Cleaning your house is possibly the biggest chore you’ll face when selling and because of this most vendors don’t bother to do it very well.

Their laziness is you chance to profit!

If your home stands head & shoulders above your competition you’ll be the first to sell.

Cleaning costs nothing but if your carpets or curtains could do with a professional “deep clean”, don’t hesitate to spend a couple of £100 – it will be money well spent.

De-cluttering makes your property look bigger. It also enhances the feeling of tidiness and order – exactly what buyers want!

You’ll also find de-cluttering to be a cathartic experience and an excellent way to mentally prepare yourself for moving.

De-cluttering will help you to:

• See you home as a commodity for sale (necessary if you’re to make sound, businesslike decisions).
• Manage the emotional bond with your home that in extreme cases can cloud ones judgment and sour a sale.
• Focus on the new life you will create when you move.

Unless experienced first hand this emotional side of selling is easy to underestimated so don’t be taken aback if at first you find de-cluttering hard going.

Keep at it because at the end of the day you’ll be rewarded with a higher sale price.

Throw away (or donate) as much as possible and then throw away some more.

After this, look again at your cupboards and other storage areas. Your goal should be to have all cupboards and storage areas should no more than 75% full.

Buyers always like to have a snoop around inside cupboards and if there isn’t enough storage for you, they’ll assume there isn’t enough for them.

Because buyers mentally reduce the price of your house every time they see a problem that needs fixing, bodged (or unfinished) DIY projects need to be made good (preferably by a professional) before you go to market.

Once you have the inside of your property looking great don’t jeopardize your chances of a quick sale by neglecting the presentation of the exterior.

Look at your property from the road? How does it compare to other houses in your street?

As you walk from the pavement to your front door, does every element of your property look cared for & well maintained?

Buyers do not want to buy your home, they want to buy your house and then make it their home!

Buyers will fall in love with your house when they can imagine themselves living there (when they can imagine your house as their own).

It can’t be done with evidence of you or your family everywhere.

It will feel strange purging your home of personal effects but it really will help you to sell for more. The more you sell for, the more you can buy so just keep focused on your new life while you box-up your memories.

Here’s what you should pack away into storage to make your house look lived-in without looking like anyone actually lives there:

• All family photos
• Holiday souvenirs
• Trophies & certificates
• Collectible items
• Children’s artwork

This continues the idea of “depersonalising” your home and is a large part of pulling-off a quick house sale!

Colour is a personal thing - one person’s harmonious colour scheme is another’s crime against humanity so don’t let differences in personal taste affect your sale – remove colour from the equation altogether.

Painting your walls a neutral colour (“Timeless” from Dulux is a classic choice) is cheap to do and is the quickest and cheapest way to increase the value of your property.

You’ll find that your rooms will immediately appear bigger & brighter (major selling points) and you’ll have created the blank canvas necessary for buyers to project positive visions of what their life could be like in the house.

While living in a house the use of certain rooms can become blurred over time, for example:

• Lounges often become part office.
• Spare bedrooms tend to become storage rooms.
• Dinning rooms quickly become the kids play area.

If this has happened in your house consider converting these rooms back to their original use.

This makes sound financial sense and will help raise your achievable sale price because certain rooms hold a greater perceived value than others, for example:

• Buyers perceive bedrooms to be worth more than offices.
• Buyers perceive dinning rooms to be worth more than playrooms.

As you are considering the use of each room you’ll also find that now is a good opportunity to make your property look bigger.

If you remove all the furniture (and other items) that isn’t crucial to the role of the room you’ll free up valuable floor space.

If there is a new development close by that has show house you may find it to go and have a snoop around one weekend.

You’ll see for yourself just how little furniture is actually needed to define the use of a room and sell a house fast.

Aim for this because at the end of the day, space sells!

• Cooking
• Smoking
• Pets
• Damp
• Blocked drains

All of these things produce odours that turn buyers off! Smell is a funny thing and something that we tend to build a resistance to.

It may be embarrassing but it’s always a good idea to ask a trusted friend to come by and have a sniff. An estate agent will rarely point anything as personal as this out to you.

Finally, don’t forget to air your house often while it’s on the market.