Looking for ideas to help update your home?  Sometimes the least expensive alternative is the best. Here are the best ways you can get your home ready to sell.

• Fresh paint, new area rugs, updated wallpaper.  Look for color trends but use the hues and tones that look best in your home. 
• Move out the clutter.  That treasured collection may light your fire--but it may look like clutter to anyone else.  De-personalize your home and leave lots of space on tables and around furniture.
• Trim the bushes and plant inexpensive annuals or blooming  shrubs.  Even older shrubs look better when trimmed back.  If necessary, plant smaller shrubs.

LATEST COLOR TRENDS FOR 2007

Absolutely nothing dates a home more than out of style colors.  Remember avocado, golden harvest appliances or earth tones.  How about grey and pink from the 80's.  Conversely, nothing updates a home as quickly or as inexpensively as freshly painted walls.  Check out the link above to choose a fresh new palette.  It is also a good idea to look at home magazines and ask the decorators at paint and carpet stores for their professional help.

SPRING GARDENING

Your first opportunity to make a good impression on prospective buyers is when they see your house from the outside for the first time.  You may have heard it expressed as "curb appeal."  Neat flowerbeds with fresh pine straw or other mulch and seasonal plantings can greatly enhance the look of your home without a major expenditure. 

Spring gardens in the deep south burst with colorful colors as azaleas shrubs and daffodils begin to bloom. Redbud trees as well as dogwoods, cherry trees define wooded natural areas.  Wisteria and jasmine vines begin to put on their show on fences and trees.  Spring flowers are very available and greatly enhance the curb appeal of any home.