You’ve made the big decision: it’s time to put your home on the market. Now you need to think about preparing your home for sale. What are the next steps?

With lots of competition in the market, you’ll want to make sure your home stands out above the rest. Here are tips on how to get your property in tip-top shape to make the best impression on potential buyers.

6 Tips for Preparing a Home for Sale

1. Clean and Declutter

People who look at your house will try to imagine what it would be like to live in your home … but not the way you live there. Before putting your home on the market, give it a thorough decluttering. Donate, toss out, or pack away excess items. It’s especially important to pack away very personal items like photos in order to help buyers truly imagine the space as their own.

As you declutter, take time to deep clean everything. It’s important that your home is in the best possible shape for showings. After all, you only get one chance to make a first impression on a buyer.

2. Update Your Landscaping

Preparing to put your home on the market means making your entire home look great – and not just the interior. You also need to give some TLC to the exterior.

If your landscaping is currently lacking, this is the time to install some greenery and color. If you have landscaping that hasn’t been maintained, make sure to spiff it up before listing your home. It doesn’t have to be a big, expensive project — simply putting in a few bushes, fresh mulch, and flowers for a pop of color will make a noticeable difference. In fact, homes with nice landscaping enjoy a sales price bump of anywhere from 5.5 to 12.7 percent.

3. Get a Pre-Inspection

Bagging a potential buyer can be a battle … and you certainly don’t want to lose them just before the final paperwork is signed. Most home buyers will insist that the deal be contingent on the home passing inspection. If the inspection turns up serious items, your buyer may get cold feet. Even if the inspection reveals smaller items that can be fixed, the repair process may delay the closing on your home.

To speed the process along and make sure nothing unexpected arises, spring for a pre-inspection of your house before you even list it for sale. Important home items to inspect ahead of time include your septic system, a check for mold and radon, as well as taking care of any bug and pest issues.

4. Repair and Paint

In addition to larger inspection-related items, it’s important to take care of small problems in need of repair that otherwise might make a bad impression on people who visit your home. You might be willing to live with leaky faucets, light fixtures that don’t turn on, damaged bathroom tiles, or a garage door motor that doesn’t work consistently, but these items will spell trouble to a potential buyer.

Also touch up both interior and exterior paint. In addition to making your home really pop, Consumer Reports estimates that fresh paint could result in a potential return of one to three percent.

5. Consider Staging Your Home

If you have rooms that are unfurnished or under-furnished or if you feel some of your current furnishings are no longer looking their best, you might consider staging your home before you start to show it. Rooms with furniture in them appear larger than empty rooms. In addition, staging your home will help prospective buyers visualize how they would use the space.

While staging your home can cost anywhere from a few hundred to a thousand dollars, staged homes fetch a price that’s one to five percent higher than unstaged homes, offering a solid ROI.

6. Hire a Realtor

As you begin the process of preparing to sell your home, make sure you hire a realtor. An experienced broker who knows your market will be able to offer a professional’s insight on what’s necessary to prepare your home for sale — from giving your property more curb appeal to decor that needs updating.

In a story on real estate transactions, Realtor Magazine found that For Sale By Owner transactions fell to a low of 7 percent in 2018, with 87 percent of homeowners opting to use a realtor for their sale. This is because the expertise a realtor brings to the table can help the process move along much faster … and potentially help sellers get a better price.