With the summer months fading from view and life returning to its usual routines, you may be considering putting your home on the market as you search for your new one . But how can you ensure your home will sell quickly and for a great price?

To help you out, we’ve provided ten tips to help you make your home stand out and sell fast, in any market.

Be Ready

If you're truly interested in selling your home quickly, make sure you never miss out on an opportunity to show it. Any time you turn an interested party away from seeing your home, that is one less person that could be enticed to purchase.

Always being prepared means being extra vigilant in ensuring a clean and tidy home. You can make it easier by only keeping essential dishes available for use, not using rooms in the home that you don’t need (if possible), and cleaning up immediately after you’ve spent time in a room.

First Impressions Are Everything

Although it's cliche, most homebuyers will have already made a judgement about your home before they’ve even walked through the front door. That’s why it’s so important to put some effort into enhancing your curb appeal.

This goes beyond just cleaning your windows, cutting your grass in summer or shovelling the sidewalk in winter. Consider installing a new door or painting the existing one, installing a new address plaque or mailbox, or even decorating your entryway with vibrant flowers.

Upgrade Strategically

To increase the value of your home and to entice an interested buyer, consider upgrading certain elements where it will likely produce the most value. Whether it’s a room that could benefit from a fresh coat of paint, an appliance that should be replaced, or fixing up the back deck, this will increase the value of your home.

Professional home stagers and realtors will often tell you the kitchen is what sells your home; so it may be worth the effort to focus some of your upgrading efforts solely on this area.

Get Rid of Clutter

When potential buyers view your home, they are considering what it would be like to live there themselves. Clutter or too many personal items will make this difficult. Consider changing your home decor to minimize pictures on the walls, knick-knacks on the mantle and other personal effects. You may even want to consider rearranging your furniture to create more appeal if necessary.  Remember, you’re not selling yourself, you're selling your home. Don’t turn off buyers with too much of a good thing.

Staging Photos Are Important

As long as we are using old cliches, let's use another one: a picture is worth a thousand words. It's vital you make sure the staging photos of your home are done by a professional who knows what they're doing.

Imagine the images of your home published on online listing sites as your storefront - if people don’t like what they see, they will go elsewhere. In a digital age where buyers can easily access pictures of your home, don’t leave this task to just anyone.

Remove Evidence of Pets

You obviously love your furry friends, but a potential buyer interested in your home may not feel the same. Be sure to remove evidence of pets including food trays, litter baskets and chew toys. Most importantly, remove marks they’ve left on the walls, any “presents” in the back yard or hair on your floors and furniture.

Potential homebuyers will be looking at your home with a critical eye - don’t give them a reason to pass up your home over something you never considered to be a deterrent.

Post Your Listing to Facebook

Facebook is more than a place for your friend’s cat videos and your crazy uncle’s political views. You have a network of hundreds of people available at your fingertips - don’t let that go to waste!

Ask your friends and family to share your listing. For all you know someone may love your home and will consider buying it if they know it's on the market. Worst case scenario is nothing comes of it, best case situation is you just found a person to buy your house. 

Set Your Price Strategically

While you may be looking to sell quickly, you also want to sell your home strategically. You would think that you can’t have both, but that isn’t necessarily true.

By lowering the selling price on your home, you increase the number of potential buyers. With more parties wanting to purchase, the offering prices submitted may increase above the listing price, to the amount you actually wanted for your home.

Keep in mind your home will need to have enough value for buyers to increase the price of their offers, and that while this could work, it's not a guarantee. Always consult your real estate agent when discussing what the listing price should be.

Be Honest With Yourself

While your existing home has been the source of countless memories of your life and no doubt holds a special place in your heart, try not to inflate its value. Remember, others coming to view your home don’t have the same attachment you do.

When setting the listing price on your home, consider the advice given to you by your real estate agent. They also benefit from getting the highest possible price for your home, but have a great understanding of the local housing market, and will know what price is realistic. 

Sweeten the Deal

If you provide more value to a homebuyer purchasing your home, it will increase the likelihood of a sale. For this reason, consider including valuable items in the purchase of your home.

The most common things are the refrigerator and the washer and dryer. However, this could also include custom window coverings, a barbecue that's built into your back deck, garden furniture or a running treadmill.

While you may decide not to use all of the tips on this list, acting on at least some of them will help ensure that your home will sell fast, ensuring a smooth buying process for your new home. Happy staging!

Photo credit: exterior, front door, family and dog