Do's and Don'ts of selling a house.

There is a ton of info on the internet about how to go about staging your house and doing upgrades to make it look better in the eyes of the buyers, resulting in top $.
When I have sellers hiring me to sell their house, I always  walk around the house with them  and point out the things that I see they can do to either improve the sale of their house or things which I have repeatedly seen come up later on in the transaction after the inspections are done. My suggestions are only to decrease the hastle of repairs at a future date when they can do them upfront with the help of handy man or just consulting their local hardware store.
-Everyone knows that curb appeal is important. Buyers drive by and if it doesn't look good,  they just keep on driving. Very simple: The outside of the house, can kinda sorta tell you what the inside looks like. And who wants to leave their  air conditioned car and get into a house only to find out that the inside is just as bad as the outside. Suggestion: A couple of bags of that black mulch plus some Begonias or other colorful flowers, can do magic for the curb appeal. It is soft on the pocket and easy to do.
-Make sure your air conditioning filter is fresh. It's cheap and its one less item on the inspection list.
-Check your dryer duct to make sure its not all clogged up. It is something that needs to get done once a year any way but  lots of home owners don't even know about it. If that duct is not clean, it can be a health and safety issue and can cause fire. You can purchase the kit from the hardware store and clean it up in no time or you can pay someone come and do it for you for a couple of hundred dollars.

-If you have dual pane windows and your house is ten years or so old, check for condensation between the two panes. It is possible that the sealant has gotten old and condensation has taken place.This can be costly. I sold a house last year which all windows were defective like this and we got an estimate of $10,000 to fix them all. You many not  choose to do this repair but its better to be aware of it.

-Leaky faucets. Another inexpensive repair you or your handyman can fix. If leak has taken place under the sink,  you might want to do some wood repair. The inspector will call it out. 

-Smoke Detectors: Make sure you have in every bedroom and floor. Carbon Monoxide Detector: One on each floor in the hallway. Remember that SD goes on the ceiling since smoke is lighter than air. CD goes about 2 feet above the ground on the wall since CM is lighter than air. If you already have them in your house (you should) make sure batteries are charged. You don't to have this on your  inspection report. Worse than that is that if the appraiser doesn't see them, he calls them  out. Then seller has to fix the problem. Then pay appraiser $150 for re-inspection. You wont believe how many times I have seen sellers pay that without even knowing that it was their job to take care of it initially.  (Seriously, if your listing agent doesn't tell you about, then you should ask yourself:What am I paying this person for?) Here is more reading on that topic. http://sdinspect.com/health-and-safety/new-law-regarding-carbon-monoxide-detectors/

I will add to this list later. Feel  free to call me anytime.