Five things to do before you list your home for sale

Everyone wants to know what to do to make sure their home is one of the first to sell, here are five tips plus a bonus to get you started before you list your home for sale to help it to sell. Firstly take of your home owner glasses and see your home as a buyer will.

1) How long have you lived in your home, if it is more than 5-7 years have a home inspection before you list. There are benefits and negatives of doing this which are a s follows. Every home today has a seller disclosure statement, so anything that turns up you are going to now have to disclose, but isn't it better to disclose the repairs you have made than have the issue come up later and be a stumbling block to reaching settlement. Anything you can correct now is going to be cheaper than if you wait for a buyer to request it. It shows transparency that buyers will like. It will not remove the buyer doing their own inspection but any major issues should have been removed.

2) Call an appraiser and ask him to appraise the home for a 40 day sale. An appraiser is an independent consultant, who has no further interest in the property other than appraising it at the time of the appraisal, he has no interest in listing the property and telling you what you want to hear. It will give you a base number to work with. Appraisals used to all come in at the same range, however today appraisers are all over the place and you need to stress this is an appraisal for a quick sale rather than a re-finance.

3) Clean house literally, buyers see dirt and take it for lack of care of your home, get a cleaning service or do it yourself and make sure that all the woodwork is wiped down, maybe even freshly painted, tops of doors, fans, anywhere that dirt can gather, return vents on a/c systems, the cleaner the better you want your home to give a great impression. Move the furniture and vacuum all those dust bunnies and cobwebs up.

4) Curb appeal, sort out the yard, get it mowed, raked, weeded including walkways and flower beds, mulched and plant some seasonal color around walkways and entrances. Move trash cans and toys out of sight. You cannot imagine how many buyers take one look at a home and won't even get out of the car to see the inside of a home. Don't let yours be one of those.

5) Pay for a stager, if you have not painted in some time ask for some advice on color schemes to make your home look interesting to today's buyers. Declutter and arrange furniture and closets to make rooms and closets look spacious. Clear counters and put paperwork away so that the home looks tidy, many stagers ask you to remove family faces allowing buyers to see themselves in your home rather than seeing your family.

* The bonus suggestion is actually for when you list, buyers cannot buy if they cannot see your home, make it easy to show, help your agent by being willing to keep the house clean and tidy and ready for showings at short notice. Living in a home for sale is very different to living in your own home, it is uncomfortable you have to think about cleaning up before running out the door and leaving dishes in the sink. But you never know when a buyer will want to see your home, so leave lights on and the house tidy and inviting to a buyer if they stop by at short notice with an agent.