Step-by-Step Guide to Buying

How clean and tidy your property is matters – it seems ridiculous that people would be put off by a bit of mess and clutter when viewing a place to buy but it can be hard to imagine what a place would look like without the mess so make sure your property is as tidy and clutter free as possible for any viewings.  Clutter and lots of furniture make rooms look smaller.

Choosing the right estate agents – get a few estate agents to give you valuations, even if you don’t end up listing with all of them, to ensure you have a good understanding of how much you should expect your property to go for. Try to choose estate agents whose properties are listed on as many property search websites as possible too as it will increase the amount of people who see your property is for sale.

Don’t with an estate agent just because they suggest the highest price as they may be using this to get you on their books when the property isn’t really worth that amount.  It’s fine to go with those estate agents but make sure you have others in the mix too.

If the property is getting lots of viewings but no offers get feedback from the estate agents on why the prospective buyers aren’t making offers, and don’t take the feed back personally! It’s hard to do but once you decide to sell stop thinking of your property as your home and start thinking like a buyer, what would put you off?

Give yourself time – put the property on the market a while before you actually want to have sold so that you don’t have to panic accept an offer at any point. If an offer you’re willing to accept is then made sooner than expected you can always choose the completion date to be delayed so that the sale is timed how you need it to be.  If that isn’t possible a short term let may provide the interim solution you require.

Finish the odd jobs – all the odd jobs which would tidy up the place a bit, such as repairing a bit of skirting board or going over some chipped paint, should be done before putting your property on the market to get the best price possible.  Make sure there are as few “little jobs” as possible for potential buyers to think need doing. Your “little job” might seem like a huge project to a potential buyer!