10 ways to sell your home faster

Stage the rooms. Stand in the doorway to find each room's focal point, and use furniture placement to highlight that. The back of your sofa shouldn't block the view of the fireplace, for example, and the dining room table shouldn't be sharing space with a stair climber.

You should remove any extraneous pieces of furniture, but you may be able to "repurpose" them in another room. A wingback chair that's crowding the family room might help create a nice reading nook in the master bedroom, Schwarz suggested. The cost: Nothing, if you do it yourself; $1,500 and up if you hire a professional stager.

Tend to the floors. Keeping them spotless won't help if they're dated, worn or impossibly stained. You shouldn't spend a fortune installing hardwood or tile, though, since you're unlikely to recoup the cost. Look for compromises that can improve the home's appearance without busting your wallet.

Carpets should be steam-cleaned to see if they're salvageable. If not, you may be able to reduce the costs of replacement by offering to do some of the work, such as removing the old carpet and moving furniture.

And banish scatter rugs, Schwarz advised. Little rugs add to the visual clutter and can be dangerous besides.

The cost: Anywhere from a few bucks to a few hundred bucks.

Kick up the curb appeal. By now, you probably realize the garden gnomes are a no-no. But you may not realize how many sales you're losing before potential buyers even get to the front door.

"Most people will start their search for a home on the Internet. If your house's Internet photo doesn't 'wow' them, they might never call for a showing," Glink said. "That's why your front landscaping needs to be in perfect condition."

Given the pressure to make a good first impression, you'll need to do more than trim back the hedges and plant a few pansies.

"Hire a professional landscaper to clean up the leaves, plant some fall flowers, trim the bushes and trees, and really manicure your lawn," Glink suggested. "If your front walkway is cracked, now might be the time to replace it."

The cost: $300 to $500 for the landscaping, more if you need to fix walkways or driveways.

Pick the right publicist. If you're working with an agent, you'll want one who can really sell. That means somebody who knows your neighborhood intimately and who's enthusiastic about your home. That also means someone other agents want to work with; someone who's too abrasive or who isn't trustworthy won't help your cause.

If you're going to try to sell your home yourself, make sure you're up for the job. Hawking a home can be hard work.

The cost: 3% to 6% of the sale price of your home.

Set the right price. A seller may think she's just testing the market with a high price tag, assuming buyers will at least make an offer, but buyers may assume she's unreasonable and move on.

Your goal should be a fair price -- something that's reasonable given the price of other homes in your area.

"Buyers who are actively searching for a fairly-priced home," Glink said, "will pounce on what they perceive is fair value."

Liz Pulliam Weston is the Web's most-read personal-finance writer. She is the author of several books, most recently "Your Credit Score: Your Money & What's at Stake." Weston's award-winning columns appear every Monday and Thursday, exclusively on MSN Money. She also answers reader questions on the Your Money message board.

Updated April 27, 2009

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