages of a New Home

Unfortunately, with a new home purchase you should be prepared for the on-going construction you will find around you. Chances are that your grass and lawn will not be in, your driveway will be gravel and your street will turn into a sea of mud whenever it rains or snows. If things are going to go wrong with a newly constructed house, they will appear in the first one to two years.

As the house settles you may find cracks appearing in the walls of the basement, especially near any windows in the basement, make sure you get them fixed right away. Also, you should not finish your basement in a new home for at least a couple of years, just in case cracks and leaks develop.

There are additional expenses associated with new homes that you will not typically find in a resale home. For example, you may have to spend additional money for appliances, curtains, drapes, central vacuum, humidifiers, decks, fencing, electric garage door openers, finishing the basement, walkways, outdoor lighting, indoor light fixtures, trees, shrubs, gardens and landscaping, children’s play sets, swimming pool, air conditioning, etc.

Closing costs are typically higher for new homes. The purchaser will pay for such additional costs as the New Home Warranty Program, tree planting, utility hook ups and paving of the driveway.

Usually, when you buy a new home, you don’t have an opportunity to see the actual layout. All that is provided is a blueprint and in many cases the end product may be a disappointment to the purchaser because of changes that the builder or sub-contractor does not follow or does themselves. Additionally, there is the uncertainty as to who will be your neighbours.

Advantages of a Resale Home

The major advantage of buying a resale home is that you are moving into an established neighborhood. Your lawn is green, your shrubs are growing, your driveway is paved and your trees are well enough established to give your street a feeling of permanence. Often, most extras are already present, such as appliances, curtains, drapes, central vacuum, humidifiers, decks, fencing, electric garage door openers, finishing the basement, walkways, outdoor lighting, indoor light fixtures, trees, shrubs, gardens and landscaping, children’s play sets, swimming pool, air conditioning, etc.

In terms of investment, a resale home will often give you far more value than a brand new home. Many owners put tens of thousands of dollars into home improvements ranging from small items, such as landscaping, to major projects, such as a finished basement or any of the items above. Although these improvements will make the home more attractive to potential buyers, they may not increase the market value of the home.

A $35,000 swimming pool or a $15,000 finished basement or even $5,000 worth of landscaping may make the home very attractive. However these additional costs incurred may not necessarily increase the market value of a home, especially if you have to sell it at a time of year where these major items add little or no perceived value. The buyer gets the home at its real fair market value, which is based on comparable homes for sale or sold in the neighborhood. All those expensive extras may be included in the home with benefit to the buyer at little or no extra cost. This can be a substantial savings over buying a new home.

With a resale, the vendor’s asking price is almost always negotiable downwards unlike the builders list price which is usually firm. Any extras or changes are added to the list price of a new home and add up quickly.

Disadvantages of a Resale Home

A small percentage of homes in the marketplace are not considered to be in move-in condition. If both live-in partners happen to be working at full time jobs, a move-in condition home is by far the best alternative. If the property is being under “power of sale” or the property has been rented for many years the home may require a lot of work. If the buyer is not handy or does not have the additional up front capital then the purchaser would be better off buying a home in move-in condition or a brand new home. Additionally, as a home gets on in age certain systems such as heating, cooling, roofing, and/or windows need to be upgraded.

Although some perceive the paragraph above as a disadvantage, some consider it as an advantage. A home that needs some fixing up can in fact present some clear cost advantage to a buyer. Usually, it can be purchased below the going market value, while at the same time providing an opportunity to have it decorated to suite your specific tastes.

Neighbourhood: Known or Unknown Factor

When you buy a resale home, you can find out a lot more about the property and the neighbourhood before you buy than when you buy a new home. Land to support new-home developments usually is located on the outskirts of town. Potential buyers should ask the developer about future access to public transit, entertainment activities, shopping centers, churches, and schools. Local zoning ordinances also should be reviewed. A rather remote area can turn into a fast-food-chain haven within a couple of years. Try to ensure that the neighbourhood, if not strictly residential, will not begin sprawling out of control.

Buying into a new-home community may seem riskier than purchasing a house in an established neighbourhood, but any increase in home value depends upon the same factors: quality of the neighbourhood, growth in the local housing market and the state of the overall economy. One survey by the National Association of Realtors shows that resale homes do have an edge over new homes when it comes to appreciation.

More Questions and Items to Consider

There is a major decision early in the process of purchasing a new home and that is whether to build a new home or purchase a resale home already on the market. The following provides some considerations that may help you make an informed decision.

Location, location, location.
Are new homes being built in the area you desire? Do you know the surrounding zoning and what will be constructed in the area? How far away are services (schools, stores, hospital, doctors, etc.) that you need? How long is the commute to work?

Investment.
Typically, due to the continual addition of features, rising labor and material costs, new homes cost more than similar resale homes. Are you having to pay significant impact or lot levies or taxes and fees that are imposed on the builder? Are the taxes on the new home much higher than a comparable resale home? Will you be in the new home until the area is built out so you will not be competing with the builders should you need to sell the home? Is the home going to be high priced compared to other homes built or going to be built in the area?

Features.
Are the style and features that you desire only available in a new home? Can you find a resale home with most of the features and amenities you desire? Can you add the features you desire to a resale home? Are newer resale homes available that meet your needs?

Risk.
Is the new home builder or developer financially stable? Is the builder a large well known company with a good reputation? Is the builder asking for significant down payments or advance payments? Are there complaints lodged against the builder for shoddy work or not making repairs? Has the builder been delivering homes when promised? Check with your Better Business Bureau, the town or the city and talk to homeowners that have purchased a home from the builder.

In summary, a resale home can cost less, be more conveniently located, you know the area and amenities and have less risk involved. A new home can be constructed to have the exact style and features you desire, but usually with much higher costs, limited locations, and more risk.

Conclusion

In today’s market place both new and resale homes are selling briskly. Once you’ve evaluated the pros and cons of each alternative, you can make an intelligent, educated decision as to which option is best suited for your particular needs.

Ultimately, the decision should be based on your needs and wants, your family and/or children, your tolerance for risk and the unknown and ultimately your budget.

It has been said that if you let your house sit on the market for a long time, the chances of getting the price that you want greatly reduces. If you are able to sell your house within a couple of weeks, you will probably be able to sell your house for what you are asking for. I am going to furnish you a number of ways to get your house sold quickly.

1. First thing you want to do is get rid of your realtor if you have one. For the amount of work they do verses the commission they get, it’s just not worth it to have one. You know your home better than anyone and selling your own home will put a good amount of extra money in your pocket.

2. Setting the correct value is very important. You need to lookup at what other houses are worth in your neighborhood and set your price within a similar price range. If you decide to try to sell your home by yourself, you can always go on the internet to find out what the other houses are worth. You don’t want to mark it to low, but you really want to make sure that you don’t price yourself out of the market.

3. Many potential buyers will decide not to buy before they step foot into your home. If the inside looks wonderful, and the outside looks terrible, then their mind will be made up in a hurry. You need to make sure the outside of your house is in tiptop shape before attempting to sell.

4. Before touring your home make sure and do a very thorough cleaning. Pick up all the clutter whether it is inside closets or in the middle of the living room. No one wants to look at, much less buy a house that is dirty.

5. My last piece of advice is you may want to go to a website that has FSBO. This stands for sale by owner. A lot of people can sell their house this way. They will help you set up your ad and other things you may need to do.

If you have the right information about selling your home, you can sell your house quickly and for the price that you want.

You’ll find many brochures in paint stores, showing various combinations of exterior paint colors. But most people don’t realize that most of those combinations actually include three colors, and not just two. Limiting your exterior paint scheme to just two colors also limits your income potential.

For a fast sale, think fun colors and go for a third, or even a fourth, exterior color. Think “Disneyland Main Street,” where every shop is painted in glorious multi-colors. Adding more colors will also add definition to the various architectural details of your home. Use gloss or semi-gloss paint on wood trim.

The Psychology of Exterior Colors

When choosing exterior colors, take the sales price of your home into account. Certain colors, especially muted, complex shades, attract wealthy or highly-educated buyers, whereas buyers with less income or less education generally prefer simpler colors. A complex color contains tints of gray or brown, and usually requires more than one word to describe, such as “sage green,” as opposed to “green.”

On the other hand, simple colors are straightforward and pure. Generally, houses in the lower price range sell faster and for higher prices when painted in simple colors like yellow or tan, accented by white, blue, or green trim.

The Psychology of Interior Colors

Using colored, rather than bland, white walls will increase your profit potential. Lynette Jennings tested the perception of room size and color, and discovered that a room painted white appeared only appeared larger to a few people when compared to an identical room painted in color – and the perceived difference was only about six inches! Most people also look better when surrounded by color, and feel happier, and since buyers pick houses that make them feel happy, that knowledge can put dollars in your pocket at closing!

Entryways should bring the exterior colors into the house. Repeating shades of the exterior throughout your home will make the entire home seem to be in harmony. Living and family rooms painted in a slightly lighter shade of the exterior color will ensure that you’ve picked a color your buyers like, because if they didn’t like your exterior colors, they wouldn’t have bothered to look inside. If they loved the exterior colors, they’ll love the interior, too.

When choosing interior colors, consider the use of each room. For instance, kitchen and dining areas that are painted in “food colors,” such as coffee browns, celery greens, and scrambled egg yellows, feel natural.

Since, deeper shades of color imply intimacy and serenity, I like to paint master bedrooms a medium shade of green or blue for warm selling seasons, and rouge red for cooler weather. Other bedrooms can be painted in creamy tones of green, blue, or a pale shell pink. (See the chapter on the Psychology of Color in my book “Joy to the Home: Secrets of Interior Design Psychology” for further information.)

Selling Season

Always consider your selling season (the time of year you’ll be marketing your home) and climate when choosing colors. Estimate the amount of time you’ll need to get your home ready for sale, and then add on extra days for unexpected delays. Use cool colors, such as blues, greens, and grays, to sell during spring and summer, and warm colors, such as yellows, reds, and maroons, when selling in the fall and winter.

Color Intensity

My husband and I usually use lighter colors when painting the exteriors of our investment dollhouses, because it makes them appear larger. On the other hand, our cabin in the woods looks richer when painted a darker color. When we decided to have it painted, I considered the usual cabin colors of dark brown and barn red, but fell in love with Olympic’s gorgeous “Gooseberry” plum color.

When getting ready to paint your house, look at the colors of neighboring houses and choose colors that harmonize, yet stand out from the crowd. Colors that clash badly with other houses will detract from the overall neighborhood.

At the beginning of the article, I told you that homes with yellow exteriors sell the quickest. But which shade of yellow sells best? First, the yellows to avoid: yellows with green undertones look sickly to most buyers, and yellows with orange undertones give buyers an impression of cheapness.

The best-selling yellow exterior color is actually a pale, sunny yellow, especially when complimented with one or more carefully-chosen accent colors. For instance, a semi-gloss white trim will give your home a clean and fresh look, and adding a third color, such as green, can make your home even more attractive to prospective buyers.

Colors affect human beings in many ways, and by using the principles of Color Psychology, you can make your home stand out from the competition, sell more quickly, and at a higher price.

It may be a once in a life time opportunity if a person has given you a good deal but do have a lot of request before closing the deal. Of course you may want to lose this kind of opportunity and do everything to convince them.

Don’t hesitate to ask question and know some of their request so you can check it out if you can still handle and do the request. Usually a make over is most of the important thing that you should do to make your home presentable and attractive to your buyer. Repaint walls, ceilings and remove stains on the floor. You can hire an expert to do this for you so to impress your buyer. But make sure that your buyer is really ready to buy your home because it might cost you too much in making over your home and ends up hanging in the air waiting for your home to be bought.

Make a list of expenses that you will about to spend in making the renovation and make over. Include the expenses on the selling price of your home. Remember when a home is fully renovated it can have higher value and can be sold in higher price. Make sure that all facilities are all in good working condition, you may want to ask a master electrician to check your electrical wiring connection and make sure that there will be no problem and avoid faulty electrical wiring that can be turn out into an accident or fire.

Beautifying your garden is a good option to convince your buyer, usually sophisticated person do like to have a garden in their place. A good landscaping crew will surely help you to beautify your garden, it may sound expensive but it will surely give a good impression on your buyer. Of course these increase your selling price and add more beauty on your home.

If you’ve watched the news or read a paper, chances are that you know the real estate market is in trouble. So what can you do to make your home one of the ones that will actually sell instead of lingering on the market with the others? The answer is staging.

Staging is the term that real estate professionals use for arranging and decorating a home to show it off and make it as attractive as possible to prospective buyers. In this market, buyers have many houses to pick from, and they aren’t willing to compromise. If you want to sell in a timely manner and for a profit, you need to make your home into a real “dream home.” Luckily there are some inexpensive and easy ways to do that without hiring a professional.

Cut the Clutter
The most important thing that you can do to stage your home is eliminate as much clutter as possible. Before you put your home on the market, do an extensive clean-out. It can seem daunting, but take it one room at a time. And remember that you’ll eventually need to go through everything anyway when you pack up to move, so you’re really just getting an early start.

A good rule of thumb is to get rid of anything that you haven’t used in over a year. If you haven’t used it in three months, box it up. You might want to consider renting a storage unit, or asking a friend or family member to allow you to store some excess items in their basement or garage.

Remember that the fewer things you have in a room, the larger it will seem. Arrange your furniture in a way that clearly shows off the traffic flow from room to room. Keep unsightly but necessary items in decorative baskets or bins.

Also, don’t forget your closets. Buyers will want to look at the closet space, so shoving your clutter out of sight won’t work!

Impersonal Touches
While you’re eliminating clutter, there’s one other thing you’ll want to eliminate from your home: Yourself.

Replace family photos and portraits with neutral artwork. Take your children’s school projects off the refrigerator and hang appointment calendars or family message boards inside closets or cabinets. Consider removing overtly religious or ethnic art or objects as well.

Contrary to what some might think, this isn’t to avoid offending buyers or to protect your family’s privacy. It’s simply to create a “blank slate.” When buyers come into your home, they immediately begin wondering where they’ll put their favorite chair or hang their own family portraits. By removing yourself from the home, buyers will be able to imagine themselves and their own families living there.

Let the Sun Shine In
Proper lighting is essential to staging your home. Make sure that all the curtains and blinds are open to let in as much natural light as possible. Consider replacing heavy drapes with airy sheers. Also make sure that you have plenty of lamps and other lighting. Some buyers may want to see the home in the evening, so make sure it’s well-lit.

Replace all the bulbs in your fixtures with the highest wattage allowed for the fixture. Make sure there are no dark corners by moving lamps around in the room for the most coverage.

Also clean all of your windows. Removing dirt and grime from the outside, as well as smudges and fingerprints from the inside, will improve the quality of light and enhance the overall feeling of brightness.

Keep it Clean
It might seem self-evident, but when you’re showing your home, you need to keep it spotless. Do a big “spring cleaning” before you begin showing. If you’re short on time or if you just hate to clean, many house-cleaning companies offer a one-time deep cleaning session. Call around to get an idea of price and decide if it’s worth the money to avoid that task.

Once your home is clean, dedicate twenty or thirty minutes a day to maintaining. When you’re selling your home, especially in a down market, you’ll want to be able to show your home to buyers at the drop of a hat. If a buyer requests a showing and you ask them to wait until the next day so you can clean up, they may just move on to your neighbor’s house, taking their money with them.

Focus on the kitchen, bathroom, and floors. These are the most obvious “dirty” areas. Make sure you wipe down all counters, appliances, sinks, and mirrors in the kitchen and bathrooms. Vacuum all rugs, fluff cushions and pillows, and run a dust cloth over shelves and televisions. Make sure you make all the beds each morning and pick up any accumulated clutter.

If you take the time to stage your home before you put it on the market, and spend a bit of time maintaining your staging, you can sell your home quick and profitably, even in a buyer’s market.

Shopping for property is a time intensive, frustrating process. You probably remember this from when you were last shopping for a property. The listings and properties start to just be a blur. Each has good points, but there are almost always bad ones as well. Ultimately, the decision on which property to buy comes down to emotions. You, as a seller, must focus on this.

What are the unique, special qualities associated with your property? In this case, I am not talking about big rooms, a hot tub or any such thing. I am talking about life experiences. If the seller buys your property, what are they going to get that is special? Are the going to be able to watch the sun set over the hills in the afternoon? Is it incredibly quiet? Is their a big park nearby? Is the neighborhood really friendly with parties all the time? Are there lots of kids in the neighborhood, a fact families will be looking for?

The questions can go on and on. The point is to look beyond the square footage of the property. What quality of life aspects is a buyer going to get if the purchase the property? If you can identify those items, you should be mentioning them in your marketing material and during showings. These little tidbits help the potential buyer visualize themselves living in the property. If they like what they visualize, you are going to get an offer.

It is easy to focus on the boring facts of a property when trying to sell. A better approach is to consider what makes it a great place to live and then promote that information.