This article from Lawpack's Sell your own Home Kit discusses how to present your house or flat in the best light when trying to sell it. It provides useful and inexpensive hints on giving a property that essential 'show home' look.
The first rule of selling your property is to take your time and prepare a comprehensive marketing plan. You may not be a marketing professional, but now you must act like one. In principle, selling a property is not very different from selling a car. In a sense, they are both just goods and just as the dented car stays on the garage forecourt, so generally the tired and unloved home will fail to tempt many buyers.
The key to selling a property for the best possible price as quickly as possible is to make sure your property attracts the maximum number of potential buyers. You need to work out what type of buyer your property will attract and then you must get into the mind of that buyer. The psychology of selling a property and what makes one house more attractive than the identical house next door is something which every property seller needs to know. The advice given in this section might make uncomfortable reading but it is the kind of essential information which estate agents rarely give you.
Thinking about the kind of buyer who will want to buy your home is the first piece in the jigsaw which will set you on the road to presenting your property in the best possible light. For a lot of sellers, this is easy enough. For example, a four-bedroom house in a safe neighbourhood, close to good schools, is likely to appeal to families with children. Your children may have left home long ago, and the spare bedrooms may look faded and neglected. Giving your property family appeal will be the key to getting a quick sale.
A small, one-bedroom flat in an inner city neighbourhood with lively bars and restaurants and good transport links, appeals to young professionals, who yearn for a clean, uncluttered and contemporary look. Clearing out the clutter and giving the rooms a coat of crisp white paint, may be all that is required to give your flat that touch of urban chic. A cosy two-bedroom country cottage in a quiet village will appeal to retirement couples who are downsizing and moving to the country. Here the idea is to suggest comfort and warmth with good quality soft furnishings and roaring log fires.
Other properties may not be so easy to categorise but it is still worth putting some time and effort in to second-guessing the likely buyer. If you know where to look there are clues all around you. For example, what kind of people are your neighbours? Who have been the recent newcomers to your street? Are there good schools nearby? What are the transport links like? A nosy walk around your neighbourhood will also yield useful information. What style of decoration is fashionable? Is it an up-and-coming area with plenty of builders' skips in the street that might appeal to people who want to add value to a house?
Preparing your property so that it appeals to your target market is not rocket science, but it does require a certain amount of objectivity. To get that fresh perspective, ask a couple of friends who fall into the category of likely buyers, to give you a warts-and-all assessment of your property. Tell them they can be as honest and rude as they like because an unbiased opinion is what you are looking for.
You could be in for a surprise. You might love your Moroccan style kazbah of a bedroom, but a friend might tell you that it gives them the creeps. You have lived with the cat litter tray tucked away in the corner of the kitchen, but a friend might suggest that your house could smell fresher. You love the romantic look of the ivy growing up the front of your house, but a friend might inform you that it is pulling out the mortar in the brickwork.
