Right now, the average house is on the market about 2 months before it’s sold. To get a leg up on the competition, we asked top broker Fredrik Eklund of Bravo’s “Million Dollar Listing NYC” to share tips on how you could add value to your home and save thousands in the process.

#1 Play up the positive

Eklund says the first thing you need to do when showing a property is play up the good, while playing down the bad. For example, if the square footage is on the smaller side but the view is amazing, Eklund says not to linger on the negative and to focus more on the stunning views from the windows. Leading with the unique strengths of a space will help you sell your property more quickly, saving you time and money that you can use on your next home.

#2 Don’t be too gimmicky with the listing

Potential buyers are scrolling through listings so quickly, they’re only interested in the basic features (at least initially), like square footage, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, property taxes and size of the backyard. Eklund says your listing should speak for itself, and being too gimmicky with sensational wording or theatrical staging could result in losing the interest of serious buyers. Eklund recommends including plenty of beautifully shot photographs with detailed descriptions and floorplans. There is, however, more room to have fun when it comes to open houses, social media posts, and advertisements — but never on the listing itself.

#3 Declutter and open up the space

Eklund typically hires professional stagers for his multimillion-dollar listings; the staging cost will pay for itself as it attracts the highest bidders, he says. “My job is to sell them on a 2.0 version of themselves,” says Eklund. But if you can’t afford to hire a pro, the first thing you can do is to start packing and decluttering your space. Take personal photos down from your walls and store away at least half of your items. This leaves more room for a potential buyer to imagine herself living there.

#4 Neutralize and depolarize

Making your home less personal and individual to you and your tastes will make it easier to sell. So identify and remove any items that have the potential to turn off buyers, like political knick-knacks or religious artifacts, says Eklund.

An affordable quick fix to neutralize your space is to apply a fresh coat of paint with a light gray or off-white color. It’s one of the easiest and most cost-effective ways to make your home smell and feel brand new. “When you walk into a space, you want all your senses to be satisfied,” Eklund says.

#5 Add inexpensive lighting

The benefits of brightening up a space are endless, says Eklund. You can completely transform a room by adding some extra lighting. Not only will it add functional value, but it can also make a room look larger and airier. And it doesn’t have to cost you much. Just buy some inexpensive floor lamps and place them strategically in spots that need some spiffing up.

For more of Eklund’s secrets to selling a property, tune into Bravo every Thursday at 9 p.m.

Have you successfully sold your home? What are some of tips that saved you thousands in the process? Share them with us using #WAYSTOSAVE on Twitter, Facebook, or email them to us and we’ll feature some of your best tips at the end of the month.

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