1. Make your property available .....

Allow buyers to see your property at every possible opportunity.

If you are in a situation where restrictive dates and showing times are an absolute necessity, just realize you will certainly be missing some of those buyers ....

We live in a community where the buyer is usually from out of town and will only be here for a few days. They are almost guaranteed to have a very limited window of opportunity to make a buying decision.

Allowing every showing will obviously and ultimately result in more showings.

2. Keep it incredibly clean.

3. Keep it light and bright

Leave your window shades up and let as much natural light into your property as possible.

4. De-clutter

Start by emptying out at least one-half of the stuff in all of your closets. Get rid of the oversized furniture and make your home look as spacious as you can.

Everyone needs storage space, so make that closet look larger by not packing it full.

Everyone appreciates a comfortable living space, so make what you have look as un-cluttered & inviting as possible.

5. Spruce it up.

Your dining area always looks nicer when the table is set with your best flatware ..... add in a flower arrangement and that entire area of your home pops in photographs and makes a lasting impression with buyers.

Go a step further and get some nice bed coverings and shower curtains, all relatively inexpensive, all highly visible parts of your home. Make your property pop with little or no expense.

6. Keep your home warm & inviting

You want your potential buyer to feel really comfortable when they enter your home. Keep the temperature at or above 65 degrees.

Turn on the gas fireplace or light a fire if you know a buyer is coming to visit ..... make them feel warm, welcome and wanting to make an offer!

7. Give them easy access.....

Leave all interior doors and rooms open ..... never surprise your buyers with a dog that is kept in a garage or other area of your home.

Grant access to all owners closets and show your potential buyer what kind of storage you truly have.

If your property is part of an HOA that has common areas such as a pool or hot tub, make certain to have an access key for the buyers to go check it out.

Remember, your buyer might only be here for one day, so make it easy for them to see everything they want. It costs you nothing! Just a bit of forethought .....

8. Make it sound nice

Some mellow jazz music or other background music that is pleasant to the ears ..... just loud enough to be enjoyed, but quiet enough to allow your guests to talk in a normal tone. The goal, of course, is to give your buyers a pleasant feeling upon entering your home.

9. Make yourself, your family
    and your pets invisible .....

to all prospective buyers.

Remove personal photos and de-personalize the home as much as you can.

You want the buyer to feel like it could be their home, not yours.

Never, ever, hang out so you can point out all of your home's attributes. Nothing annoys a real buyer like a seller that wants to be a tour guide. If you remain convinced that the buyer's Realtor simply won't give your home the recognition it deserves, leave a list.

10. Have a cheat sheet 

on your kitchen counter or somewhere readily visible to brokers and buyers that points out attributes of the home most buyers will not notice.

Don't point out the obvious: an example being vaulted ceilings. Of course the buyer knows that upon entering your home!

For the cheat sheet:

• you may point out that a new roof was just installed
• or that you have gypcrete sub-floors
• or that you have an automatic sprinkler system for the yard
• or that you have an in-house humidifier system
• or that you have access to a pool as part of your HOA dues
• or easy access to hiking & biking trails, etc, etc.

Don't point out the obvious ..... illuminate qualities that are unlikely to be noticed

Example of a cheat sheet

11. Fix all of the little things that cost virtually nothing to repair.....

• put WD-40 on a squeaky front door
• tighten the hinges on a crooked cabinet door
• clean the mold off of the bathtub caulking strip
• tack that weather strip back up in the window frame

Any buyer will always favor a home that does not have a lot of seemingly innocuous issues. Don't be the seller that loses a deal over something that costs you nothing!

12. Make your home smell nice

Hide the litter box, move the dog bed and do your best to eliminate the odors that come with a pet-friendly home. Start a fire in your fireplace. Bake cookies and leave a note offering some to your guests. Open the windows on a nice day. If your home needs a little extra help, use a very subtle air freshener.

13. If your home affords terrific views .....

be prepared for the buyer who inevitably visits on a cloudy day ..... have an 11 x 18 color photo of the view on a nice day near the view window.

Give them a great idea of what they are missing ..... without it, they may never know ..... with it, they may be writing an offer.

14. Address the glaringly obvious pitfalls of your property

For example, if you have a tricky driveway that may frighten a potential buyer ..... write a paragraph or two about how the plow guy shows up early every morning and the sun bakes away the snow almost immediately .....

Tell the best story you can, but always be honest.

Buyers are guaranteed to appreciate this type of honest disclosure and will certainly be more willing to accept an unsolvable imperfection if they are made aware of the negligible effect.