How to sell a house - the expert guide

So many times I have heard the saying; "Bake some bread to sell your house, buyers love it!" writes Lea Beven of Limecastle.

Personally, after trying it, I don't think so. But I do think that having a vanilla smell in your property helps.

So here is my experience on selling a property and some tips and tricks I have picked up over 15 years.

I have broken it down into sections to kept it short and sweet – but with all the information you need.

Part one: How people search for property

Around 70–80% of buyers find their property online using property portals. The remainder use a combination of estate agents and local media or the For Sale boards outside property.

So, when using the portals, people usually put in a price band, a postcode or a town and then a rough idea of the size that they are looking for.

So, firstly, it is important to get your price right – you really want to look at pricing to sell rather than looking to price and hold.

These are my own terms, but pricing to sell basically means offering an attractive price to get people interested in coming to view your house – price and hold means you'll be sitting on the property longer hoping for an offer.

Most agents (the people who will add your property to the portals) will give you a price that they want you to hear, and hope that with that price they will win your business.

Many times I have seen property sat on the market for 18 months because the agent has given the buyer a price and they got so excited they spent the profits before the property sold – and then they could not move it on at that price.

My tip: Ask your estate agent for two prices. The first one is the one that he would tell anyone and a second price – the real price he thinks he could get for the property if he was to ring up 3 buyers and could sell it tomorrow (what I call the actual market price)

Part two: How to market your property

Part two: How to market your property

Keeping the property clean and tidy is not the only thing you need to do to sell it. There is more of a psychological view towards buying a home for most people.

Firstly, it is normally the female that chooses the home – it is generally, although it sounds old-fashioned, the husband who wants to make the wife happy.

So your property really needs to impress her. Ask a female friend to walk around your property and give a blunt and brutal opinion – it can be painful, but it will help.

Poor preparation and a lack of effort can mean you can end up giving away thousands of pounds

Imagine having the money sat in front of you in £10 notes and then just picking it up and giving it to someone else.

Crazy, huh?

So don't ignore these tips and rush into a sale due to desperation or greed, as you could lose out big-time.

We all know how equity works and the home is usually the largest asset that most people own.

Tied up in this is your money and the size of the surplus/equity cash is dependant on how much you can sell your property for.

My tip: Dress your property to sell – literally. If you are doing this as a profession get yourself down the car boot sales and auctions and pick up some bits and pieces that make your property show off its full potential.

For example, if you have a Victorian house still with some original features – buy some little bits and pieces that compliment the house (curtains and ornaments are really cheap at a car boot sale.

Part three: An objective look at the property

Part three: An objective look at the property

So how do people look at a property? Well they are not really looking at your belongings, are they?

Wrong – if your property is full of distractions, then that is all they can look at.

If they cannot physically get into a room, then they will see the property as small and they will worry whether they will be able to fit their own things into it.

You may have bought the property to sell with an idea in your mind of what you would like to do to it if you were to live in it – but remember, you are not the person that will live there.

You may have lived in the property for years and have your stamp on it. It is probably comfortable for you and is designed to your taste so how could anyone not like it?

You could be wrong. Are you confident that you are going down the right route?

My tip: Take a totally objective look at the property and look at it from an outsider point of view.

Pick up a pen and paper and make a report on how you think people will see each room. You probably already know that there are things you could put away to de-clutter or simple things that you can fix.

Part four: Fixing and tidying up

Part four: Fixing and tidying up

If you have the smell of paint in your property, this can be a problem.

A buyer might wonder what you are covering up – people often paint over damp patches or mould to make it look better, but then a few days later the problem comes through again.

This kind of work should be done prior to viewings leaving plenty of time to get rid of the smell – if you don't have time then don't try to mask the smell with cheap air fresheners as, generally, people hate them.

Plug in some good quality vanilla scents around each doorway, so that as people walk into a room it smells nice and fresh.

For rooms close to the garden, the smell of freshly mown grass is very attractive in the summer – you can actually buy this smell in an air freshener (totally crazy!)

Most importantly, don't forget your boxes.

Yes, get some, and put everything personal and cluttering away, hiding them well out of the way (put them in the loft, garage or even in storage if you can afford it)

My tip: The more things you have around for people to look at or judge you on, the more you are distracting them from buying.

If a room is particularly full, maybe take out a few pieces of furniture to provide a clear path and an airy feel.

Part five: Refurbish or not?

Part five: Refurbish or not?

Now this is one of my biggest problems with investors. Why would you spent 20k on a refurbishment and then have your property empty for 6 months?

Take a look at these figures -they are not exact and I have not fully broken them down, but they give an idea of a property that I refurbished not long ago.

So you can see, without being a rocket scientist, that the property refurbished using the first method takes a lot longer for only a little more reward.

For inexperienced investors, this process can go on much longer – in some cases up to a year.

It involves a lot of organising, stress, let-down and possibly taken a lot more out of you than you thought it would.

The funny thing is though, as soon as someone buys it, they are going to rip out most of what you did – and change it to their own taste.

Option 2 is my 'work smarter, not harder' method. This particular property that I worked on was full of junk and very dirty.

I went in with a skip, and a gang of new investors who wanted to have a play on a property with no risk to them.

We spent 2 days 'magnoliarising' (you tend to make up words in this business…) and emptied the property thoroughly.

We swept it, cleaned the sinks and bathroom, put a bath panel on and even emptied the loft – during the process one new investor put his foot through the ceiling.

We removed all the rubbish from the garden and one of those helping had the old car left on the drive for free.

In return for this I bought everyone pizza, we had some fun and they learned what not to do to a property!

My tip: Work smarter not harder. If you can turn a property around in 3 days, instead of 6 months, why wouldn't you if you were making a similar amount of money.

Even if the figures looked better on the refurbishment side – have you allowed for problems with building and repairs and market adjustments?

Part six: Potential problems

Part six: Potential problems

There are a few important things to be aware of, although most of these are for the investor that is living in the property – but still helpful if it applies to you.

If you have pets in the property, you may encounter buyers that are not animal lovers.

There is no good getting emotional about it – you should think about the money.

You want to sell, so if it means giving the dog to a neighbour for a few hours while people come to view, then do it.

You may think your dog is friendly, but the lovely lady with her tights on who is scared of dogs may be viewing today – if your dog jumps up and ladders her tights to say hi, then it could damage your relationship.

If you have children, then it might be worth thinking about asking a friend to babysit – children can do all sorts of little things to try not to move and may make your buyer feel guilty or sad about buying your house.

Lastly – smokers. It is incredibly hard to sell a smokers house to a non-smoker and as more and more people find this socially unacceptable.

If you are a smoker, try not to smoke inside. If you do smoke outside, do not leave your unsightly cigarette ends all over the garden, it is really off-putting to a buyer.

My tip: Prior planning with a neighbour to look after pets or children is a great idea.

If you get really stuck, then maybe encourage your kids to play in the garden and put the pets outside if it is a nice day.

Part seven: Success

Part seven: Success

What is more important to you? Time or money?

Well come on, we all know time is money.

If you want success in selling the property then you must get the price right.

Taking offers from people that are not already on the market is not clever – they may hold you up.

If you can stop the chain by moving to a rental property yourself, then you may be able to save yourself a lot of hassle.

With your pricing, if you decide to 'test' the market at too high a price and then reduce it quickly, people that have their eye on your property will quickly notice that you seem desperate.

So when is the best time to sell? Is there one?

Most selling agents will tell you to put your property on the market in the spring.

This is when historically the market starts to warm up and usually the sales start around Easter time.

Another great time could be in the summer, as anyone wanting to move school will have to be in by September.

However, people could be away on their holidays which could hold things up.

The worst time to sell? This is said to be around Christmas, as this is the least likely time that people will actually want to move.

My final tip: The nicer you are to your estate agent, the more favourably they will work with you.

As an agent myself, I appreciate flexibility and understanding in my clients and would pick their details up first if they are easy to work with.