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If you are thinking of selling your home, the best way to raise the value of your property is to fix the place up! Whether it be new landscaping, a new front door, remodeling the kitchen or bathroom, or building a fence, every dollar that you put into your home to make it better for the person who is going to purchase the home in the future. While you are in the process of fixing things up, putting dollars into your home may seem a futile effort.

What if these improvements don't raise the market value or salability of your house at all? These are concerns that all home owners looking to sell are faced with, and while they are valid concerns never make the mistake of underestimating what a few spruce ups can do the selling power of your home or property.

Curb appeal is everything. Most intelligent prospective home buyers will not stop to attend the open house for a home whose gardens are falling apart or are nonexistent, whose lawn has bare patches and whose porch is sagging in the middle from the weather. When it comes to selling a home, the prospective buyer's first impression really is everything. A good tip is to try to put yourself in the other person's shoes. Stand in front of your home and walk up the walkway. Be as critical as you can of your home, it will help you in your improvement endeavors. What is it about the house that first attracted you to purchase it? Are these things still intact? Do you see any problems with the house that a prospective buyer might notice, such as an old roof or a broken screen door? Homes are already expensive enough; most buyers are not going to want to make the home repairs that you should have made upon purchase of the property. Well established gardens and curb appeal can add as much as 20 percent to the sale value of your property, meaning that if you make a good transaction all of the money you put into the project should come back to you.

Do you have things in your yard such as garden gnomes and lawn furniture, or even a child's swing set or jungle gym in the back yard? It is strongly recommended that you remove these things from your yard before showing your home if at all possible. Of course, removing a swing set or jungle gym would be a hefty task, but perhaps moving it to a corner of the yard that is a little more difficult to see from the backyard will help. If they think garden gnomes are tacky and you have three or four scattered about your front lawn, believe it or not that may turn a prospective buyer off. The prospective home buyer cares as much about outer appearance for their future home investment as you do, and they should be able to picture their own things in the yard and garden.