Moving can cause a lot of stress and anxiety. This increases when you have to actually sell your current home. It's never quite as simple as just putting a for sale sign in your yard and hoping for the best. There is a lot of preparation that goes into getting a house ready for potential buyers to come see. Here are a few things to check off your list before you schedule an open house.

Clean
A messy house is simply not as likely to sell. Now is the time to declutter and have a yard sale or donate items that you no longer need. Go through all of your belongings and make piles of what to keep, give away or throw away. You should then neatly put away all of the items that you're going to move to your new place. In addition to removing all clutter, now is the time to deep clean. Making your house really sparkle and shine can actually help it sell. Consider hiring a service to come in a deep clean everything for you. You'll also want to make sure the carpets are free of stains, so try looking for the best carpet cleaners near me to come handle those.

Make Updates
While you don't necessarily need to redo the entire house, making a few needed updates can be very beneficial. You might even want to hire a home inspector to come look at the house and make a list of the work that needs to be done. If you do have the budget to remodel part of the house, you might want to consider as it can really help increase your sale price. The kitchen and the bathrooms are the places people want to see updated the most, but choose the rooms in your house that you think need it the most.

Depersonalize
When people come in for an open house, you want them to imagine themselves living there. Removing some of your personal items can help with this. If you have a lot of family photos up, now is the time to put them away. If there are constant images of your family all around, they will see it as your house and not be able to easily picture their family there instead.

Take Pictures
People like to look online these days before going and viewing a home in person. Pictures of your house on real estate sites are the first thing people will see, so you want to make sure they are good ones. The rooms need to be clean and organized and the lighting needs to be great. You may want to consider hiring a professional photographer who has done a job like this before.

Do Research
Look at other houses in your neighborhood to get an idea of what they are selling for. Now is the time to compare your house to others. If a similar house is priced much higher than yours, try to figure out why. Do they have updates that you need to consider making as well? You may also want to look at the houses that have been on the market for a long time and try to figure out why they haven't sold so you can avoid making the same mistakes.

Find a Good Realtor
Finding a good real estate agent is crucial. He is the one who is going to help your house sell, so you want someone that you can trust to get you the very best price. Talk with a few potential candidates for the job until you find the right fit. You can always ask friends and family for recommendations as well.
Try to get started on this process as early as possible. It can take months or even longer to sell a house, so the earlier you get started the better off you'll be. Take it step by step so that you don't end up getting overwhelmed, and don't be afraid to ask for help when you need it.