If you, like many Florida homeowners, plan to put your home on the market during January, February or March, it's a good time to begin preparations.  You are getting ready for winter guests anyway, the weather is nicer for labor inside and out.  If you start now, you'll be well on your way when you take the holiday decorations down. Most experts agree you should have your house ready BEFORE you sign that listing agreement, the sign goes up and the open house begins. 

It's no shock that number one on the list of 12 things to do is...Cleaning and de-cluttering.  With a cost of about $200 and a resulting $1,700 price increase, you get a whopping 872% return on your investment in cleaning products and elbow grease! 

Second on the list is home staging, which costs very little if you already live in your home.  Home staging has two basic goals, the arrangement of your belongings to enhance your home's best features (move the sofa from in front of the fireplace and arrange furniture so it doesn't block traffic patterns, for example) and put your best foot forward (fresh flower arrangements, guest towels).  It does cost a little more if your house is vacant. 

Depending on condition, we clean most of our foreclosure properties and add light staging at some.  While most of our foreclosures tend to sell quickly just because they are good buys, dirt is a real turn off and photos of vacant rooms just aren't very appealing.  It's best to add some modern furniture and furnishings even to foreclosed (items can be rented) properties. 

Here is a link to Homegain's 2010 Home Sale Maximizer Guide, which includes in detail the Top 12 home improvement projects for 2010.

Diana Marshall
People's Choice Realty Services, LLC
813-956-2156