If you are considering selling your home, it is worth sitting down and thinking about what you can do to improve your chances of getting the highest possible price. Certain home improvements can really assist in selling a home, while conversely, certain problems can make a property extremely challenging to find a buyer.

Whatever the condition of the home for sale, home ownership represents an investment, and to get the best return on your investment, your home should be ‘staged’ or prepared before going up for sale. Not doing this is like throwing away your money.

A good first step is a thorough inspection of everything, inside and out. While it is easy to say, this is an exhaustive list of things to assess and is where a reputable home inspection service may be worth considering. In lieu of this option, you can always search the internet or local government or housing agencies for guidelines to follow in inspecting your home. Obtaining a checklist that allows you to go through and assess everything in an organized manner is a great way to proceed.

Of course, it is important that there are no obvious problems with the structure, finishes, or mechanical systems of a home. Ensuring that all mechanical devices function well, all plumbing pipes drain as they should, and all surfaces are in good repair are of primary importance. Gestures such as touching up caulking or applying a new coat of paint to a room are meaningless if your potential clients have problems flushing the toilet!

Assuming everything is basically sound and working in the home, what are some things a homeowner can do to increase its ‘curb appeal’?

Beyond any doubt, the best investment you can make is new paint. Painting can make a room or an exterior façade look brand-new, and totally transform the look and feel of a room or the entire residence. It is always wise to be somewhat restrained when choosing colors for a home-staging paint project. Avoid choosing colors that are too individual or flashy and favor neutral colors and schemes. This does not mean painting everything white, however. Use subtle color schemes to accentuate the home's strengths and minimize weaknesses. Dark colors, for example, tend to make a room feel smaller, while lighter colors and pastels can make a room feel bigger. There is another benefit to painting as well: the process of preparing the interior or exterior surfaces of a home for painting automatically forces one to go over the entire area receiving paint in great detail, and this can often expose items or areas requiring repair. It seems you always discover where the caulking has let go, where the rotten shingle is, where the gutter leaks when you are getting ready to paint. Keep in mind that as unexciting as such maintenance repairs are, it is always preferable to discover and deal with these items yourself, before the real estate agent (or worse, the prospective buyer) points them out to you!

Beyond painting, it is important to remove any non-essential furnishings and clutter before showing your home. People tend to focus subconsciously more on the furnishings of a room instead of the room itself, and you don’t want a client tripping over junk in their way. In the same vein, a home for sale should be spotlessly clean. A dusty, dirty home is uninviting and will work against the sale. Also, simply standing on the street and looking at your home will tell you a lot about what to improve. Clean, well-kept landscaping and a tidy exterior finish will help you sell your home faster, for a better price.