We all know it's a little tougher to sell a house these days, and desperate home sellers are looking for any little advantage. They're paying hundreds of dollars to have a staging company come into their home to make it look like someone lives there. (Figure that one out.) They're repainting entire walls, only to find out that no one else likes the new color.

Well, now it's my time to weigh in. I put together my own fast and relatively inexpensive list that any homeowner can follow. Each item should raise an eyebrow from potential buyers looking for little details.

1. Install a new "eco-performance" showerhead. These sleek-looking, high-quality, high-performance heads add an inviting look to your shower. The big surprise is that they use 30 percent less water than a standard showerhead, while delivering a strong spray. Seeing is believing, so turn it on.

2. Add gutter extensions to your downspouts. Yes, gutter extensions really do help keep a basement dry. By diverting the water about four feet from your foundation, most of the water runs off into the property grading instead of back into your basement. A dry basement can increase a home's value by 10 to 15 percent.

3. Install insulating pipe sleeves. Presplit and preglued insulating pipe sleeves can be installed easily on just about any exposed hot- or cold-water line. They save energy on hot-water lines and cut down on pipe sweating for cold ones. A home without pipe insulation is like wearing shoes with no socks.

4. Install plastic wall anchors in exposed picture-frame holes. Many homeowners simply bang a nail or screw into standard drywall to hang a photo. In most cases, this will damage the drywall. Plastic-anchor kits allow you to insert the anchor into the drywall hole, giving it an instant finished look with more strength. When the photo or painting is removed and potential buyers see the professional finished look of the anchor kit, that will be the true work of art.

5. Add a transition seat to your toilet. It accommodates adults and children in one sleek seat. It consists of three layers, the first being the lid. Picking up the lid reveals a child seat that every mother falls in love with. Picking up the child seat reveals the standard adult seat. The complete seat is raised when the adult seat is in the up position. This toilet seat truly does "double duty."

Try some or all of these things -- even if you're not selling. After following all these equity-building, easy-fix tips, who would want to move?

Master Contractor/Plumber Ed Del Grande is the author of "Ed Del Grande's House Call" and the host of TV shows on Scripps Networks and HGTVPro.com. Visit eddelgrande.com or write eddelgrande(at)hgtvpro.com.