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Get Ready Your home is the star performer in this show. Even the best marketing and promotion efforts will fall short if your home isn't appealing to potential buyers. Prep Your Home There are a number of things to consider when getting your home ready for market. Addressing these items early - before the sales effort begins - insures that your home will show its best side to buyers. Seller Liability Many sellers do not realize the extent of their potential liability after the sale. While local laws vary considerably, a seller is generally required to disclose any deficiencies of which he or she is aware. This is the problem - how do you prove exactly what you did or did not know? Our disclosure checklist can provide a starting point by helping you determining what items are disclosure issues. Another possible solution is to have a pre-sale inspection by a reputable inspector. Pre-Sale Inspections Inspections are for buyer's, right? That is a popular perception, but the truth is that a pre-market inspection can be a very valuable tool for a seller. Since the buyer is probably going to have an inspection anyway, why not find out about any problems upfront so you're not taken by surprise a few weeks before the closing date? A pre-sale inspection can also help protect against potential seller liability - if the inspector didn't find a problem it is a reasonable assertion that the seller did not know about it. Clean, Clean, Clean A home for sale can never be too clean. In addition to a complete scrubbing you may want to do a little re-arranging to insure that your home shows as well as possible. Review our home cleaning checklist for some ideas on where to start. Major Improvements Most major home improvements don't make sense for sellers, however there are notable exceptions to this rule. Required repairs or other deficiencies that must be disclosed will likely make it very difficult to sell your home (and you'll probably end up agreeing to correct them anyway) - so it may be worth dealing with these items before hitting the market. Smaller Projects Unlike major improvements, many small home projects can be very good investments for the seller. Generally, the best projects to consider are those that are fairly low in cost and provide a major impact to the look of the property. Check out our list of 10 improvements for sellers for some ideas.
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