To be really effective, you need to look at both the outside and the inside of your home. Here are 3 tips to get you started with the outside of your home:

1. Go stand on the street to see what clients see when driving up to the house. Be aware that any negative impressions they get outside the house (landscaping not maintained or non-existent, peeling paint, etc.) is just going to make them think that the house itself has not been well taken care of. So even if you have spent the time and money to fix up the interior, it would all be wasted if the clients get a bad first impression as they drive up to the house.

2. Next, step outside your front door and close the door; then stand on the stoop and look around for 5 minutes. While the realtor fumbles for keys and tries to figure out how to open the door, the clients are standing behind and looking around. So what are they seeing? Dead plants, old Halloween decorations in the middle of January, cobwebs? Again, not a good first impression!

It’s definitely worth it to take some time and clean it up. Want to go a step further? Try a new coat of paint or some new furniture or accessories.

3. Don’t forget the backyard. While that might not be part of the potential buyers’ first impression experience, you still should make sure it’s in the best condition possible. Pull up weeds, water plants, do some sweeping (if that’s applicable in your case) and maybe even purchase new furniture or accessories (plant pots, bird houses, etc.)

And the biggest tip of all? Imagine yourself as a potential buyer looking at your property for the very first time. What impressions are you getting? Would YOU buy your house? What would you like to see changed before you put an offer on your house?

And don’t worry about spending several thousand dollars to get your house ready to sell – you’ll get it all back when your house sells. Proper staging helps you sell your house in a shorter time and at the price you want.

To be really effective, you need to look at both the outside and the inside of your home. Here are 3 tips to get you started with the inside of your home:

1. De-clutter. This is one of the most important things you can do. It might be easier to think of de-cluttering like this – you’re moving anyway, so why not start packing now?

Pack up everything you don’t need and store the boxes out of sight in the garage (or consider temporarily renting a small storage locker).

2. Organize your closets – put similar colors together, pants together, skirts together, shirts together etc. Why? Because it will make the closets look bigger. (Really.) An organized closet appears bigger, and you want your closets to look as spacious as possible.

3. Make your home look like a model. You want to de-personalize as much as possible so potential buyers can imagine themselves and their own belongings occupying the space in your house. That means minimizing – putting away everything you don’t need or use. Clear off kitchen counters as much as possible – stash all those appliances you don’t use, and put miscellaneous small clutter in a few attractive baskets or boxes

And the biggest tip of all? Imagine yourself as a potential buyer looking at your property for the very first time. What impressions are you getting? Would YOU buy your house? What would you like to see changed before you put an offer on your house?

And don’t worry about spending several thousand dollars to get your house ready to sell – you’ll get it all back when your house sells. Proper staging helps you sell your house in a shorter time and at the price you want.

· MINIMIZE. Put away EVERYTHING that isn’t absolutely essential. Even if you have get down on your knees and beg your neighbor for some storage space in their garage, (or rent a storage locker), do it. Remember, it isn’t forever, and you might find you can live without some of that stuff.

· ORGANIZE. This is a good time to tackle that filing you’ve been putting off, and organizing your craft materials and other projects. Once again, get rid of anything you can live without temporarily. Better yet, start packing! And by the way, it’s easy these days to find attractive, inexpensive baskets in stores from WalMart to PierOne. Use those baskets to help keep you organized. A large basket can be used to stash magazines and coasters under the coffee table. Baskets can also be put to good use in bathrooms – put away all your personal items like make-up, toothpaste, shaving cream, etc. People can get distracted looking at the brand names of products you use; plus, having all that stuff around makes the house look used.

· ARRANGE. The things you DO keep around can be rearranged in attractive ways to make your house look interesting. In the kitchen, for example, group canisters together. Spreading them out makes counter space look smaller. The same goes for ledges, end tables, bookcase, and fireplace mantels. Group no more than 3 things together, making sure they’re varying heights, and mix graduate sizes. For example, group 2 candles on one side of the mantel, and something smaller on the other side.

One thing to remember while decorating to sell is that potential buyers frequently spend more time looking at family photograph and items of a personal nature. That embroidered family tree your aunt made might well spark a long conversation that does nothing to sell your house. So temporarily put away those photos and other personal items.

The key is to make the house look attractive, minimally decorated, and devoid of personal artifacts which distract the potential buyer and possibly prevents her from envisioning her OWN family and stuff in the house.