You want to sell your San Antonio house, and you want to get top dollar.

Excellent!

But "What do I need to do to sell my house in San Antonio"?

Here are some tips on what I need to do to sell my house for top dollar:

• NOTE : These instructions are if you're looking to get full retail value for your house sale. However, if you don't want to do the things below... or don't have the time or money to do the things below... you can still sell your San Antonio house for a fair value in a win-win sale that'll save you time and expense.

1) Clean, clean and clean. Even vacant houses get dusty and dirty, so keep it up! Nothing short of gleaming perfection will impress buyers. If you're not a total clean freak, hire someone who is to help you out until you sell.

If you're a slob, consider finding somewhere else to live while you show your house. Maybe you can bribe your cleanest friend to trade houses with you? Seriously, keeping everything immaculate really helps buyers feel comfortable in your space. Nothing stops people faster from buying faster than feeling grossed out.

2) Cultivate a cohesive, neutral style. You don't have to paint everything off-white. In fact, some subtle colors can really help change the perception of spaces for example, a soft yellow will help brighten up a dark kitchen, while a deep dark blue or green will help a bright bedroom to feel like a calm place to sleep (but be careful, dark colors will also make rooms feel small).

Spend the money to get high-quality paint and professional help. Subconsciously people will pay more money for a property with just the right colors and very neat lines it makes the home feel better built, even though it's just paint.

Optical illusions are real, and psychologists study this stuff. Don't believe me?

Look it up. And don't neglect the outside and just do the inside, or anything else that's unbalanced.

3) Fix or replace anything that's broken. Yeah, it might feel like a waste of money to spend an extra couple hundred bucks on a dishwasher that someone else might just pull out and replace again. But really, quite a few buyers will get a home inspection and use the opportunity to negotiate with you. As the seller, you'll often end up paying more if you try to hide neglected maintenance from the purchaser and of course you don't want to be guilty of fraud.

Make sure you stay in compliance with all the laws.

It's often a good use of money to hire a home inspector to come through before you put the property on the market. If you ask in advance, they'll often charge you a tiny rate to come back after you've done a bunch of minor repairs and deliver you a clean bill of health. Prospective buyers love to see an independent report on the condition of the house it makes them feel very comfortable with the purchase.

4) Make only necessary improvements. The biggest mistake people make when getting their house ready to sell is over-improving. They often spend too much money on customized frills that can't be recovered in the sale.

Paint is about the only safe investment it's easy to overspend on almost everything else, and it's easy to get ripped off by unscrupulous contractors.

It's important to know what improvements will produce a return on investment to avoid wasting money.

5) Get expert opinions. You should definitely find at least a few decent real estate brokers who will help you price your property, but be honest with them. If you're going to market the property on your own, don't make enemies by lying about your intentions. Great brokers are rare, but they make more money for their clients than they earn.

6) Have a really great marketing plan. Again, great brokers earn their value by doing this work and spreading the advertising expenses across many clients. It's pretty expensive and time-consuming to start from scratch on your own, but if you're already a marketing expert you're ahead of the pack.

If you're not, spend the time listening to what the best brokers do to sell houses in Indianapolis just to educate yourself on the options.

7) Get a cash offer. We buy houses all over the San Antonio area, and we do all the work so you don't have to deal with any of this stuff.