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If you’re trying to sell your house in a cooling real estate market, the following are 7 steps that you can do to get your home ready for a quick sale without decreasing your price.

1. Determine your ideal home buyer or "Target Market." Do not market your home to an investor if you are aiming to get top for your home! Think about the people who own houses and reside in your neighborhood. Are they ordinary folks or physicians and attorneys? Are the new property owners first-time home buyers or move-up purchasers?

2. Acquaint yourself with your competition. Go look at the other homes close by to discover what the competition offers. Come up with a spreadsheet to list down features and comparables to your property.

3. Design a plan of action to sell your home. List changes that need to be done to compete with the other houses and then add changes that will make your house jump out. You need to learn how to make use of colors and construction material that attract your target home buyer. For instance, if you’re selling to first-time home buyers, they are not as particular and mostly prefer primary colors. The more urbane buyers look for flawlessness and prefer complex colors.

4. Apply Design Psychology strategies to sell your property. Learn how to get the designer look affordably. Don’t spend money on home repairs that won’t pay you back. For example, you do not have to totally reconstruct your kitchen but a fresh coat of paint, which costs approximately $20, and putting in a new faucet for under $100 can add thousands to your sale.

5. Set your asking prices to vie with the other homes your buyers are going to choose from. Don’t let house agents pressure you to decrease your sales price. It only takes one buyer to fall in love with your property.

6. Create a sales flyer that actually works. Don’t be general with the number one sales tool. Marketing psychology helps you imitate Internet marketers’ tested strategies. List down the benefits to the house buyer, not your house’s characteristics.

7. Employ home staging strategies to show your house. Go beyond the typical home staging and create a purchaser’s fantasy. Stage your house with activities that associate to your target buyers.

Irrespective of what the real property market does this year, you need to protect your equity. Do not just put up the "Property for sale" sign and hope for the best. Prep up your home for a top-dollar sale.