Tips to flip over: Ten easy ways to update your home for resale

When looking to purchase a home, prospective buyers consider

variety of factors, from a fair deal in a good neighbourhood to how the home will suit their particular lifestyle.

"The key to selling your home is to make the purchaser wish they lived there," commented Jacqueline Glass, Torontobased interior decorator. "Making small changes to show prospective buyers the lifestyle that your home offers are often the difference between a bid made or lost."

Glass offered these tips for preparing your home for resale: 1. Steam clean carpets and consider installing hardwood flooring or ceramic tiles. 2. Paint walls in a neutral but pleasing hue. 3. Replace the faucets in your bathroom; stylish and contemporary fixtures, such as the Arzo Bath Collection by Delta, exude a luxury feel at an affordable price point. 4. Change a toilet, sink or counter to a neutral tone for an instant update. 5. Paint the tiles in a bathroom or the kitchen to inexpensively upgrade a space. 6. Do an all over clean-up and purge of your home. Prospective buyers often can't see beyond clutter. 7. Increase the curb appeal of your home by planting flowers or placing planters in the front and back yards. 8. Use a lightly scented oil to add a fresh scent to your home. Similarly, putting on a pot of coffee or baking a cake produces pleasant smells that evoke the feeling of home. 9. Depersonalize your home by removing family photographs to help potential buyers envision themselves in the space. 10. Help the homeowner see the possibilities - set the table for dinner with flowers, fine dishes and cutlery or run the bath and add floating candles, leaving out a robe or a set of fresh towels to enhance the feel of a spa-like setting.

Check out the latest from Delta Faucet by visiting www.deltafaucet.com.

- News Canada