Stand back and view your home as if you were seeing it for the first time. This is the ‘first impression’ stage. Depending on the season you may want to have pots of colourful and attractive flowers to greet buyers; a clean and inviting door mat; new and shiny door handles and/or knockers; a freshly painted door.

Start your pre-pack as soon as possible. You need to decide what you are going to keep, give away, sell or throw away/recycle. Many clients will rent storage lockers or have pods delivered so they can start to clear out the items that won’t help you sell your home.

You would think this one is common sense but let us assure you, we wish it was so! A clean home translates into ‘They must have really cared for their home.” Use environmentally friendly cleaners where you can, for hard cleaning areas TSP is a good product. At the very least bathrooms and kitchens must be sparkling clean.

We know you love your family photos and your personal treasures and for living they are perfect. However, for selling you want buyers to focus on the best features of your home and not your personal things or collections. Pack them up and store them til you move into your new home.

A neutral colour scheme is the way to go for selling. Choose only three colours or less to paint your house for selling. If you have an open floor plan then paint the main floor all the same colour. Bedrooms look good in light sage greens or warm blues.

Highlightyour home’s best architectural features. Place your furniture in each room so that you have very obvious focal points that show off the home’s best selling features. For example, if you have a beautiful fireplace then place the furniture so that the eye is drawn to the fireplace.

Decide on the function in each room. If you were using your guest bedroom as your den for living, for selling turn it back into a bedroom with bedroom furniture in it. If you do not have the right furniture for each room consider renting it. If you don’t want to rent furniture than borrow the items you need to show off your home.

Lighting your home properly shows it off to its best advantage. Spend money on new light fixtures in brushed nickel or stainless steel. There are many low-cost lighting stores to select from so no excuses for having dated light fixtures.

Window treatments can help sell your home, they're like the icing on the cake. The most popular on the market are the 2” faux woods in a white tone to go with your trim. Decorative side panels will do the trick if you need to add warmth and colour.

Flooring needs special attention and is a good investment for updating the look of your home. Tile or linoleum is great for entranceways, bathrooms, kitchens, laundry rooms; a good quality laminate or hardwood is perfect for living rooms and family rooms; bedrooms are attractive in a neutral carpet.