Getting your home ready to sell can be a time-consuming project unless you've been doing an A+ job of maintenance all along the way. Everyone knows that curb appeal is on the top of the list of homebuyers.

There are also several other areas of your home and property that you should get in top notch shape in anticipation of your showing...if you want to sell your home quickly. My tips will turn home browsers into homebuyers.

I want to focus on tips for the exterior of your home including the landscaping and tackle the interior of your home on another post, or two.

It's that time of year when selling a home comes to fruition for many people. School is out and it's time to put the Home For Sale sign out front.

Wait a minute...not so fast!

Be sure you're ready to sell by reviewing the tips below regarding things you need to do get your home ready to sell.

Home Sales Fact:

2006 first quarter home prices were up 10.3% over the same quarter last year and the median sales price for an existing single-family house was $217,900.

Click for more details on home sales trends.

Source: BuilderOnline

If you're thinking about selling your home, here's some info and links to help you out...

A recently renovated 3 BR/1 BA brick ranch style home, circa 1966, in Aiken, SC is my subject for this post. This is no ordinary renovated brick ranch home. This is one of my childhood homes and it is still owned/maintained by my parents, but not for much longer. They had been debating selling the old place after renting it to tenants for years. They've recently renovated it on their own with the goal of selling it. They are both recently retired and just wanted out of the landlord biz so they could enjoy their golden years together (on the beach) without having to worry about their rental property (tenants can be quite frustrating at times).

Who could blame them!

You need a checklist when building your new home. I've compiled my own personal list, although it is constantly in a state of change, and, below you'll find links to useful resources containing new homebuilding checklists.

New Homebuilding Checklist Links

The components and systems in your home have a definitive life expectancy. As you may have thought, sooner or later you will need to replace minor/major components and systems as the years go by. No one ever said owning a home was inexpensive. No one that had any intention of keeping his/her home in good running order anyway. I'd like to offer a few high quality links and our own personal experience with our home, which we've owned since 1988.