You hear about the real estate market in the news every day, but don't let the doom and gloom from the media scare you. If you want to, you can still sell your home in 2008. What you need to do though is start thinking about how you are going to make your home stand out from the crowd and get noticed.

Since home owners are not recouping home improvement costs like in recent years, it is important to emphasize some of the top things that will sell your home. You need your home to be well maintained, neat, clean, spacious looking and ready to move into.

It has been the custom of many sellers to take on remodeling projects to improve the home and then raise the asking price to pass those costs on to the buyer. In today's market sellers may not get that higher asking price for the improvements.

In order to keep your costs lower you should consider the following.

Ask and expert for advice. Your Realtor should be able to assist you with a walk through of your home with a list of improvements that will make the difference between selling and not selling. Things like painting walls, taking down wallpaper and cleaning carpets are common items that need attention.

You also need to de-clutter the home by moving large furniture items and clutter to storage to make it have a spacious appearance. Clean it like you have never cleaned before. Mr. and Mrs. Clean should live there.

Check below the surface. Address any maintenance issues that you have been holding off on. Fis them now and have your home professionally inspected prior to listing to find anything that you may be missing. You do not want something popping up and crashing a potential sale. The thing is that every for every dollar a buyer can see needs to be fixed, they will want $2 or $3 off the price of the home.

In the buyers mind they will think that maintenance on this was neglected, what about the rest of the house?

Freshen up the bathrooms. When people are looking for a home to purchase they can often overlook other areas of the home if they know that the bathroom is ready to be used when they move in. You should ensure that the bathroom is clean and in good repair. Replace anything that is broken such as cracked tiles, sinks or toilets. A new toilet can be as little as $250 which is a small price to pay for selling your home.

Check the exterior. Look around the exterior in detail for the condition of the windows, siding and any landscaping issues. When you check the statistics for replacing exterior items, replacing wood windows with new will recover an average of 81% of the cost and siding replacement an average of 83% of the cost. Both of these will result in a much quicker sale.

Keep any kitchen remodels small. It has been shown that a home owner can recover an average of 83% of a minor kitchen remodel versus only 78% of the cost of a major kitchen remodel. Hold off on the appliances as the potential home owner just may have their own preferences when selecting these.

Replace the counter tops if there is damage but not if it is only outdated. When you do update them look at your competition to determine what material to use.

By following these tips and the suggestions of your real estate professional you can still sell your home in 2008.