Sell Your Home

If you’re looking to sell your home it can be helpful to listen to the advice of estate agents or other professionals in the property industry.

Phil Spencer, of Garrington property search company and Channel 4’s Location, Location, Location , says: If you’re going to sell your home make sure you select the best agent for the type of property you have. Look in the window to see if houses like yours are advertised there. Then fix the right price, bearing in mind that the market calms down in the summer, so there’s no point being too ambitious.

When you sell your home first impressions are vital. Tidy up the front garden and the drive and paint the front door. Kitchens and bathrooms sell houses, so get cleaning and polishing. Buy things such as a new kettle, new bathroom lino, new door handles. Clear out clutter, turn the storage room into a bedroom, then ask a friend to come round and give their honest opinion. If your house still doesn’t sell, ask your agents why they haven’t sold it and how you can help them do their job.

Ed Mead, sales director, Douglas and Gordon, says: The two most important factors when you sell your home are presentation and price. Most people will have an emotional response to a house within ten seconds, so you have to be tidy and your children can’t leave their underpants on the floor.

Even more important is price. The majority of the market is a little sticky at the moment, so you need to attract the most number of buyers. A high price is not going to get people through the door, so put it on at a guide price at the bottom end of your expectations, and you should then get several bidders who will push the price up. That takes balls, though. If it still doesn’t sell, drop the price to appeal to a whole new level of buyers – there’s no point tinkering at the margins.