Want to sell your home in this wicked market? You better start with home staging. In this market, you need to do everything you possibly can to give your home an advantage when it comes to selling because of the huge supply of homes on the market.

Home staging the outside of your home increases curb appeal. Here are three easy things you can do to make the outside of your home look better for potential buyers:

1. Drive up to your house to see what prospects see when they drive up to your house. Notice if any paint is peeling or the landscaping looks terrible. Remember, any negative impression they have of the outside of the house is going to make them think the house was not taken care of. Many prospects will drive by your house and look before even calling your agent so make sure they get a good first impression of the outside of your house.

2. Stand on your front porch just outside your front door and look all around. This is a key focal spot that 70 percent of prospects will also stand here and look around. You want to try and see what they will see. Is there animal waste on the yard, dead grass, cobwebs over the front door? These are not good first impressions so make sure you clean them up.

It is very important that you spend time fixing these things. Also, because we are in a bad market, you should automatically put a new coat of paint on your house.

3. Do not forget the backyard. While that might not be part of the potential buyers first impression experience, you still should make sure it is in the best condition possible. Pull up weeds, water plants, do some sweeping (if thats applicable in your case) and maybe even purchase new furniture or accessories (plant pots, bird houses, etc.)

And the biggest tip of all? Imagine yourself as a potential buyer looking at your property for the very first time. What impressions are you getting? Would YOU buy your house? What would you like to see changed before you put an offer on your house?

I am always surprised at how frugal an owner will be when it comes to staging his house. Remember, every dollar you spend on properly staging your home will return $2 on the sell side. What other investment can you double your money in such a short period of time? Using proper home staging will sell your house at a higher price and in a shorter amount of time.