Before showing the house. When a potential buyer looks at your house, there are many small details that will make strong first impressions. Make sure they are strong GOOD first impressions!

Fix up minor defects. Do a bit of cleaning up and painting. It could make the difference between a home that is appealing and one that has to be "sold". It's easier to show how beautiful your home IS, than to tell a buyer how nice it COULD look when this or that minor repair has been made. A small amount of time and money invested in "sprucing up" could pay off. A sticking closet door, a loose door knob, a leaky faucet - all these aggravate potential buyers, make them wonder about other problems - make them look harder for other things that may not be in working order. You can try to tell a buyer how easy and inexpensive it will be to make a repair (and hope they will believe you), or you can make the repair yourself and prevent any disillusionment that could impede a sale.

Touch up paint that has peeled from gutters around windows. Touch up storm or screen doors. Keep the lawn cut, leaves raked, shrubs trimmed, garage arranged in an orderly manner. How does the driveway look? (A few hours spent re-sealing may help a lot or just touching up). First impressions start at the beginning of the sidewalk or edge of the road and continue as the prospect walks to the house.

Lighting Is Important. A bright, cheerful atmosphere will make your home look more appealing and will put the potential buyer into a more relaxed frame of mind. Open the drapes, pull up the ,shades, during the day Turn on the lights In all rooms for a night-time showing. Make each room look as bright and cheery as you can. Let the buyer know that you have nothing to hide, basements will look bigger, brighter, if the walls are freshly painted.

Safety first. Remove items that could trip or cause a visitor to stumble or otherwise injure him self. Make an inspection of the house - from top to bottom - noting anything that could be a potential hazard to lite or limb. Tack down edges of carpeting or other floor covering, tighten loose handrails, stair treads, etc. (Even if you're not really thinking seriously about selling, why not make that safety inspection now? You'll be protecting yourself, your family, your guests!)

Clean out closets. Closets look smaller than they really are when items are not hung carefully, stacked neatly. Straighten up those closets, disposing of unwanted items, before showing the house.

Bathrooms sell houses! A bit of extra scrubbing, replacement of leaky faucet washers, and checking and repairing bathtub caulking can go a long way toward making the sale. Potential buyers get a feeling for the way the entire house has been maintained by the condition of the bathrooms.

Make the buyer feel at home. Avoid anything that will make potential buyers feel that they are "intruding" or disturbing your family, (If they feel they are intruding, they'll make a hasty inspection and leave feeling that they haven't really seen enough.) The TV should be turned off and family activities at a minimum during the showing. The fewer of you around during an inspection the better. You should fairly "disappear"- make yourself quite invisible - and leave the "selling" to your salesman. That's his business. That's what you're paying him for. Pets should be confined or, better yet, off the premises - during the showing. People who don't like dogs and cats would rather not see them living in the house they're going to buy, people who do like them, will probably be "sold" on the cute little doggy, but fail to pay attention to the house itself! This may help sell the dog. It won't help sell the house!

First things first. Do not discuss such things as the sale of items of furniture or appliances with potential buyers before they are "sold" on the house. You may end up selling neither.

Let your salesman sell! You will be contributing to the success of the showing by staying in the background as much as possible during the showing, The salesman finds out what the buyer needs and wants before showing the house. He will use that knowledge to show the buyer how your house fits their needs - if you let him! The best policy is to leave the house completely during showings if possible!

Show only by appointment. Because the professional real estate salesperson can do the best selling job with any client, be sure that all potential buyers arrange to see the house only by appointment. Don't show the house privately. The sale must ultimately be made through the listing BROKER, so why not let him do the work? Besides, you may lose a potential sale by not showing the house properly - not knowing just what the buyer is looking for.

These are only a few suggestions that will help you sell your home. So prepare yourself, compliments of Jim Murphy.