No matter how long your house is on the market before being sold, it can be tremendously difficult to keep a home clean and orderly during the showing period, however short.

Aside from correct pricing, the most important steps you can take involve de-cluttering and making sure your house is kept clean during the showing period, says Eric Tyson, a personal finance expert and co-author of "House Selling For Dummies."

Here are a few pointers for sellers:

-- Do as much preliminary pre-packing as possible.

Vicki Norris, a professional organizer and former real estate agent, knows how hard it can be to keep a house in prime showing shape. It's especially difficult when people are selling against their will -- for instance, in the wake of a job loss.

"Sometimes life takes people off track and they get unusually disorganized," says Norris, who runs her own consulting firm, Restoring Order (www.restoringorder.com).

To limit upkeep demands during the showing period, Norris recommends that sellers clear through their clutter in advance of putting their place on the market. Throw away or give away any items you don't intend to keep, and place the remainder in neatly stacked boxes in your garage or other storage area.

"You don't have to remove everything, but reduce the quantity. For example, if you can winnow down an over-packed bookshelf from 200 to 30 books, that would be great," Norris says.

-- Seek to keep your house in good condition every day.

Most people who have their homes up for sale for a lengthy period can't count on hired help to do the daily work necessary to keep their place in tip-top showing condition. Still, they must always be ready for visitors.

Ashley Richardson, a real estate agent affiliated with the Council of Residential Specialists (www.crs.com), advises clients to set aside 15 minutes each morning before work to straighten the home.

"At the very minimum, every day you'll need to sweep the kitchen, put the breakfast dishes in the dishwasher and hang up any clothes lying around," she says.

-- Ponder the use of a cleaning service.

Are you sloppier than the average homeowner? If so, it might be wise to pay for what real estate agents call a "super-duper cleaning."

"If you start with a professional cleaning at the beginning, you'll have an easier time keeping your house tidy all the way through to your sale," says Sid Davis, a real estate broker and author of "A Survival Guide to Selling a Home."

Though it's likely to cost over $100, he says a single in-depth cleaning could hold you for more than a month before another in-depth cleaning job would be necessary.

Unfortunately, hiring a cleaning crew won't spare you the need for routine upkeep. "This will be no substitute for keeping your dishes washed and your bathroom toiletries put away. But it's still a big step going forward," Davis says.

-- Try to get everyone in your household to cooperate.

After a home has sat unsold for more than a month, those who live there can easily lose focus and slip back into their bad habits.

'The problem is that keeping your house in show condition is not a relaxed way of living, so people get tired of it," Davis says.

According to Richardson, it can be especially tough to ensure that children's rooms are kept orderly and that their toys are put away.

"Often, the kids are protesting the move. So the parents may need to clean their rooms for them. Alternatively, to get the kids to do it themselves, you might need to bribe them with pizza or a dinner out," she says.

-- Realize that the ordeal is temporary.

Donna Goings, a veteran real estate agent, says homeowners who earnestly want to sell should "keep their houses looking good enough to appear in a magazine." But she cautions that even picture-perfect properties that are fairly priced can languish unsold for a lengthy period through no fault of their owners.

"Sometimes, there's no rhyme or reason why a particular house won't sell for a long time. Even if you make the house beautiful and set the price right, it could stay on the market for months," Goings says.

Richardson advises her clients to avoid dwelling on critiques of their property.

"Buyers are more candid than they were in the past, and sometimes can be quite blunt in their feedback after a showing," Richardson says.

To limit the amount of unfiltered and discouraging negativity that can flow to you about your home, she suggests you tell your listing agent to filter out all pointlessly critical comments about your place.

(To contact Ellen James Martin, email her at ellenjamesmartin@gmail.com.)

With mortgage rates hovering near historic lows, many real estate specialists worry that homebuyers could be tempted to overspend. They fear their clients could be at risk financially if they overshoot their budget and then face a job change, a marital breakup or another unforeseen event.

"It's always good to be a little on the conservative side when taking out a mortgage," says Joseph Schiro, a real estate broker who has sold property since 1993.

"I always tell clients that before they choose a property they should run the numbers and make sure they stay skinny on their overhead," says Dale Robyn Siegel, a home loan broker and author of "The New Rules for Mortgages."

"Before making any major financial decision, your first task is to ensure you'll have the funds to meet your (core living expenses) every month. Otherwise, your stress level and quality of life could be greatly impaired," Siegel says.

How should you go about determining your core living expenses, known in the industry as your "nut"? Arlen Olberding, a certified financial planner, urges would-be purchasers to take a step-by-step approach. As a first step, he says you should carefully review your checking and credit card statements to see where your money has gone during the past six to 12 months.

Once you've categorized your past spending, it's time to comb through the columns, determining which among your non-mandatory costs you'd be willing to trim to afford the sort of house you wish to purchase.

"In creating a spending plan, you need to think both about your necessary expenses and lifestyle choices, like an urge to travel," says Olberding, who specializes in helping middle-income clients meet their money goals.

Once you've calculated your living costs, along with quality-of-life choices you consider essential, it's time to compare this monthly total to the net income you're bringing in. The difference should be the funds available to cover your mortgage expenses and future home upkeep and utility costs.

Here are a few pointers for homebuyers:

-- Disabuse yourself of the notion that lenders know what you can afford.

After the financial crisis of 2008, mortgage lending standards became very stringent and they remain so, Siegel says. This tightening is making it much harder to gain lender approval -- particularly for people who are self-employed or lack a track record of job stability.

Yet ironically, Siegel says many who can jump over lender approval hurdles are still able to borrow more than they reasonably should. Why? Because the full extent of their living costs isn't apparent to the lender who reviews their file.

For example, in assessing your affordability range, a lender won't take into account private debts. Nor would the lender know you've signed a contract guaranteeing your tuition payments to the private school your child attends.

"If an expense doesn't show up on your credit report, the bank doesn't know about it," Siegel says.

Because a lending institution has limited information on your living costs, she says it's critically important you do your own pre-purchase computation to determine the realistic scope of your monthly nut.

-- Include inflation in your cost-of-living calculations.

Although the government's Consumer Price Index has shown relatively little movement in recent months, inflation is still a major factor for many households. Especially hard-hit are families with young children who face hefty day care costs and those who've opted for private schooling after their kids reach kindergarten.

Then there's the soaring expense of higher education.

Along with education expenses, health care costs have risen dramatically, led by the cost of employee contributions to health plans and the premiums paid for the kind of individual policies used by those who have no access to insurance coverage through work.

Even core energy expenses that are normally immune from big price swings, like utility bills and food costs, can rise unpredictably. In assessing their future living costs, Olberding advises clients to factor in average price increases of as much as 5 percent per year for their core expenses.

"No one is immune from inflationary increases. So it's always better to err on the high side when you're preparing a spending plan," he says.

-- Factor savings into your financial calculations.

If possible, Olberding recommends that adults of all ages strive to contribute to their retirement savings each year a sum equal to 15 percent of their gross income. And he urges that this outlay be classified as a core expense when deciding how much they can afford to cover their housing payments.

"Savings should be one of those core costs you don't forget when figuring out how big a mortgage you can handle safely. Buying your dream house is great, but you want to do so without breaking your budget," Olberding says.

(To contact Ellen James Martin, email her at ellenjamesmartin@gmail.com.)

Are you a homeowner in your 50s or 60s who hankers to simplify life by selling your high-upkeep house and moving to a condo? If so, it's critical you consider the preferences of an increasingly important segment of the home-buying market: people in their 20s and 30s.

"The younger buyers absolutely know what they want and can be very inflexible about getting it," says Paige Elliott, a real estate agent who's sold homes since 1998.

"They've done a tremendous amount of research prior to stepping inside a single house. They know the exact neighborhoods they like and the price range they can afford," Elliott says.

With so much pre-screening done by purchasers, she says it's important that sellers make sure their property appears online with plenty of professional-quality photos.

Many agents hire highly qualified photographers to take pictures of their listings and cover the cost themselves. But even if you have to reach into your own pocket for this service, Elliott says it's worth it.

Of course, getting young buyers to agree to visit your place is only half the battle. They must also like its interior. Ashley Richardson, a veteran real estate agent, suggests you consider hiring a "stager," an interior design specialist trained to give properties a more polished look.

Stagers first remove excess furnishings and then rearrange the remaining pieces to give rooms a sleeker, more spacious appearance. To complete the look, they may also lend home sellers a few extra designer items -- like area rugs, decorator pillows or pieces of art.

Nowadays, many real estate agents are taking classes on staging to help their clients. But if your listing agent isn't one of them, and can't recommend a stager, you can hunt for one in your local area through such organizations as the Real Estate Staging Association (realestateassociation.com).

Here are a few other pointers for home sellers:

-- Address your windows.

If you're an older homeowner who's lived in your place for a long while, you may still be using window coverings acquired years ago.

But Sid Davis, a real estate broker and author of "A Survival Guide to Selling a Home," recommends you remove any old draperies. (Windows in your bedrooms and bathrooms can be covered with simple white shades purchased from a home center store.)

Another key to bright, sparkling rooms is to thoroughly clean your windows.

Davis contends that many people who are reasonably fit and don't have unusually high windows can do this cleaning project themselves without hiring a contractor.

"The cost of buying window cleaning supplies is minimal, especially if you already have a ladder. In that case, all you'll need is a painting extension pole, a squeegee and a bucket of water mixed with a little dishwashing detergent," Davis says.

-- Hide your family photos.

There's nothing that will date your place faster in the eyes of young homebuyers than personal photos taken decades ago.

Davis says any personal photos can make it psychologically difficult for young buyers to picture themselves living in your property.

"People of all ages want a fresh start when they buy a house. They lose this vision when they see all your memorabilia," Davis says.

-- Update your bathroom lighting.

In their bathrooms, many older homes still feature Hollywood-style lighting with globes set on a chrome bar. But Davis says such fixtures seem dated to many young homebuyers, who typically want something more stylish and less cliched.

"Look for bathroom lighting with a fresher, more current look. It shouldn't cost too much to replace bathroom lights. Likely you can replace any bathroom fixture for around $100 or so," he says.

-- Count on paint to freshen your place.

One sure bet for adding appeal to your interior is to repaint walls and trim throughout, Richardson says. And she says you're much more likely to appeal to young buyers if you avoid repainting your rooms in the sort of bold paint tones that some agents call "commitment colors."

Instead, she urges you to pick paint colors that are muted, near-neutrals.

-- Renovate your front entrance.

Tom Early, who's worked with hundreds of young buyers during his long career as a real estate broker, knows which updates excite a positive response in purchasers. He says sellers who have a limited amount of cash to spend on upgrades should consider using it to beautify their front entrance, which will enhance the home's appeal to buyers of all ages.

"You can get a good feel for how your entrance looks by walking across the street from your property. If the entrance isn't fabulous, make a change," says Early, who was twice president of the National Association of Exclusive Buyer Agents.

As he says, owners who are serious about selling should realize they can better their prospects with a small investment in improvements to their front walkway, to the landscaping around their front door and to the door itself.

"If painting your door doesn't make it look wonderful, spring for a new door. A wonderful door shouldn't cost you more than $1,000, and it's worth every dime," Early says. (To contact Ellen James Martin, email her at ellenjamesmartin@gmail.com.)