Saturday 31 December 2016

United We Stand !!

Dr Mohammad Manzoor Alam

I am returning to this column after a long while, in circumstances that are far from pleasant. Today, the Islamic world is a sad picture of disarray, anarchy and violence–internal as well as with others. From Afghanistan to Iraq, Saudi Arabia to Syria and Somalia, Turkey to Yemen, it is a story of violence all the way.

Everywhere, both sites of the conflict are Muslim and the victims are almost always innocent non-combatants, quite often women, children and the old. People have been forced to flee their homes, crossing borders in desperation with little food and water and insufficient clothing in severely cold climates. Till they get recognised as refugees in their new land they have to sleep in the open icy climes.

The refugees flooding Christian Europe are Muslims. Another, and possibly the most significant haven for these refugees, is Turkey, a preponderantly Muslim country. All the victims and perpetrators are Muslims. The shared values of Islam should have glued them together, but the differences of ethnicity, religious sect and subsect, differences over national claims and other variables are tearing Muslim societies apart. Islam was meant to unite Muslims as well as the entire humanity.

Every day we read reports of violence, see on our TV screens, busy cities in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Somalia and Yemen bombed with huge casualties. Both sides are Muslim. Only a few hours before writing this piece the media were flush with graphic reports of the destruction of the historic heritage city of Aleppo in Syria, one of the oldest and most developed centres of culture.

President Bashar Asad’s forces, supported by Iran and Russia, have leveled the city and conducted a massacre barely seen outside Hitler’s Germany. The massacre has been so huge that Paris switched off the lights of the great Eifel Tower in protest and mourning. The UN Security Council, Europe and the US took note, but did nothing to save Muslims from other Muslims. This is a great moment for Muslims of all kinds, sects, ethnicities, nationalities and races to deeply think over what is going on, where does Islam stand, and where have the Muslim failed. This is not merely a political failure, but a civilisational one also.

To begin with, Muslims have miserably failed to evolve a political system which offers everyone some space, freedom of opinion and choice and a system that happily welcomes and accommodates difference. There is rarely any organised system of peaceful transfer of power in the Muslim world. One of the many examples is the blood-soaked Syria where Hafez al-Asad ruled for decades and passed the reins to his son Bashar before dying. The son is there to rule for as long as the father did, even if Syria is destroyed in the process.

What the Muslim states as well as Muslim societies are suffering from comes from a lack of appreciation and tolerance of diversity. This is largely a political failure because the system of governance in Muslim world (ranging from monarchy to various degrees of dictatorship) has failed to ensure democratic respect for difference: difference of race, ethnicity, tribal affiliation, religions and religious sect. To avoid a complete civilisational breakdown the Muslim world must debate on and evolve a proper political system for those countries and societies and must come to terms with modern ideas of state and nationhood. Civilisation must be anchored in Islam. Yet, as Akbar S. Ahmed wisely points out Muslims have got to come to terms with the post-colonial paradigm, of democracy, state and nationhood. Ahmed notes that because Muslims have failed to come to terms with the post-colonial paradigm we see people like Saddam in Iraq and Asad in Syria who destroyed millions of their own countryman. There are others like them waiting for their turn to devastate their own lands and people.

Unity is not possible without a certain liberal stance, tolerance and willing acceptance of diversity. We have to remember that God made a diverse world, and diversity is the essential feature of existence in the world. God says in the Quran that if He so desired He would have made everyone a Muslim, but He made it a diverse world, so that different races, tribes and clans could distinguish and identify each other.

Both for the unity of the Ummah and for peace within it as well as peace with other faiths a liberal and tolerant attitude is essential. For unity in the Ummah one has to recognise (as does the post-modernist literary theory) that there can be several different readings of a single text (including the text of scripture) and all of them could be equally valid.

This explains why there are so many sects, sub-sects and sub-sub-sects within Islam. It is largely because of different interpretations (readings) of the Quran and the Prophet’s (PBUH) traditions. Hence, it is not desirable to insist that only one of them is right and all other interpretations and sects/sub-sects based on them are dubious. Such a rejectionist view can easily destroy unity. It is also against the Islamic credo that plurality of opinion in the Ummah is a blessing from God and worthy of cherishing.

The emphasis on an acceptance of diversity is finely exemplified in an incident in the life of the 13th century Muslim sufi poet Mewlana Jalaluddin Rumi. It was said that he did not believe in sectarian differences, to the extent that he accepted all the putative 72 sects of Islam as valid and equal to each other. There is the common belief in parts of the Muslim world that there will come a time when Muslims will be divided in 72 sects and only one of them will be right. Followers of all others will be consigned to hell.

When a hot-headed Muslim (there has never been a shortage of such fellows) came to learn of the sufi’s belief he confronted him: “Mewlana Jalauddin, I have heard that you tell people you accept all 72 sects as valid?” Mewlana Jalauddin Rumi said, “Yes, I do.” At that the man flew into a rage and began a flurry of expletives and choice abuses. The sufi listened to the abuses calmly. When the hot-headed man got tired and fell silent, Mewlana Rumi announced quietly: “And I accept fully this 73rd sect of yours.” Only such great men with their generous acceptance promote unity and avoid division in the Ummah and the world at large.

As long as we insist that our sect, sub-sect or sub-sub-sect is right and all others are doomed to hell, we will be promoting division and mutual hatred. An example from the subcontinent is illustrative. The Hanafi sub-sect of the Sunni sect is divided further into sub-sub-sects - Deobandis and Barelvis. Instead of cherishing their shared Hanafi doctrine they are at each other’s throats. Even within these two there are internal differences of emphasis. Differences can be ok, but hatred, division and violence are not. Both within Shia and Sunni sects there are sub-sects that are violently opposed to each other. There is a history of massive violence within sects and a long record of mutual suspicion and animosity.

India’s Muslim community is divided both vertically and horizontally. There is a distinct horizontal division in the name of masaalik, and there is a vertical division in the name of castes. Put together, they generate such animosity that their mutual ill-will transcends the capability of Islam to unite and heal.

The poet Iqbal wrote a hundred years ago which, in translation is “Divided you (Muslims) are in sects and castes/ Is it how people flourish in the world?” It is quite apparent that such mutual antagonism runs against the grain of Islam and brings disgrace to the Ummah. Enough is enough. Now let us close our ranks and follow God’s command: “Hold together (all of you) the rope of Allah and don’t create dissension in your ranks.” Muslims must pay heed to it.

They do not pay heed to the Prophet’s [PBUH] warning to Muslims not to unsheathe their swords against each other. Otherwise, the sword will never go back to the sheath. The sword that was unsheathed in the civil war between Sahabah (the Prophet’s (PBUH) companions has not gone back into the sheath. It must be sheathed now if our civilisation has to survive.

United we stand - 2

I am returning to this column within a week. The usual periodicity of this is once every month or so. The reason for this is the wide response to the last column under this title. The enthusiastic response to the article shows that Muslims are bothered about the widespread disunity in their ranks and they want to know the issues that divide us. This is also a good sign as knowing a problem brings us half way to resolving it.

By the way, understanding an issue requires clarity, which does not come easy to many of us. An example of this was a mail from one of our readers who suggested that the destruction of Aleppo (and much of Syria) is the handiwork of the French. This is not the case. The destruction has been wrought by Bashar Assad with the help of Iran and Russia, not France.

He wrote, rather unintelligibly, “The French general put his foot on Saladin’s grave and proclaimed”. It seems as if the French general did it during the destruction of Aleppo earlier this week, and hence France was responsible for the humiliation of the Muslim hero (Salahuddin Ayubi) and France was behind the destruction of Syria during nearly half a century of the illegal rule of the Asads (Bashar and Hafez). This understanding of a major tragedy in the Muslim world is not correct.

What this writer is referring to is an incident that is now almost a century old (the end of World War-I). After defeating the Ottoman caliphate (under which much of the Arab world, including today’s Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Syria and Palestine came), the French general marched in pomp to the grave of Salahuddin (Saladin) and proclaimed, “Saladin, we are here”. What the French general in his hubris did was motivated by racial memory and historical animosity. Saladin had driven European crusaders out of most of the Kingdom of Jerusalem nearly seven and a half century before the end of the World War-I, and the French general’s impudent behavior. Racial memory and historical antagonism are part of human life, but this does not have to determine all of our actions. We cannot live in the past, and cannot attribute all of today’s developments to the past.

As we said earlier, what is happening in Syria and most of the Muslim world indicates our inability to deal with our own affairs in a politically appropriate way. Coming back to Syria again (even though there are several like it) we have to remember that it was a certain kind of political environment that fostered the growth of the Asads, who destroyed their country. Even without the Asads and their partners in their crimes (Russia and Iran now) there has been sufficient internal hostility between tribes, ethnicities, sects and sub-sects to tear the country apart. Islam alone has not always been able to keep them united, because here we are not having a generic, undifferentiated, unified Islam, but several versions of it, practised by different sects, sub-sects, ethnicities and tribal groups.

In many cases, it is not the unified Ummah that is visible, but a constant fragmentation that is at work. It would be desirable for different kinds of Muslim communities worldwide to agree on a loose Ummatic consensus that accepts that across races, climates, continents and countries, ethnicities and tribes, political ideologies and cultural preferences Prophet Muhammad’s community is united in its amazing diversity as Allah wishes and in the love of the Prophet (PBUH).

This is the ideal (what should be), but not the real (what is). The effort has to continue through local, regional, national and international fora. However, to avoid a complete civilisational breakdown (towards which we are headed), we must never insist on a single, one size fits all Islam and try to enforce it across all cultures and climes. Cultural, ethnic and sectarian forces have frequently overwhelmed Islam’s capability to keep the Ummah united throughout Muslim history. Elaboration of this might need more space than this column provides. Suffice it to say that we must never try to enforce uniformity across the Ummah. Only diversity can keep it together in a symbolic bond. We must learn to live together separately, allowing everybody his or her space. In its great wisdom the holy Qur’an declares: “No compulsion in faith”.

To elaborate it further, nobody has the moral or legal right to eliminate all difference. No black person’s skin can be peeled like a banana to make him look like a white man (Salman Rushdie’s Moor’s musing), nor can a white man or woman’s skin be painted black. Likewise, the difference within and without Islam cannot be eliminated without permanently destroying peace. If we cannot accept the diversity within Islam, how can we live in peace with Jews, Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, and others?

We have examples from other religions, societies and countries where people have accepted difference willingly and have agreed to live together separately in peace. An example from Germany is worth citing here. In the 19th century some leaders of the Christian church met Jewish leaders and told them, “We think you are in error and you think we are in error”. Then the Christian leaders said something to the effect: “We are free to have our ideas of each other. But, now onwards, let us decide to live with each other in peace”. That understanding led to the German Jews’ rise as equal citizens and the end of ghettos and everything they stood for. That understanding was destroyed by Hitler’s rise in the 30s of the 20th century.

However, after the defeat of Nazis and end of World War II, many Jews returned to live as equal citizens in Germany as they were living before Hitler. This is not an unblemished happy-ending story, but it shows people can (and should) try to live happily with others despite differences of faith, sect, race and ethnicity.

A more enduring and successful story comes from the secularisation of Europe, which was more fissiparous and driven by hatred between different Christian sects. The violence of Londonderry and Belfast which we read about in newspapers in our college days paled in significance compared to the violence and madness of 19th century Europe. Incidentally, the last viceroy of India, Lord Louis Mountbatten, was assassinated by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) that was behind much of the violence of Londonderry and Belfast of those days. Even that violence has simmered down.

Much of Europe deflated religious antagonism and sectarian violence among Christians by delinking state from church. That means no sect had the patronage of the state and all citizens were equal as the state had no religion of its own. This arrangement has held strongly for more than a century. It is interesting to note that Europe was secularised not to protect Muslims, Jews or Buddhists, but to protect Christians from Christians. The same arrangement has held the United States together from the beginning. Right from the coming of Pilgrims (the first European settlers in America) Christian sects came to America because there was no religious preference there, and hence no persecution. Can we devise some innovative schemes like that to save Muslims from Muslims and accommodate our diversity happily?

Saturday 17 December 2016

Lighten the people’s burden

Dr Mohammad Manzoor Alam

At the outset, it must be asserted that monetary and financial policies are made for the people, and people are not made for such policies. This basic principle seems to have been stood on its head in the present conundrum of ill-considered and ill-advised demonitisation of Rs. 1,000 and Rs 500 currency notes.

A hundred people have died, their deaths directly attributed to this sudden denial of access to their hard-earned money. For most Indians it has been like a bolt from the blue. The wholesale markets are virtually closed as most of the transactions are made in cash, which is scarce. In turn, it has led to the termination of hundreds of thousands of daily wage earners’ jobs.

The same holds good for huge armies of workers at construction sites where the workers are paid in cash on a daily basis. Markets across different trades have come to a standstill. People suddenly are forced to deposit their hard-earned life savings in banks under the orders of the government that they do not trust with their money. Because of the unpredictability of the government, over the last one year people had withdrawn a sizeable part of their deposits from banks, thus hugely increasing the volume of money in circulation, that is, money that is in people’s pockets. Theoretically, such a situation fuels inflation.

One of the rather obvious “reasons” behind the government’s rash and unprecedented step could have been to force people to deposit their money in banks. However, it was a legally questionable and morally indefensible act on the part of the government. Nobody has the right to confiscate people’s wealth in the name of “black money”. People’s hard-earned and saved (saving involves great sacrifice and deferment of immediate needs) money is not black money.

The people had taken part of their money out of banks exactly for the same reasons as the sudden demonetisation. People did not trust the government because it had suddenly introduced and enforced rules like the registration of PAN on purchases of jewellery, gold and withdrawal of cash above a certain limit. People feared a corrupt tax bureaucracy and tax laws that are manipulated by the rich, but hurt the average person.

Citizens are forced to stand in long serpentine queues outside banks and ATMs. After hours of standing in queue they are curtly told that there is no money left to give them and they have to return home empty handed. Several have dropped dead in the queue. Many have committed suicide. Often respectable citizens have been mercilessly beaten up and humiliated while trying to get a small part of their savings out of the bank. A soldier of the Indian army was beaten up so severely that the sturdy lathi of the policeman broke. This for the lip service of RSS-BJP to India’s armed forces.

It is important to remember that out of the Rs. 18 lakh crore in circulation, 85 percent were in Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 denomination. With the withdrawal of these notes only 15 percent of the money was left in circulation, this causing unprecedented hardships to people. Most of the informal sector jobs have been wiped out and the rest are threatened. Up to 40 percent of the salaried jobs in the formal sector can be eliminated.

In demonitisation, currency notes are not suddenly cancelled but new currency notes are gradually introduced in the system, and as gradually, older notes are withheld by the Reserve Bank. This is an unprecedented move that has dented India’s financial credibility in the world markets and deterred investment. Rahul Gandhi has said this could be a great scandal.

Manmohan Singh, an economist of world class, an economist whose opinion President Obama said publicly, he sought and valued. Dr Singh told Parliament that this move of the government was an “organised loot”. He warned that it could cut economic growth by as much as two percent, a prospect that is no less than a calamity.

There was little money in the system except the Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes that the people have been unfairly forced to deposit in banks. As currency notes are printed with imported technology and material there is no hope for relief for people for months. Until the money supply is normalised, there is going to be no respite.

It is by now clear that the announcement made by the Prime Minister about this move was falsely claimed to be made in the TV studio. It was a pre-recorded announcement sent to the Doordarshan which telecast it after editing. As the DD knew in advance, BJP-RSS too knew it much before the public did. Accordingly, they acted in advance to protect themselves from its effect.

In a transparently dishonest bid the BJP government has tried to put Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and Congress Party at an economic disadvantage in coming UP elections. In Punjab also, it has put Akali Dal and Congress at a disadvantage in terms of depleted election funds. By wiping out 85 percent of the money it has tried to starve these parties of election funds, while it has dishonestly used its power to whitewash its own funds. However, ultimately this cheating may not work as the people know about it.

There is a general sense of helplessness, betrayal and humiliation among the people, not only among those who have been turned back from banks after hours of standing in a queue or those who are beaten up by the police for no fault of their own, but among all sections of people because every Union minister, right from the PM downwards, has repeatedly called their years of earning with the sweat of their brow, “black money.” It is people’s own money, not black money, that the government has virtually confiscated.

The government has repeatedly lied to the nation. It announced that the Reserve Bank had enough money to pay everyone, while the fact is that the Reserve Bank is not going to have enough money for months. When parents of young girls preparing to get married in weeks and months began to break down, the government falsely announced that parents of girls who had fixed their marriages could withdraw Rs 5 lakh from their bank accounts. The next day it was cut down to half, i.e., Rs 2.5 lakh. After that, when the parents went to bank to withdraw Rs 2.5 lakh from their accounts they were flatly told that the banks had not been notified and they could not get more than normal withdrawal, which for cooperative banks, had been reduced from Rs 10,000 to Rs 2,000. The same limit was set for ATMs. Only the major banks had an Rs 24,000 limit.

This led to more deaths from sudden heart failures and suicides. Instead of words of sympathy a Union minister said there was nothing unusual in such deaths as 25,000 people died everyday in India.

Enough is enough. As with imported material and technology the government cannot hope to restore money supply in less than several months it has no way of restoring the country’s economic health without rolling back its ill-thought out policy. It must act now and ease the common Indian citizen’s unnecessary harassment and humiliation

Friday 16 December 2016

12 Rabiul Awwal

Ki Muhammad ﷺ Sey wafa Tu ne To Hum Tere Hain / 
Ye Jahan Cheez Hai Kiya Loh o Qalam Tere Hain.

What a Great Moment it would have been when World welcomed the one for whom Allah Created the Universe.

Always a blissful moment it is,when we hear the beautiful name Muhammad ﷺ

Let us Honour the PROPHET ﷺ Every Day ! and Not Just One day

RBI imposes restrictions on withdrawal from certain bank accounts



Tightening the noose around people who misused banking channels to park unaccounted money, the Reserve Bank today imposed certain restrictions on withdrawal if more than Rs 2 lakh has been deposited after November 9 in an account which has a balance of over Rs 5 lakh.
As per a RBI notification, withdrawal or transfer of funds will not be permitted in accounts without quoting of PAN or submission of Form 60 (persons who do not have PAN).

The Reserve Bank also said monthly withdrawal limit of Rs 10,000 will be maintained even if a 'small account' has witnessed increase in annual permissible deposit of Rs 1 lakh.

The notification follows after it was brought to the notice of the RBI that "strict compliance" with KYC (Know Your Customer) provisions is not being ensured in some cases.

In respect of KYC compliant accounts where the required Customer Due Diligence (CDD) procedure has been complied with, RBI said banks and NBFCs should ensure compliance regarding quoting of PAN/obtaining of Form 60 for all transactions.

"No debit transaction, transfer or otherwise shall be allowed in accounts which do not comply with the above mentioned requirements.

"To begin with, this rule shall be strictly applied in accounts where both the thresholds listed -- (i) balance of rupees five lakh or more; and (ii) the total deposits (including credits by electronic or other means) made after November 9, 2016, exceed rupees two lakh," RBI said.

RBI further said if any account is rendered ineligible for being classified as a small account due to credits/balance in the account exceeding the permissible limits, withdrawals may be allowed within the limit prescribed for small accounts.

The monthly limit for withdrawal and transfer from a small account is Rs 10,000. Also, aggregate of all credits in a financial year cannot exceed Rs 1 lakh.

Basic Savings Bank Deposit Accounts (Jan Dhan accounts are akin to BSBDAs), which are not KYC compliant accounts are to be treated as 'small accounts', the RBI added.

Government demonetised old Rs 500/1000 from November 9.

Earlier, RBI had asked banks to strictly follow norms while allowing deposits in dormant accounts.

There have been reports some people misused Jan Dhan and dormant accounts to deposit unaccounted money following demonetisation.

Monday 12 December 2016

1. I got a dig bick (PRANK)

1. I got a dig bick
2. You that read wrong
3. You read that wrong too
4. You checked
5. You smiled
7. You are wondering why you're still this reading this
8. You saw that mistake... right? (On 7)
10. But did you see that I skipped 6?
10. You checked
11. And saw you that I doubled 10 and skipped 9
12. I said saw you, not you saw
13. I also skipped 2
14. You got tricked
15. I'm just wasting your time go back to reading the comments

Tuesday 6 December 2016

Jayalalithaa Jayaraman

The hospital finally officially announced the death of the chief minister on 5 December 2016 at 11:30 PM.Deeply Mourn Jayalalithaa Jayaraman, commonly referred to as Amma and Puratchi Thalaivi , 11th, 14th, 16th, 18th, 19th Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. INDIA will miss one of the most influential and powerful leader ever, Jayalalithaa was a visionary & able administrator Her indomitable spirit & an infinite capacity for goodness were always an inspiration. She was the perfect definition of Bold and Beautiful, When brave Jayalalithaa put Shankaracharya in jail for murder! It has happened only once in India! in her own words she was self-made. She fought patriarchy. Relentlessly and Constantly. 
The end of inspirational era of Tamilnadu Politics. Jayalalithaa leave behind a vast vacuum. But her majestic charisma and determination will continue to live and inspire many women in our country, I wish tamilnadu to have stable government after this ,Dear Tamilnadu beware of Hindian parties, The "JI" gumbal is coming

Friday 2 December 2016

So what is Demonetisation really all about?

So what is #Demonetisation really all about?
# We were told it’s to stop terror attacks.
But now the attacks have increased.
# Then we were told it will cut supply of Indian notes across the border.
But terrorists had new notes before most of us did :)
# Then we were told it’s actually about wiping out #BlackMoney.
But even Banks’ own estimates say that very little has come in.
# Then we're told it’s to take #BlackMoney out of politics.
But 1st person caught with unaccounted cash in new notes was… a BJP guy
#Further when a blogger said the car of MP’s Chief Minister, a @BJP4India man, was stopped with 30 crores cash, he was arrested.
# We’re told #Demonetisation hurts criminals & not common man.
But no tax criminals have died but 70 common folks have, waiting in line.
# We must tolerate for patriotism.
But govt ensures political parties above law & can have unaccounted cash. BJP declares 505 cr in 2016
# We’re told operation is meticulously planned.
But RBI announces new rule & regulation every day, each more confusing than the other.
# We’re told planning started long ago.
But Rs. 2000 notes are not even in same size, and their colour washes off.
# We’re told RBI is on top of it.
But then no one knew each ATM across India has to be recalibrated to accept new notes.
# Sep #BlackMoney sweep picked up 65,000 cr at a 45% penalty with no pain to common man.
This time all this pain is for a 50% penalty.
# Now we’re told it’s not abt #BlackMoney or #Terror but #Digital #Cashlesssociety.
But India is long way from that. Tho we're cashless.
# So what is #Demonetisation really all about?
We are told, wait and see how India will become great. Only then we’ll realise. Wow.
# Can we accept that nothing was planned or executed well?
Rather than owning up faults, pride of govt & PM doesn’t acknowledge failure.
# We hv an unplanned, badly executed, lethal & likely ineffective country-wide change & we hv to wait with faith because well, #AccheDin.

12 Things You Should Know About Real Estate

http://lightersideofrealestate.com/education/things-you-should-know-about-real-estate?utm_campaign=sniply&utm_medium=sniply&utm_source=sniply


1. A home is worth what a buyer is willing to pay.

You may think all the time and effort you have put into your home before listing it, even what you paid for it previously, makes it worth a certain price. Even an appraiser may come in before you list and say it’s worth close to a price you like. But at the end of the day, it is only worth what a buyer is willing to pay for it. They may think your upgrades don’t match up with the asking price. It may be that the home does need renovations and the asking price is too much to justify buying it and immediately pouring more money into it. A buyer would rather purchase a home at $125k, put $25k into it, and have it be worth $180k instead of buying a home at $180k that needs the same work of the $125k home.

2. Upgrades may not increase the value, but they’ll increase the chances of getting it sold.

It’s normal to think or hope that you’ll get back every penny spent on a home renovation. Unfortunately, in most cases you really only receive back a percentage of what you spent (or sometimes no hike in value at all). Different home improvements generally offer different returns, and that amount can vary depending on the area that you live in. Other factors include quality of craftsmanship and the personal taste of buyers.

3. Cleanliness is godliness.

No house is ever going to be perfect, especially with a dog in the summer, but it is important to make an effort to keep your home as clean as possible during listing photos and showings. You want potential buyers to remember what they love about the home after they leave, not talking about how much of a mess your home was instead.

4. Curb appeal is the first (and strongest) impression.

We all know what they say about first impressions. It’s hard for someone to change their mind after a bad first impression. Take a look at the front of your home. As a stranger, would you buy it? Just in case you’re biased, look next door. What about your neighbor’s home? Would you buy theirs? If no, imagine if they made it more presentable. Then would you buy it? Yes? Remove the kids’ toys from the front yard. Hide the trash cans and recycling bin. Mow the lawn and trim the bushes, especially before your professional pictures are taken! But continue to maintain the lawn for showings, and for the chance that someone might just drive by and notice the for sale sign in your yard. If you have shutters, make sure they’re all still attached and if needed, slap a fresh coat of paint on them. And don’t forget to pressure wash!

5. Pet odor and clutter leave the longest lasting impressions.

Just because we love our furry friends, doesn’t mean that everyone does. It’s hard to erase every piece of evidence that they exist in your home. No matter how many times you vacuum, there will be pet hair that you miss. Just make an effort. And if you can, hide their bedding and food bowls. Pet odor is extremely hard to hide, especially if you have a puppy learning how to be potty trained or a senile dog with a bladder problem. It might be worth your while to replace your flooring, or offer a flooring allowance in the deal. For now, stick a few air wicks in each room.

6. Neutral paint and decor will always appeal to the masses.

Get rid of those dark colors and bright purple accent walls now! That will stick out like a sore thumb in your listing photos before a potential buyer even schedules a showing of your home. The first thought going through their mind is, “How many coats of paint is it going to take to cover up that hideous color?!” Neutral is in. Neutral is always in. As for decor, minimal is best. Go ahead and pack any extra decor that is unnecessary while you’re trying to sell.

7. Cheap fixes or updates will result in cheap (low) offers.

If you can’t afford to update the whole house, don’t. Trying to cover everything will result in cheap updates that the potential buyer will most likely want to have redone. If nothing else, as stated above, at least paint. A fresh coat of paint in the whole house, as long it’s a natural color, is never wasted money.

8. Everything is negotiable.

Seriously. Everything is negotiable. While the refrigerator seems to be the biggest thing that buyers want or sellers note that it can convey with an acceptable offer, many other items have been negotiated. Blinds, curtain rods, curtains, furniture, even tractors. However, it is very important to make sure negotiations are done right and documented correctly in the contract.

9. Time is of the essence.

Because we’re in a seller’s market, it is the perfect time for you to list your home if you’ve been considering it. Homes can barely be put on the market before there is a contract put on them. This being said, time is of the essence for buyers. If you fall in love with a house, you need to put an offer in now, and a good one at that. There’s no time to waste going home and talking about it or sleeping on it. That home might not still be on the market tomorrow.

10. Location! Location! Location!

Why does location matter so much? For starters, you can’t move a home — at least not easily or inexpensively. When you buy a home in a good location, it’s usually a solid long-term investment. It’s often wise to buy the worst house — a property that could use some TLC — on the best block. Why? Because fixing up a home in a great neighborhood will give you the best return on your investment. Quite simply, it will be easier to sell later on. Conversely, you can buy a beautiful home that doesn’t need any work. But if the block is sketchy or just plain bad, you could have a hard time selling the property at a decent price.

11. Buyers notice things they want to change before noticing any updates.

Like previously said, it’s hard to please everyone. Even though you just spent $30,000 on an upgraded kitchen and $10,000 on a remodeled master bathroom, a buyer may be groaning because they’re not looking forward to having the carpets ripped up and hardwoods laid. Or, they just might not like the choices you made during the renovation process. One fail-safe move you can make is to allow a flooring allowance or paint allowance, therefore you’re not wasting the money while getting the home ready to sell and they can pick out the details they like.

12. When priced right, it will sell.

Even if you’re in a hurry to sell and price isn’t your main concern, you still need a baseline to start marketing your home. One thing’s for certain: Pricing is one of the biggest decisions in the selling process. Set too high a price and you run the risk of turning off potential buyers. It also means your house will not compare favorably with other similarly priced homes. Even worse, buyers may not even see your listing when they search online since they will be using lower price points.