Year-round prep tips for selling your home

Prepping your home for sale can be an intimidating task. The preparations going into selling are usually stressful, difficult, and typically require a ton of work. This is especially the case if you're like most sellers and get your home ready for sale a weekend or two before putting it up for sale.

Plan ahead
Waiting until the weekend before selling your home is going to cause you way too much stress and anxiety - not to mention a lot of unnecessary expenses. Write down a list of projects that need to be fixed now, and tackle them one at a time every month or two. By dedicating small chunks of time here and there to do a few tasks in the year or two before placing your home on the market, you will be saving yourself a lot of headaches when it comes time to actually sell. Not only will you be less stressed, but you won't be as hasty to get things working, and you'll do a far better job. (If you have a handyman do the work, you'll also likely keep some cash in your pockets by hiring them during less busy times vs. in the middle of the summer when most contractors will have more expensive rates.)

Your home's "photo shoot"
When marketing your house, it is extremely important that you have a striking picture of your home. A snapshot taken at high noon ain't gonna cut it. One of the best things you can do to get your home ready for sale is to keep a camera handy for taking photos when your home won't be washed out and colorless because the picture was taken at high-noon. According to murphy's law; if you wait until you put the sign in the yard to take a picture for your home, it will be raining every day your agent shows up to take a picture.

Whether or not you're moving this year, next time after it rains, see if you can take a picture of your home with a rainbow behind it. In the summer, make sure to get an early morning picture with the gentle glow of the sun shining down on your gorgeous flowers on your front porch. It's those little touches that make a big difference.

Store it, sell it, or donate it. Just don't keep it in your houyse!
Get a storage locker and put everything that is taking up space unnecessarily in your home -- in it. If you don't use that breadmaker taking up space on the kitchen countertop more often than several times a month, put it away or store it. (In fact, even if you do use it, if it could be easily stored out of the way - store it!) The more room you have on your kitchen counter, the bigger the kitchen feels. If you have toys that are sitting around the family room, sell them! The less stuff you have around in your home, the bigger it feels!

With just a little foresight, you can greatly enhance the effectiveness of preparing your home for sale.

Looking for Colorado real estate? Visit http://www.AutomatedHomefinder.com for all of your Colorado relocation needs.