First thing first...If your Realtor isn't helping you get the house ready to sale and giving advice what exactly did you hire them for? Second they better have a fantastic marketing plan to get your property maximum exposure. Buyers are all over the internet looking for homes. Is your home plastered all over the internet? Is your Realtor prviding you with still photos, virtual tours and online video? You better be where the buyers are.

FREE*** Steven Beam will send a professional, licensed and bonded cleaning crew (two ladies) to your house for TWO hours to clean and prep your house to sell in Parker Colorado. Two cleaners for two hours! FREE.

Common communication with some home sellers these days starts with "my house has been on the market for 100 plus days with little showing activity and no offers so I'm really worried we will never sell this house so what can you do that my current Realtor isn't doing."

Find out what your home is worth.

I show homes to buyers every week and it is always totally amazing to me the condition home sellers leave their homes in to be presented to a potential buyer. If you REALLY want to sell your home why not expend a little effort into getting the property "SHOW HOME READY." After all---you of course want top dollar and most sellers think their homes are the best in the neighborhood. If you think this way then make the home show the best in the neighborhood.

Did you consult your Realtor and ask them what needs to be done in order to get the home ready for the market? Did they offer any suggestions? Some Realtors are so happy just to get a listing they are afraid to be honest with you the seller and tell you your house needs sprucing up or they just don't know any better. If you Realtor walks in and says "hey the house looks great don't worry about it" then you should be worried or else you are the best house keeper in the world and you live with a member of the "This Old House" cast. Every house has deferred maintenance and every house (even your house) needs cleaning and de-cluttering. This is serious.

• The very FIRST thing you need to plan on doing is getting HELP.
• You should hire a professional cleaning crew (my sellers get this for FREE) to come in and complete a DEEP CLEAN of your property. I've personally used them and they will clean the house better than you ever will. Trust me.
• If the yard looks like crap their first impression of your property will be---"this house looks like CRAP." Get it green, weed free and full of flowers. I recommend Scott's liquid fertilizer. This is miracle working stuff. It will green up your tired lawn in a few days! It's cheap too.
• Get the stink out! Usually people with stinky homes don't notice it because you are used to it. Hopefully your Realtor has the courage to tell you so. Buyers and Realtors hate stinky homes.

• Remove or lock up the pets! HUGE ISSUE. Get them out. You may be surprised how distracting and annoying your pet is.
• Rent a PODS container and pack up all of your junk, non season clothes, books and miscellaneous items you know you never use. (Call me I can get you a discount on PODS) Selling your home in Parker, Colorado is an easy task if you do the work.
• Hire a professional window cleaner to clean the windows inside and out as well as vacuum and wipe down the inside window seals.
• This is MAJOR. Replace old worn screens! Old worn screens can kill the look of a room and a house. In Colorado the sun bakes screens in just a few short years. Replace them.
• Stretch carpet that has come loose.
• Correct ALL the deferred maintenance items that you have neglected for years. Do it or the buyer will find a house in better condition than yours to buy.
• Clean or replace old carpet. Here me now. Carpet wears out in 4 to 7 years. Replace it! You are used to looking at those black stains. Those same black stains stick out like "DON'T BUY ME BECAUSE MY OWNER DOESN'T TAKE CARE OF THIS HOUSE" neon lights. Buyers hate them and Realtors really don't have any creative ways to tell home buyers "you can't keep a clean house" other than to say just that.
• Repaint old tired rooms. Brighten them up.
• Repaint exterior if needed.
• Oh and do us all a favor and please keep your dirty laundry out of sight. Surprised? Don't be. This is one of the biggest problems I see in ALL HOMES. I've seen enough dirty laundry to last me a life time and I really don't care if you shove it under the bed just get it out of sight. I see it all the time where the buyer I'm working with and I will literally have to climb over a pile to see the house. Pathetic.

A little education on where the real estate market is now will help you understand.

• We have been in a down market since the day after Sept. 11, 2001. That was the day the Denver Metro Market changed.

• Living in Parker, Colorado has insulated you a little bit from the overall carnage going on in other areas of the Front Range.

• All real estate is LOCAL. What your buddy at work is experiencing in Aurora or Jefferson County doesn't mean it is happening right in your neighborhood in Parker.

• All areas of the Front Range have been hit with foreclosures but overall Parker has dodged the storm that has devastated some areas.