The first and most obvious task for you is to clean up the place. Even if you were to have a mansion in the middle of London, it’s bound to lose value if you leave it cluttered and dirty. Throw out useless junk, scrub the floors and the bathroom. Pull out your Dyson upright vacuum cleaner and make those carpets look brand new.

Take the time to judge the state of your current paint job. Are there any cracks? Do all the colors match? Although you may have gotten used to these flaws, it will be very off-putting to a potential buyer. Even if their plan is to repaint the walls, they will not feel comfortable in your place and this can seriously affect your sale.

After you have the place clean and color coordinated, try picking out some simple comforting home decor accents. It’s best not to choose anything too extravagant or intimidating. The secret is to select nice subtle touches. Things that make your buyer feel that someone really loves this home and has a comfortable life there.

For the large home owners, chances are you have a front lawn. Yard upkeep is always one of the pains of home-owning, but this is something you can not afford to put off when trying to resell your house. Mow the grass, sweep the leaves and get rid of any dead plants. Let the buyers feel like your yard is picture perfect year round. If you leave it unkempt, don’t be surprised if many don’t even make it to the door.

Once you’ve finished sprucing up the place, remember to take some quality photos of it. Many people skimp on this aspect, but a nice picture, taken at the perfect time of day is sure to attract countless more buyers than mediocre photos or none at all. It’s not just about keeping them happy when they arrive, it’s about getting them there in the first place.

So, when attempting to sell your place, leave the complicated details in the hands of your broker. There are plenty of other easy ways for you improve your home. From cleaning it up to repainting it and adding some subtle decor, you can make the adjustments that perhaps seal the deal for the next potential buyer.

With more foreclosures now than ever before, America’s weak real estate market seems to set new dismal records each month. However, opportunistic real estate investment professionals are turning the recession into great profits with a bit of creativity.

This new opportunity – known as ‘Bulk REO Investing’ – is so huge it’s captured attention from wealthy investors and private investment funds alike.

The basis of the Bulk REO business is foreclosures, so let’s analyze the foreclosure process now.

To understand investing in Bulk REO, you have to understand the foreclosure process.

As a home owner misses a payment or two, the lender sends the predictable barage of threatening letters and warnings. Following a period of time determined by the lender, formal foreclosure proceedings begin. ‘Pre foreclosure’ is the name given to the time between implementation of the foreclosure proceedings and the public auction.

Foreclosure is completed when the property is put up for auction. Ownership of the property is returned to the lender if the property is not sold at auction. The lender then categorizes the property as ‘Real Estate Owned’ – or ‘REO’ for short.

Local real estate agents are usually used to resale REO properties at retail price to the general public. Yet with increasing frequency, REO properties are being sold for pennies or dimes on the dollar. But the price of receiving such great pricing is the need to purchase multiple REO properties (a ‘package’) rather than individual properties.

Qualified real estate investors are increasingly finding once-in-a-lifetime opportunities in these REO packages. One of the best ways to take advantage of Bulk REO Investing opportunities is to partner with a well-regarded source of funding. Some sources of funding for these transactions are: personal funds, hard money lenders, commercial lenders and non-conventional sources such as private investors and hedge funds. Additionally, one man is becoming very well known in the field of bulk REO investing, and his name is Sal Bushemi of Dandrew Partners, a New-York based hedge fund.