Prepping your home for sale can be an intimidating task. Preparations are rushed, cumbersome, and usually demand a lot of frantic scrambling. That's especially so if you're like most people and don't start to prepare your home until just several weeks prior to putting it on the market.

The front yard
Don't forget to plant bulbs in September/October so your buyers can see a beautiful flower garden when they visit your home in the spring. Many homeowners focus so much on the inside of the home that they forget that the yard will be the first thing that potential buyers will see when they come to view the home. Some pretty flowers, and maybe a porch swing will go a long way towards getting buyers to believe that your house is the right one for them.

Minor repairs
Any service providers that need to be hired to do work on the home can be hired in the off season with a little careful planning. Painters are not as busy in the winter so negotiating a painting contract in the winter months will allow you to get the job done for a better price. The same goes for heating & air conditioning contractors and moving your stuff into storage.

Listing photos
When marketing your house, it is extremely important that you have a striking picture of your home. A snapshot taken at high noon ain't gonna cut it. One of the best things you can do to increase your odds of getting interested buyers is to keep a camera handy for taking photos when the light is best. Murphy’s law says that if you wait until the last moment to take the listing photo for your home, it will be raining every day your agent shows up to take a picture.

Even if you're not moving soon, the next time after it rains, see if you can take a picture of your home with a rainbow behind it. In the spring, make sure to get an late evening shot with the gentle glow of the sun shining down on your beautiful flower garden. It's those little touches that make a big impression.

By following some of the above steps, and with some simple planning, you can really enhance the experience selling your house.