There is no doubt about it, home owners in the market to sell, want to sell quickly and get top dollar for their home. Many unfortunately attribute the sale of their home to pure luck; but if you are waiting for luck to bless you, you may find yourself waiting for quite some time. It all comes down to careful planning and knowing the secrets of how to spruce up your home. Properly house prepping isn't really an art form like some Realtor will have you believe, it actually has much more to do with common sense than anything else. If you are in the market to sell your home quickly, nothing is more frustrating than the wait. It certainly can feel like a life-time when trying to sell your home. This especially rings true if you find yourself in dire straits financially. There are of course many reasons one decides to sell their home. Perhaps you are simply upgrading to bigger and better things? Or, perhaps you like many others find yourself in financial stress and need to sell quickly to avoid repossession. Whatever the reason, there are several tips you can follow that will help speed up the process of selling your home. By this I simply mean pretend the house isn't yours and take a different view. Go back in time and remember when you first went house shopping. What were you thinking? What caught your attention? Simply put, what made you pull out the cheque book? Let go of any attachments or emotions you may have towards your house and convince yourself it no longer belongs to you. Take a walk through your house and say good-bye to each room, remember to look towards the future and forget the past. The bottom line is the house will soon no longer be yours. Invest in a Storage Unit and De-Clutter Anyone preparing to sell their home, best be prepared to spend a bit of money. As you will soon see from the rest of the tips to follow, a serious investment must be made in order to successfully sell your home. I'm not talking about thousands of dollars here; you can easily spend a few hundred in preparations, but I guarantee it will be worth it. By renting a storage space for a month or two, you can store some furniture or any other clutter you think makes the home seem to bulky. Everyone understands the items you can acquire over the years, but not everyone wants to see it. By storing some of the furniture, such as empty book shelves, extra leaves on a table or even an extra chair, you can easily make a room appear much bigger. Home shoppers are looking for extra space or the impression that they have lots of room to design from. This is where common sense comes into play. Obviously you need to clean-up around the place and do your best to make it look immaculate. But don't forget some of the essentials that possible buyers might be looking at. A nice clean lawn, a clean garden or tool shed is what men want to see, so give it to them. Even the ladies love to look at the ever essential 'white picket fence'. Make sure to prepare for first time home owners, the key is to make them fall hopelessly in love with the house. Appealing to Women - Imagination and design: I am by no means being sexist, but women generally fall into an imaginative state when viewing a home. Yes, they do look at the kitchen and wonder about all the wonderful things they can do in it. They look at the decor, the colours, mainly the feelings they get and above all else the entertaining they can do. So, get to work and rearrange the kitchen cabinets, making any small repairs to appliances or counters and most importantly make it SMELL like a home. The biggest trick of the trade is fresh home-made cookies. More tips to make your home sparkly: • Patch up any holes around inside and out • Consider re-painting but make sure the colors stay neutral • Minor repairs like leaky faucets or re-caulking the tub • Replace light-bulbs where necessary, especially hall-ways and outside • Wax or polish wherever you can • Consider buying new bed spreads or designs in the master bedroom The final and most important tip - Hide your favorite items This may seem a bit odd, but it makes perfect sense. People in the market to buy have an eye out for great and attractive items. For example, if you have antique furniture or a wall cabinet full of great-grandmother's china, empty and hide it. Home buyers will try and wheel and deal you to make the purchase. Some might even demand conditions, such as'I'll only buy if the antique cabinet from 1892 comes with it'. These types of situations can ultimately make or break the deal. Be wise about what you leave out for viewing. Finally, give everything the once over and make sure to be critical. Tiny details must be paid attention to and everything should be checked over and over again before the open house. And, try not to fall back in love with your home! Selling as a last resort? Facing possible repossession? This situation is grim but not the end of the world. Don't be intimidated, you have options and there are companies available who specialize in these types of circumstances. Mortgage arrears can sometimes happen because of unforeseen circumstances in your life.