Summer's a great time to have your home on the market. If your home is listed and you haven't received an offer you like, now's the time to review what makes a home sell quickly.

Gorgeous curb appeal

Home staging sells homes. Home staging starts at the curb. Today's curb is the electronic viewing device. How does your home's exterior photo look online?

Boosting your curb appeal will increase both the perceived and real value of your property, and attract more house hunters, whether their first view of your home's exterior is a printed MLS sheet from their real estate broker, a cell phone image, or what they see from their car window as they survey desirable neighborhoods.

Have you done all you can to pretty up how your home looks from the street? Do you need to tackle simple landscaping, such as top-dressing mulched areas, pruning shrubs, and keeping your lawn green and healthy? If you need to add some color, add summer annuals in containers. Potted plants don't convey with the purchase so you can take them with you when you move.

Is your front door the focal point of your front facade, as it should be, and is it an attractive color? If a big old honkin' garage door is your home's focal point, you can paint it the color of your siding. Your home will look larger and more attractive.

Have you decluttered the front areas of your home? Please hide garbage cans, lawn mowers and unfinished projects. I like to see seasonal items like bikes and backyard games that remind buyers of their future lifestyle.

You can rent a pressure washer for
a day and use it to clean
pavement, siding,brick, stone,
and things like garage doors. 
It's a good idea to regularly take a broom to the areas around your front door, especially if it is prone to spider webs or debris that gets blown in.

A fresh coat of paint is a more ambitious project but will pay dividends in the impression your home gives. If you don't want to paint your whole house, sometimes a good pressure washing is almost as good.

Another way to earn points with buyers is to update your windows to energy-efficient ones. It's not that expensive and can be done quickly by a window installing company. A standard window replacement can give you a return on investment of between 73% and 77% of the original cost.

Depersonalized spaces

When a potential buyer walks into a home on the market, he doesn't want to feel he's entering someone else's exclusively private world. Over-personalizing makes it harder for him to envision the space as his next home.

Signs of a home having "too much personality" are posters and mementos of favorite sports teams, overly bright or varied interior paint colors, religious artifacts, displays of hobby crafts and other collections, controversial artwork, medical equipment, and family photos. Ideally, you will depersonalize your home before it is listed. But if your home has been for sale and you are not attracting viewings or offers you like, it could be time to make your home more generic and minimal.

Wallpaper, black trim paint, and 
red walls could be
a turn-off for many buyers. 
Summer's the perfect time to pare down your belongings to what looks refreshingly cool and inviting. Lightweight window treatments, casual slipcovers, cool color schemes, and outdoor entertaining areas are the order of the day.

Furnish your home with fewer pieces that look upscale. If it's time for new  paint inside, keep the color scheme pale and neutral.

Fair price

It's unfortunate that overpricing a property is a mistake too many sellers make. Even in a sellers' market, if you price your home unrealistically, you will limit the number of serious buyers who come to view it.

Buyers know there are plenty of homes for sale. They will left-swipe you, and move on to the next listing that matches their wish list.

Thinking sentimentally about your home when it's time to sell will only mess with your mind. There's no place for nostalgia when you put a dollar value on your home. It all comes down to location and numbers -- nearby amenities, size of the lot, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, square footage, price per square foot, average days on the market for homes like yours, age of your home, age of your HVAC system and plumbing, and on and on.

Best bet: listen to your Realtor and follow her advice. You are paying her a commission not for just listing the home and scheduling showings but for her expertise that helps you make decisions.

A Realtor will be able to determine what's an appropriate price for your home. She will base it on what similar, nearby homes have recently sold for. If your home is well-staged, and competing homes are not, you will gain an edge and can expect better offers. Conversely, if your home is in rough shape, expect to get an offer that reflects its current condition.

Another way to put an accurate price tag on your home, one that will fuel a bidding war, is to appraise your home and then set the price a little under.

At the right price, buyers will jump at the chance to get a good deal, and if there is more than one buyer, you could end up getting more than the actual appraisal value. If you are getting limited showings, it might be time to lower your price.

Summer's a great time to have your staged home
on the market, especially if you and your
listing agent know how to market it right. 

The right time

Finally, timing is everything. In some markets at the right time of year, home sellers are getting 10% or more over their asking price. In some cases, motivated buyers are even skipping inspections in order to close quickly.

Timing your home's sale right can help it sell faster. The housing market fluctuates, so it's a good idea to keep your eye on it. You'll want to sell your home during peak buying season, when buyers from all over the country are out looking for new homes.

If you're unsure of the best time to list your home, ask your real estate agent when that time might be. You would be surprised at the difference a few months can make to the sale price of your home.

If you don't get the offer you were looking for right away, don't worry. The average American moves 12 times during his lifetime, and people will always need a place to live. You might decide to wait and sell at a later date if possible. You don't want to regret settling for a price that is below what your home is worth.

You can get even more advice on selling your home quickly and profitably in my homestaging eBooks. I want you to be happy with the sale of your home!