Ellen James Martin
The Ledger.com

Your home has been up for sale for longer than you’d like. You and your agent are sure the price is right for the market. You’ve done all the basic fix-ups — like purging clutter, pruning bushes and repairing leaky faucets. Prospects come through week after week. Yet still your place doesn’t sell. You’re stumped on what to do next.

One plausible idea is to pull $10,000 or less out of your savings account to make your place a stand-out in the eyes of would-be purchasers — what real estate agents call a “cream puff.” This is a home so attractive and well-kept that prospects will usually choose it over similar houses in the neighborhood offered at the same price.

“The cream puff is so alluring, it seduces buyers subliminally. It’s a very well-groomed property,” says Sid Davis, a seasoned real estate broker and author of “A Survival Guide for Selling a Home.”

Is it worth plunging precious savings into a home just to make it more aesthetically appealing to buyers? Yes, assuming you live in a desirable community where property is still moving, albeit slowly. The strategy is all the more compelling if there are lots of rival homes up for sale there and you need a competitive edge.

Here are several pointers for sellers:

Add elegance with extensive interior moldings.

There’s a reason homebuilders make extensive use of decorative interior trim work — such as crown moldings, chair railings and wainscoting. That’s because these embellishments give a home a finished quality that usually exceeds the cost of the work, says Dorcas Helfant, former president of the National Association of Realtors (www.realtor.org).

“If you’re really handy, you can install your own moldings. But most people are better off with a trim carpenter. For a few thousand dollars you can get a lot of woodwork done,” Helfant says.

Further upgrade the painting of your home.

Many sellers paint a room or two before putting their place on the market. At the outset, perhaps you converted the bright purple walls in your teenager’s bedroom to a pleasant tan and did the same to your mustard yellow kitchen.

Yet to put your place in superior showing condition, further painting could well be warranted. For example, Davis strongly recommends you get a first-class paint job on your front door — the most visible surface of your property. Also, have a painter freshen any walls or rooms that need touch-ups due to wear.

As a finishing touch to add luster, replace all the hardware on your kitchen and bathroom cabinets, a step that should cost no more than $50 to $100.

Make your place super clean.

Often when Davis tells clients to make their property immaculate, they respond with puzzled stares.

If you’re unclear what it means to make your house exceptionally clean, Davis recommends you pick up a book on the topic, such as “Martha Stewart’s Homekeeping Handbook.”

Though books can provide guidance, the best way for most sellers to achieve a lofty level of cleanliness is to hire a professional cleaning company — one you find through referrals from your listing agent, neighbors or colleagues at work.

“Give the company a complete checklist of everything you need done. Be sure this includes meticulous cleaning of all your chandeliers and light fixtures, as well as deep scouring of bathroom and kitchen tile to remove all the mildew. This whole job should cost around $300 or less,” Davis says.

Give your home extra sparkle and light.

Chances are your cleaning crew won’t tackle one piece of work crucial to the look of your home: a thorough window cleaning.

Of course, home sellers can attempt their own window cleaning. But as Davis says, professionals have the equipment and expertise to do a better job — especially on a house with hard-to-reach windows.

Don’t take your home off the market while upgrading it.

If your home is correctly priced, well-located and continues to be shown to prospective buyers, you still have a good shot at selling it soon, especially if you’re willing to spend the money to make it a cream puff, Davis says.