Designed to Sell Top 35 Selling Secrets

No one wants to buy a dirty house, so take care of things like grimy shower doors, mold and dead bugs in light fixtures. "The cheapest thing you can do when getting your house ready for the market is to clean," says designer Monica Pedersen of the Chicago team.

"It costs nothing, it's easy to do and it will make the difference as to whether or not you'll sell," adds designer Lisa LaPorta.

A common place for dirt buildup is in kitchen tile, so carpenter Steve Hanneman of the L.A. team offers this great tip: "All you have to do is get yourself a little scraper, scrape out the old grout, and then you just kind of glaze it over with some new grout and wipe it down with a sponge."