You don't have to spend a great deal of money to attract more buyers to your home at sales time. Remember, your home is in the limelight once you place it on the market, and people will be looking at it more closely than they would if they were just making social calls.

Making sure your house is spotlessly clean, odor-free, and devoid of clutter will go a long way toward getting more and higher offers, but there are other small and inexpensive things you can do that can pay big dividends when it comes to selling your home. The time to begin is BEFORE your home is put on the market.

First, hold a garage sale to rid your home of as much clutter as possible. After the sale is over, call your local charity and donate everything that's left over. Everything else that you don't use on a daily basis should be packed away or placed in a storage unit so your home will seem more spacious and open.

One source of clutter that's often overlooked is the kitchen refrigerator. If you're like most folks, your fridge is covered with magnets, pieces of paper, recipes, your children's artwork, photos, and a hundred other things. While they say "home" to you, they say "clutter" to potential buyers, so clear off the refrigerator before your home goes on the market.

Next, make sure the entryway invites people into your home. Put out a nice, friendly new doormat, put pots of flowers on the porch, and make sure the door is clean. If the front door needs paint to make it say "welcome," do it. It's an inexpensive way to make a favorable first impression on potential buyers.

Inside the home, some home stagers recommend that you set the dining room table with your finest place settings, including candles and nice cloth napkins. However, you want to be careful that your home doesn't look too "staged." The idea is to give buyers a feeling for how nice it would be to entertain in your home once it has become THEIR home. You can do this with candles and a gorgeous flower arrangement. If you dont have flowers in your garden to cut and need to skip the expense of florist flowers, cut branches of trees and bushes. Fresh greenery provides eye appeal and also makes buyers feel connected to the outdoor natural environment from inside your home.

Make every effort to eliminate any unpleasant odors. If you don't detect any odors yourself, bring in someone else and ask them to walk through your house and tell you if they smell anything unusual. You may be surprised at what you find out, but unpleasant smells are one of the biggest turn-offs for buyers, so don't skip this important step.

Fix all squeaky doors or sticky drawers, especially in the kitchen. Since it's one of the focal points of most home searches, everything in the kitchen must be in perfect working order to make the most favorable impression upon potential buyers. That also means clearing off countertops to make sure buyers can see how spacious and efficient your kitchen really is.

When it comes to selling your home, you want it to stand out from the competition, but you don't have to spend large sums of money to accomplish that goal. Some common sense and some good old-fashioned elbow grease will go a long way toward selling your home more quickly and for more money.

Copyright 2006 Jeanette J. Fisher