You must stop thinking of your house as your home, but as a product to be marketed and sold

• Pack up all of your personal photographs. This will make it easier for prospective buyers to imagine themselves living in the house
• Say goodbye to every room

Preparing your property for the market doesn’t just involve sprucing up the interior. If a buyer doesn’t like the outside of your house, it is unlikely that you’ll be able to convince them to love the inside

• Make sure your doorbell works
• Mow and tidy your front lawn
• Paint your front door and window frames if they need it
• About half an hour before a viewing, walk up and down your street, clearing up any litter

Prospective buyers want to see your house in its best light.

• If you haven’t used in over a year, get rid of it
• Remove all books from bookcases
• Pack up knickknacks
• Clear kitchen counters

Preparing your property for the market should involve reducing the list of the new inhabitants’ ‘must do’ list. This means that you should do all the repairs and decorating necessary so that they don’t have to. Not doing so could affect the offers you receive, as people will subtract the money they expect to have to spend on the house.

• Fix doors and cupboards that don’t close properly
• Replace burnt out light bulbs
• Update the paint work
• Fix leaking taps
• Replace cracked floor or wall tiles

• Wash your windows inside and out
• Clean and tidy your kitchen
• Vacuum and mop floors
• Dust furniture, TVs and lights
• Clean bathrooms and toilets

Buyers want to buy into a lifestyle as well as a house.

• Dress your home to leave clues of their desired lifestyle, e.g. magazines on the coffee table, flowers, a set dining room table
• Know your audience and have extra information to give them. Tell families about good local schools, and young professionals about bars and clubs nearby
• Don’t bake bread or brew coffee – just open windows and let in fresh air (but make sure the house is never cold when a prospective buyer looks round)
• Dress to impress – wear colours that match the décor

• Buyers want space. Remove any unnecessary furniture
• Leave just enough furniture to show what each room is used for
• Each room must have a defined purpose, even if it doesn’t at the moment
• Remove extra chairs from your dining room table to make it look larger
• Remove empty bookcases
• Remove standing wardrobes

• Paint all rooms a neutral colour, such as cream
• This will allow prospective buyers to imagine their furniture in your house
• Bright or loud colours distract people and can instantly put them off
• Light neutral colours will evoke a feeling of light and air

• Clear your garden of any clutter
• Remove all dead flowers and weeds
• Clean your patio or decking
• Attend to your pond if you have one
• Clear and clean your garage

• Try and see what prospective buyers will see when preparing your house for the market
• Get a friend to come around and tell you if there is anything you have missed
• Stand outside your house. Does it look welcoming?
• Examine how furniture is arranged. Is it in the best place?
• If it looks like nobody lives in your house you will have a much better chance of selling it