An open house can help to sell your property

Our property blogger, Lea Beven, gives you tips on how to prepare for an open house day to make your home as inviting as possible for a potential buyer:

The term 'open house' is used for showing a property and allowing anyone that wants to pop in have a look with no obligation.

This week, Limecastle did our first open house on Cross Road, Albrighton at a gorgeous period property with a garden so long that you cannot see the end.

The house was staged with fresh bread, a bursting fruit bowl, open wine and plenty of cushions and flowers - the response was super!

If you are having a bit of trouble selling your property there are a lot of tips on the House Doctor shows that really do work.

The vendor at this particular property had set himself a deadline of Sunday to get it ready for a big launch onto the market.

Here are some of the main things he did to impress the potential buyers:

• Kerb Appeal

The first thing for him to address was 'kerb appeal.' He dug up all the weeds on the front, and put a very cheap but effective gravel drive down.

You can do this for around £300 if the base is down already.

He then bought a few matching pots and some mini conifers and put them all around the front of the house to frame it.

This made the property appealing to view.

• Decorate

The windowsills and woodwork were looking a bit tired so Neil the handyman, came and decorated around and painted the back of the property.

• Increase potential

The garden was very long and hard to manage – so quite daunting. He dug up the borders nearest the house and put down a membrane and some gravel so that people could see potential.

• Tidy up & clean

The biggest tip is to leave no place untidy!

This means if you have a cellar – sweep it. If there is an eye level oven or grill – clean it. If you have an airing cupboard then don't just throw all your tampax boxes in there to hide them – trust me they will open it.

You must also declutter. Take down all of your personal pictures and collections of weird things – it detracts from the house.

Unfortunately it meant for this house that the laundry house was almost inaccessible because it was fully of boxes of clutter. Good effort though!

Tip of the week

So the tip of the week from me is if your house has been on the books for a while, it could be worth asking your agent to organise an open house for you – but make sure you take on board all of the above first.

• Read Lea's previous property articles