How to sell your home for the most money?

Ask your realtor for suggestions on what should be done for your area. Go to open houses in your neighborhood and check out the competition.

Great curb appeal (bright flowers and grass cut and trimmed, shrubs trimmed, garden weeded) is very important. Power-wash the outside of the house, including trim, sidewalks and driveway and clean the windows. Clean and put out awnings and patio furniture to call attention to the outdoor spaces. If it looks bad from the outside, a lot of people won't waste their time walking inside, that makes everyone think the home was not taken care of and underlying issues could be present. Make sure your front door looks welcoming, maybe a fresh coat of paint, if it's a painted one. A new welcome mat is nice. Garages should be organized to show off the size available. An entryway offers the first impression of the homes interior and sets the mood for the rest of the home. Keep this clean, clutter free and welcoming. No shoes, coats and other debris should be seen. Put a basket in the closet to collect shoes and miscellaneous articles.

If the walls are dark, paint them a light color (it makes the rooms look bigger and brighter), especially walls that take a lot of abuse from children, pets and furniture. Other than some paint (neutral colors) to refresh the walls, it really isn't necessary to do a lot of updates as the new owners may have different tastes and could possibly change it anyhow. Only fix what needs to be fixed (you don't want it to look like you didn't take care of the home). Wires on the wall and floor are an eyesore, detangle and use a cord organizer to line them up neatly behind furniture.

Remove all personal things (pictures, stuff hanging on the refrigerator, knick knacks, etc). Also remove any furniture and stuff in closets and kitchen cabinets not needed and any other kind of clutter (put it storage if you want to keep it other wise donate or trash it). To many sofas, chairs tables and decorative items can make a room cluttered and feel closed in. Under the bed storage is good, but seeing the containers can make your bedrooms look cluttered and it looks like there aren't enough closets. Counters should be cleared of everything and run your dishwasher each night before you go to bed. Remember to empty it in the morning. Organize everything left into an orderly fashion and hang items evenly. Having piles neatly stacked up doesn’t mean it’s organized. Glass front cabinets or open shelves look messy if everything is stacked up randomly. If you have open shelves or floating shelves in your kitchen, keep them dust and grease free. Get a nice laundry hamper with a lid so people don’t see your dirty clothes. Scrub walls. Clean appliances and organize refrigerator. Throw away any unindentifiable objects in the refrigerator and freezer.

Make sure air filters are clean. Check ceilings for cobwebs. Stage your bedrooms to be warm and relaxing with a nice bedspread, and a few matching pillows. Laundry areas should be kept clean and orderly. For people that have children, your entire home can be a toy box, try to limit the toys and keep them neatly in one place on each floor of your home.

Keep everything clean so you're not running around before a showing. Making sure windows and mirrors are clean, beds are made when you get up, everything is dusted and flooring is vacuumed. Check bulbs in lighting fixtures and replace any that have burned out.

Before a showing, open all window coverings and let the sunshine in. Turn on all lights even on a bright sunny day, the more light, the better. If you are home during a showing, turn off the tv and computer and go outside so the buyer can explore your home comfortably. Be careful burning candles, the smell of a strong scented candle could trigger an allergy or asthma attack or appear to be covering something up. Flowers could also trigger allergies or asthma. A few potted plants could catch the eye and accent certain points in your home. Maybe add little white lights to a tree to show off the crown molding or other feature. The smell of clean or some freshly baked goods is much more enticing. And if necessary, spray an air neutralizer.

Keep pets clean and groomed to cut down on smells and messes. When your home is being shown, remove all animals and put away their paraphernalia if at all possible. Good luck.

Everything Shore grandmom suggests. No major upgrades. The cost will only return a percentage of money spent. Buyers may not like what you do. Most buyers will do upgrades to suit themselves.

From my experience being both a seller and a buyer, I agree with William.

Make sure that everything in the home that is supposed to open, close, turn on, go down, etc., or function in any way is Properly Working.

Go through the home room by room and tighten screws and brackets, oil squeaks, and Clean Out, Throw Out, Give Away, Polish and Shine.

Although doing this does take some time, it doesn't take much money.