Many buyers will not have interest to look inside a home if they do not like what they see from the outside. In selling a home, it is important to consider the home’s curb appeal as it boost the value of your home and increase the interest of potential buyers. First impression is important in selling a home, so make sure your home’s curb appeal stands out from the rest before putting it in the real estate market. There are some easy steps to consider maximizing your home’s curb appeal.

First, take a few pictures of your home. This is an easy way to have an overall look at your home’s curb appeal. It may also help to take some pictures of other homes in the neighborhood that you find appealing as this will give you some ideas of improving your own home. Make sure that the outside appearance is clean. A messy yard will make your home less appealing even if it is clean as a whistle from the inside. Before you work on any other projects, see to it that the front yard, driveways and porch areas are clean. Keep your yard free of clutter by remove things that may detract the view of your home such as dead plants, scattered toys, bikes, broken cars, trash and other unnecessary things that can lessen the appeal.

If your home seems a bit down at the heel, give it a fresh look by painting the house. The extent of painting you can do depends on your budget. Choose colors that will coordinate with the entire paint scheme to add curb appeal. If you do not have the budget for full repainting the house, have your home power washed. There are smaller projects that you can do that will improve your home’s curb appeal. Fix up the minor flaws in the trim and repaint the gutters if necessary. Restore rusting metal fencing and gates to almost new condition by using a spray paint with corrosion barrier and prevent future rusting. Color coordinate

Upgrade dull entry by placing stylish and appropriate decorations in the front door and mail box. You may also want to consider upgrade the entry lighting, doorbells and doorknockers and adding solar lights in your porch and along your walkway. Bring new dimension to the entryway by placing flagstone and beautiful flowers or low shrubs. A flat yard can be concealed by adding trellis or garden arbor and put some plants that can crawl up the trellis as they grow. To hide A/C units and meters, use low-height trellises.

The porch can add color and charm to your house if you affix window boxes or containers to its railings. It will look more beautiful if you put plants and flowers like petunias, pansies, geraniums, ivy, alyssum and miniature roses. They all look perfect in the boxes or containers in the porch railing. All these may not be the determining factor but it sure increases the value and appeal of your home before place it in real estate market. It definitely raises the chances of your home making a good first impression.

Desert Hills Three-Bedroom Houses offer ease and convenience. Browse all Housing Rentals in Sun City.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Alvin_Clavines

Staging a home’s exterior is probably the most important thing you can do to sell your home during a buyer’s market. That’s because during a buyers market there are too many houses available and just getting someone in to look at your house can be quite a challenge. This is where attention to exterior and curb appeal will help maximize your chances of selling your home. Exterior home staging is important not only for attracting potential home buyers and investors but also for hyping them up before they even step foot inside the house.

Interior home staging is important for decluttering a home and allowing the potential home buyer to imagine their own belongings in it. Exterior home staging is completely different, however. Your goal is to represent a near final product. Most home buyers are hoping that the houses lawn, landscaping, and curb appeal are near complete if not a finished product already. Having a plain lawn can mean a lot of extra work and hassle for the new home buyer. Here’s a few sizzle items and tips to help get you started on maximizing your curb appeal to sell your house:

Tip 1: Declutter your lawn. Make sure to rake up any leaves, prune the bushes, pull existing weeds, and remove branches, trash, and any other items that can make your lawn look bad. It’s a good idea to mow the lawn too. Nothing is a bigger turnoff than an unkept lawn. This makes the home buyer wonder what else was not maintained very well in the house.

Tip 2: Removing or replacing any exterior rot is crucial to staging a home’s exterior. Exterior trim and windows are most susceptible to rot and are a huge turnoff for potential home buyers. Some trim and windows can simply be repainted and revitalized and may not need to be replaced yet.

Tip 3: Use hardscaping to create more than just a lawn full of grass in your front yard. Mulch around your trees to create garden beds and create a boundary around them with rocks or other natural looking stone. Create flower beds near the driveway entrance and in front of the homes entrance to offer a welcoming touch.

Tip 4: Add some color to your home if it doesn’t already have it. This can be done by purchasing vinyl shutters if the house doesn’t already have them. Another idea is to add a window box to a window and create a dramatic focal point on the house. These are great for blending the landscaping with the home or for splashing some color or character on the house that will keep it generalized and not too personal. Consider painting your door or other architectural accents a contrasting color that will compliment the home and energize it.

Tip 5: Add a nitrogen fertilizer to your lawn that can turn it greener in 2-3 days and give it a healthier look. This one-time, short term solution will help a neglected lawn get a kickstart on life again and rapidly improve the looks and curb appeal of your lawn.

Home staging is basically the act of decking up your house before it goes up for sale. This is mostly done inorder to speed up the sale by making the house appealing to most home buyers. Staging is all about cleaning and decorating the house to make it appealing to the prospective buyer.

There are professional home stagers who charge you a fee to stage your home for a sale. They are more or less similar to interior designers and have a good knowledge about home decorations and the way it should look to give a good first impression. Home staging is done not only by individual home sellers but also by property builders who have a model apartment or condominium as a show case for the amenities provided and the way a completely constructed home shall look. This model house is staged with decorations, equipments and even appliances to exactly depict what comes where in a fully constructed house. The advantage of a home stager is that he or she shall work within a budget as decided by you top give you the best available.

If done by professional home stager, they shall charge you a fee and they can be very ruthless at times, while charging you. If you need to do it yourself, then there are ways that you can educate yourself and complete a good job. There are countless numbers of magazines and sites which offer you interior designer tips and they come in real handy. The first step that you need to do is clean the house of all clutter, and make it squeaky clean. The edges and corners have to really taken care as a lot of dust and dirt would have accumulated over the time. This is very important in case of kitchen and garage as grime would also have settled quite strongly, and you might sometimes need a professional housekeeping agency to take care of this.

After the cleaning is over, it is time to select what you want in terms of interior decorative articles. This is purely a personal choice as opinions and likes differ from one individual to another. While some prefer hanging objects like chandeliers, chimes or even bells, some others may prefer wall objects like portraits, pictures or mementoes that may be nailed or screwed into a wall.

The furniture is another aspect that needs attention. Polish or varnish may be applied in different colors to make it look impressive. Also, the rooms should look full, but with enough space to move around, as too much furniture or equipments can make the room look cramped. Give vibrant colors to the walls and brighter colors make the room look larger than normal. Dark shades shall reduce light and create a depressed feeling. Mirrors, flowers, table lamps, pillows on the sofa and even decorative baskets can add charm to the home.

Home appliances and equipments are the right places can add utility value to the house and give the practical home buyer a good impression.

Moving yourself or hire a company

The first item to decide is whether you will move by yourself or hire a moving company. There are various issues concern decision such as:

Your age and physical ability
Distance of move (long or short distance)
Availability of friends/relatives to help

Start out obtaining a free moving quote from several moving companies. If the price is not restrictive, this may be the most convenient way to move. Doing it alone, you may end up breaking valuable or may take you a lot longer than you think.

Consequently, you can always ask for help from friends and relatives to decrease the cost of the move.

Packing

Collect boxes in advance. Boxes stack very well and can be found at local department stores, supermarkets etc. Avoid stuffing clothes in plastic bags as they don’t stack well and if your belongings are to be stored for any length of time, they may collect mold and mildew.

Start filling boxes with things you won’t need right away like winter clothes. Think about what you are going to need first when packing. Always pack first in, last out.

Label all boxes. Write what room the box belongs in and any special contents.

Decide where boxes furniture and boxes will be placed before you move items in. This saves time and less of your posessions will get broken during the move.

Cleaning

Leave plenty of time to clean your old place. Leaving a vacated home clean and ready to rent will provide you several long term benefits:

If you leave a place ready to rent and the landlord does not have to clean, you are assured of getting the maximum return on your security deposit.
Leaving a place ready to rent also provides for good landlord/tenant relationships. Landlords with tenants who leave a place ready to rent are much more inclined to offer a testimonial to your new landlord. Not to mention if you ever decide to purchase a home, many lenders will contact your previous landlords to find out what kind of tenant you were: did the pay on time, was the unit kept clean and free of debris etc.

Expect to do some cleaning in the new unit to the point you are comfortable. Even if a landlord hires a cleaning company when a tenant vacates, it doesn’t necessarily mean it will be ‘clean enough’ for you.

Painting

Expect to do some minor repairs & painting in your new place. Ask the landlord if it is ok to paint rooms in your new house or apartment. Many times there is no time between tenants that it becomes difficult to paint a unit.

Most landlords will paint a unit between tenants white due to budget and viewability. If you want to change the color to something more personally appealing, try negotiating with the landlord by agreeing to paint if the landlord buys the paint.

Often landlords will permit this if they can approve the colors before hand and the selected colors are neutral. If you think a landlord is going to allow you to paint walls bright or dark colors, expect to have trouble with your landlord.

Bright/dark colors are very difficult to cover and take several coats of paint. However, if must have bright/dark colors negotiate with your new landlord by offering an increased security deposit and agreeing in writing to paint the unit back to its original color. This may sway the landlord to permit extreme colors, but I wouldn’t count on it.

Moving in

Prior to moving in and usually at lease signing, it is advised you do a thorough walkthrough of the property.

All problems or issues should be in writing and presented to the landlord. Keep a copy for yourself until you move out.

Consult with your landlord whether there is storage for your extra belongings. If not, you may need to rent a temporary storage unit nearby.

Fill out a change of address at your post office to ensure all mail is forwarded to your new address. Many renters fail to follow through with this simple step and often times miss important bills or other correspondence.

Check with your landlord regarding placing your name(s) on the mailbox so the mailman knows who lives in your unit.

Costs of Moving
If moving to a new area, you may need to open a new bank account.

Always pay your rent on time or early. Get in the habit of paying it on time the 1st few months and then it will be easy. This one tip has the potential to help your future more then any other. Landlords often report late rent payments to credit companies which will damage your credity history.

Even if you are not thinking about a home now, through out your life your credit rating effects everything you do: from buying new furniture or appliances, cars and eventually your own home. Build your credit now while it is easy.

When leaving for a vacation or holiday make sure you arrange payment of rent while you are gone to avoid late fees and fines. If you won’t be around, let your landlord know. Many landlords will have someone check your unit while you are away for security purposes. Likewise, if you have some watching your home, let the landlord know!

If you rent on a short term basis from colder climates during winter months, lower the heat to avoid wasting money. Avoid turning off the heat altogether or your pipes may freeze.

Ask the landlord for information on the average utility costs. Expect to pay a little more until you have lived there for a few months and have adjusted to your new surrounding.

Responsibility

When you report a problem to the landlord, do so in a timely manner. Failure to report a small problem can often escalate into a major disaster if left unrepaired. This may place you as the responsible party for failure to report a repair and can get very expensive!

When reporting repairs, depending on the severity of the repair; landlords may not be able to respond the same day. However, emergency repairs such as water leaks, A/C (in warm climates) and heat (cold climates) will most likely be addressed rapidly.

Obtain a list in advance of items you will be responsible for repairing. Items such as light bulbs, broken windows, holes in walls are typically tenant costs. With your landlords permission and if you are capable, try to do some of the repairs yourself to save money.

Obtain local information from your landlord regarding: utilities, phones, internet connection, cable/satellite TV etc. in advance so you can have all your utilities established when you move in.

Other household tips

Place a basket or table near your entrance for mail, keys etc. to avoid losing or misplacing items. Specially if you have roommates.

Never mislead your landlord on how many people are living in the home. City inspectors typically inspect rental properties and will evict residents if there are too many people for the property. Likewise, trying to deceive a landlord will not help your long term goals for referrals.

Put out the garbage and recycling on the correct days. Don’t stockpile them or you will get rodents, insects and other nastiness. The landlord should have a schedule for when trash is picked up or you can call the local waste management company.

If your garbage or recycling is not picked up, bring it back to the house. Cities and towns often ticket for garbage out on a non-collection day.

Renters insurance

An often overlooked and misunderstood item by renters is renters insurance. The perception is that: it’s too expensive and the landlords insurance will cover your personal property.

This could not be further from the truth.

Renters insurance is actually one of the least expensive ways to protect your belongings and personal property. Rates can be as low as $100.00 per year (depending on the amount of coverage).

Landlords insurance only protects the structure and the landlord. Example: If you have a water leak and water damages the unit as well as your personal property, the insurance will only cover the unit for the landlord. Your property will have to be replaced/repaired as an expense to you!

Play it safe and obtain affordable renters insurance for your personal property. It will provide you peace of mind knowing you are protected from unforeseen issues that may arise.

© Copyright 2009 Best Panama City Rentals, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

As a property manager working in Panama City Florida, my mission is to provide the public with quality Panama City Rental services!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Barbrann_Conley

Selling your home in a stale market that has been hit hard by the recession, can be a daunting task. Trying to sell your home at this time, may even be another hardship in this difficult time. Whether your selling your home for financial reasons or because you need to change your living style, selling your home at this time can be hard. But selling your home doesn’t have to be.

With many homes going up on the market, and with very few buyers interested, a home needs to be something special to appeal to home buyers and to stand out from every other home out there. Were going to take a look at several inexpensive and down right cheap ways to easily and quickly sell your home quickly and profitably.

Curb Appeal
The very first impression of a home. You want to make sure that when a potential buyers first see the home, they don’t get a negative reaction, otherwise they will carry that impression into the house, and from there on, every thing else is influenced by this subconscious emotion that takes a lot of positive influence to break. There are several ways to improve your Curb Appeal.

Clean up the yard.
The cheap
Remove old cars, toys, and anything else in your front and even backyard that might be the slightest eye sore. Cut the grass. these sounds simple, but many homes go unsold because of the presentation of the outside of the home.

The Inexpensive
plant a few flowers from a nursery, not just randomly, but around areas that you would like the buyers to focus upon. and draws attention AWAY from areas that are less desirable. Repaint the trim of the house, fresh paint gives a radiant expression to a house.

The Moderate
Install Stained art glass. Artistic stained glass is actually pretty cheap. A simple art glass door insert that you can install yourself can cost as little as $200 – a small amount when it makes your home stand out from the rest of the homes and increases interest.
This sounds like a lot of money, however a entry glass system with a transom, sidelights and a door light can cost less then $1500, but this improvement CAN increase the value of a home by $15,000.

Interior Design
There are many things a home owner can do to increase the visual appeal of the interior of a home.
Increase visual space.
The Cheap
make some space, remove the bulky furniture, get rid of the nik nacs and mementos. Having an open home make a house look like it has more room and floor space.

The Inexpensive
Installing cabinet glass inserts is an excellent choice, these can really spice up a kitchen, their selection is a little small, but nobody can beat their pricing. Some sites are a little more expensive but definitely cheaper then the rest of the stained glass companies out there, most of the time by half the price.

The Moderate
Paint the walls. Again paint give everything fresh look, however, you will want to use a white, or natural tone, not everyone likes the same vibrant colors, and at this point you do not want to drive potential buyers away. Installing new flooring may be something that can draw some attention, and make a room look brand new.

These are just a few of the options home owners have so that they may improve their home to increase the likely hood of a sale but also to sell a home for more money. The best way to sell a home is to draw attention, to make it stand out from the rest, and the easiest way to do that is to install Stained glass.

You Can Purchase Artisitic stained glass entry systems From Transomglass.com or for simplistic inexpensive cabinet glass inserts from Ez-Inserts.com Check out either of these sites for a beautiful selection of stained glass inserts for enrty windows and cabinet door inserts.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Philip_Mainhood

Take a Tour of Your Home – De-clutter to Show Its Spaciousness

Moving is one of the top stressors in our lives; now is the time for expert support from your Broker/Realtor, Stager and Certified Professional Organizer.

Take an objective person with you to assess your home from a buyer’s standpoint.

Figure out what makes the room seem full or cluttered.

Come up with a game plan.

Decide what to Keep, Toss, Give Away or Sell

Start with a room you use often. You’ll notice the differences because you’re in the room frequently. This helps you stay motivated.

Any items you haven’t used in 6-12 months? Can you donate, resell or recycle?

If you haven’t used it in a year, do you really need it? Can you borrow or repurchase?

Who else might appreciate the item? Family? Friend?

Will you need the item while your house is on the market? That’s a keep-but-store decision.

Reorganize to Release the Clutter

1. Holiday gatherings: An opportune time to pass along the tradition (and dishes)!

2. Clear out clutter-attractors — armoires, desks, hutches. Sort and reorganize. These are magnets for clutter. Shelves and drawers can seem cluttered if not organized. Group together similar items in organizers, baskets or bins.

3. Closets: Decide on a purpose for each closet. Weed/reorganize based on purpose.

4. Photos, family items, collections: Save your favorites. Memory boxes can honor memories and limit how much you can save.

5. Pictures/paintings: Clear walls and tabletops make a room feel spacious.

6. Attics: “Someday” is today! Weed out and store while your house is on the market.

Picture your rooms with nothing in them. See how large the rooms seem? Now visually start putting things back in the room. The point here is to allow you to live more simply … and for potential buyers to see how much space is truly there for all their “stuff.”

Sue West, Space4U,ll Organizing Services

http://www.OrganizeNH.com

603 765 9267
Coaching, speaking, one on one assistance and do it yourself options!

Downsizing Dilemmas – Solved ! Take a look … http://organizenh.com/store.htm

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sue_W

Even if you’re buying for the long term, think of resale. If you are thinking of renting the property out, consider the location. Busy roads deter families with young children and those seeking tranquil surroundings. However, this may also be a benefit if it is close to the local shops.

Flats that are many floors up will only appeal to younger people who may not necessarily take the greatest of care with your investment! A waterfront property will always be fashionable, although people with young children may think twice before commiting. Victorian houses are the most versatile with plenty of space for large families or flat conversions (subject to planning permission of course).

Allocate quality time to your search – view as often as you can. Don’t rush in and panic buy. Combine logic and speed. Consider your Market. Do you want to rent a large property for lots of students or a medium sized flat for professionals? Do lots of homework, especially on the surrounding areas and local communities. Think long-term as well as short-term, i.e. resale.

Finally an investment, like fine wine, needs time to mature – so be patient.

Times Online
August 10th 2008

Two weeks ago, a country home in Dorset sold for £210,000 above its guide price within minutes. How? It went to private auction. Seven of the 12 invited buyers gathered in the dining room of the 18th-century farmhouse in Gussage All Saints, near Wimborne. All of them wanted to buy the red-brick and flint property, set in nearly five acres of gardens and paddock, with stables and a swimming pool, on the market for £1.25m.

The polished dining table was pushed up against the fireplace and the auctioneer took up his position with his gavel. The rest of the room filled with rows of chairs gathered from all over the house, on which sat nervous buyers – many willing to push their finances to the limit to get the property. As the minutes ticked away towards noon, the tension mounted, then, bong! The church clock next door struck 12 and the auctioneer rose.

“You could have cut the atmosphere with a knife,” says Jamie Hawksfield, who sold the house following the death of his parents. “It was nerve-racking, but we’re happy with the result. We’d had a lot of interest, so, when the agent suggested a private auction, I thought, ‘What?’ But I said, ‘You’re the expert, we’ll go with it.’ ” Only four of the seven parties invited made a bid – the rest presumably realised early on that they couldn’t compete. All four live locally – any City slickers looking for a country retreat were left by the wayside this time. The underbid was £1.45m, the hammer price was £1.46m.

It’s heady stuff – and, as a way of selling your property, it beats any other method hands down in terms of excitement. In today’s market, moreover, it is one of a handful of ways to more or less guarantee a quick sale – something sellers across the country are increasingly desperate to achieve.

The number of unsold homes is building up, and anxious vendors – many of whom have been trying to sell for the past year in the wake of the collapse of Northern Rock and the credit crunch have seen the value of their homes tumble and offers fall through.

Take Sue and Don Reed-Jones. The couple put their home, Grade II-listed, four-bedroom Tump Cottage, near Avening, Gloucestershire, on the market last September for £575,000. “It was right at the end of the summer, so we knew it probably wasn’t going to sell over the winter,” admits Sue, 55. “Come spring, when we thought things would pick up, we only had trickles of interest. We reduced the price to £550,000, but that didn’t seem to have any effect. So we put it on with other agents and reduced the price again, to £525,000.”

This tactic seemed to work, and they found a buyer. Unfortunately, by the time delays in the chain had been ironed out, the mortgage he had lined up was no longer available. “We said that we couldn’t keep cutting the price, so he had to drop out,” Sue says. “We’ve had to put it on the market again. We’d love to sell it and fulfil our dream going to Malaysia, but all I can see is that winter is coming again.”

They are not alone. Figures from the Land Registry suggest that the number of transactions has fallen by as much as 80% over the past year. Henry Pryor, the director of Housingexpert.net, estimates that the registry recorded 17,681 sales in June, compared to 105,000 in the same month last year. According to research for The Sunday Times by the property website Rightmove, 8.5% of houses – or nearly 65,000 properties – are still on the market with the same agent as they were a year ago.

Even upmarket areas, which until now have withstood the worst of the property downturn, are looking fragile. Savills estimates that the number of transactions in London is down by 45% compared with this time last year. According to Lucian Cook, its director of residential research, the rest of the country has not been so badly hit, with transactions down by an average 20%. “The lower price bands tend to be more affected in the south, with the under£500,000 and £500,000-£1m categories seeing the worst decline,” he says.

So, why the auction – and why not a public one? John Young, director of Humberts’ Dorset office, in Blandford Forum, was the selling agent and auctioneer. He explains that the only real difference between private and public auctions is that the former are by invitation only. They are sometimes held among family members or neighbours when there is land or property that interested parties want enough to bid for. Until recently, they were rare in other cases, but with the downturn in the market they are increasingly being used to sell unique and highly desirable properties, which often means those in the countryside.

“Last year, before the market turned, “sealed bids were common when you had several ‘proceedable’ buyers,” Young says. “But they are not legally binding and, in a flaky market, buyers get cold feet and pull out even after a successful sealed bid. Private auctions are fair and transparent, and you get closure – that’s attractive to both sellers and buyers in this market.”

The simple of art of selling a home has become complex and increasingly fraught as transaction numbers tumble and prices continue to slide. Private auctions may be making a comeback, but they are still unusual and, warns Young, don’t suit everyone or every property. There are, however, other ways for anxious sellers to ensure a quick – and binding – sale.

One of these is selling through a public auction. This can be a good way to get rid of a property that needs modernising. Try www.allsop.co.uk , www.savills.co.ukor www.a-r.co.uk. Fees are usually about 1.5% of the property’s price, and there is a catalogue charge of £300-£700. You will also need to pay a solicitor to complete the sale.

If you want to go it alone, consider listing your property on the online auction site eBay in the hope of catching bored office workers surfing the web in their lunch hours – you might even spark a bidding war. To list a property, you’ll be charged a flat fee of £35, which will keep it posted for 28 days. It’s not mandatory to give a reserve price, but set one just in case.

Or you could always try www.home.co.uk the free private property advertising site.

Another option is to sell your home to a developer in a part exchange. You negotiate an offer – usually about 90%-95% of the value, based on two or three valuations – and the developer buys your house. Meanwhile, you move into the developer’s newly completed property in your preferred location. The advantage is that you can get out quickly and the deal is completed within a month. On the down side, you will get a new-build, which could well fall further in value.

What about buyers? If you are angling for a bargain and planning to wait, then think again. Cook warns that, come next year, the potential bargains could begin to dry up. “The more discretionary sellers will move out of the market, and there will be low supply to match low demand, creating stability,” he says.

“Buyers will head for quality, so, if you’re going to get the transaction through, you need to be sure you’ve minimised the risks. People will buy the best property they can in the price bracket they’re looking at. Even if you have a great house, you might have to be prepared to accept a bit less for it, but it’s more likely to sell.”

Additional reporting by Anna Mikhailova

Be your own house doctor

Having trouble selling? Try these tips to tempt half-hearted buyers into making an offer.

Drop the price If your house has been languishing for a while, it could well be that it’s too expensive. When you lower the price, you should make the reduction significant. “You have to bring the property into a new band of buyers,” says Ed Mead, director of Douglas & Gordon’s office in Chelsea, southwest London. “If you have a property on at £595,000, reducing it to £575,000 is going to do no good at all. You need to bring it down to £550,000, which is in the range of people looking at the £500,000 market.” Be warned, though: go too low and your home could look so blighted that it fails to attract any interest.

Be flexible “Try to accommodate your buyer and offer flexibility in the sale,” says Christopher Bramwell, head of Savills’ office in Chiswick, west London. “If that means delayed completions, or reducing the price because work needs doing between exchange and completion, it’s worth it to hold the deal together.”

Call in an expert House doctors are back and business is booming. Indeed, it is probably the only area of the housing market that is seeing growth. Even estate agents are paying for the service to clinch a deal – and their commission.

“Recently, we helped a couple who were living with a small child in a riverside flat in east London,” says Polly Maxwell, whose company, Milc (www.milcstyle.co.uk ), advises desperate sellers on strategies for selling their home in the shortest time possible. “They had these two huge electric-blue sofas in a really big open-plan reception room with windows looking out over the river. When you walked in, all you saw were the sofas, and you didn’t notice the view. We told them to put them into storage, then furnished the whole flat in a contemporary style. It sold really quickly.” Prices for house doctors vary – Maxwell charges from £175 for a one-day makeover, and suggests that clients spend about 1% of a property’s asking price on smartening it up. Home Stagers (www.homestagers.co.uk ), a nationwide agency, offers tailored consultations that cost £250 for a two-hour visit, written report and proposed time scale for changes. The company says that 60%-70% of the properties it handles sell within three months.

Create a good first impression There are some things you can’t influence, such as the location of your home or its proximity to the gasworks, but there are other things you can. Start with the kerb appeal. “Repaint the front door, fence and gate,” Maxwell says. “Tidy up your front garden – pop out to the garden centre and buy some plants. Make sure the doorbell works – people always forget that one.” Inside, keep it spotless – kitchen and bathroom gleaming, with everything tidy. “I’ve seen places that people were trying to sell with dirty underpants all over the place and washing everywhere,” Maxwell says. “ You’d think it would be blatantly obvious, but no. Don’t leave your washing-up piled in the sink. It’s just the basics.”

Do a little DIY “Buyers don’t like to be faced with problems,” Maxwell says. “A lot of people are quite lazy: they like to walk in and know they don’t have to do much.” So, tighten the door handles, check your wiring and paint those scruffy skirting boards. Maxwell also suggests changing the handles on kitchen cupboards and replacing dull old taps in the bathroom with shiny new ones.

Get the look “Switch all your lights on when showing someone around, no matter what time of day it is, and place table lamps to get rid of dark corners,” advises Maria Ford, creative director of Home Stagers. “It’s important to try to give the impression of a show home.” She recommends tactically placed artificial plants, which won’t need maintenance, and adding mirrors to bring in light, especially in dark hallways.

Meet and greet Be there to meet prospective buyers. “People like to have someone who knows the area, and you’ll be able to point out details and create a nice atmosphere,” Ford says. Sellers will be able to receive unfiltered feedback and gauge the market for themselves.

Thank you very much to Lucy Denyer and Anna Mikhailova of The Times Online for writing the article

Find Professional Removal Companies to move you now

On many occasions potential buyers will drive or walk past the property before deciding to arrange a viewing. Therefore homeowners should ensure that the outside of their home looks in the best possible condition. If the property has a garden then something as simple as cutting the lawn and adding a few plants and flowers can make a difference. To further improve the outside appearance of the home, window frames could be repainted or varnished, broken roof tiles replaced and gutters cleared.

Make sure your home looks at it's best. Finish those DIY jobs and make it look good.

Before the viewing the homeowner should check each room and look for ways to improve them. Some common examples include -

Re-decoration

Repair any damaged paintwork with a new coating and fix or replace peeling wallpaper. When selling property it is beneficial to try to appeal to as wide an audience as possible. With this in mind when decorating homeowners should stick to neutral colours.

Clean and Remove Clutter

An untidy and cluttered room can appear smaller therefore homeowners should make their property seem more spacious by tidying up and storing away clutter such as ornaments and knick-knacks. The two most important rooms in a house tend to be the kitchen and the bathroom and so extra attention should be made to keeping these rooms clean.

DIY and Maintenance

Make the home appear well looked after and in good condition by performing basic household maintenance. For example broken light bulbs should be replaced and leaking taps fixed.

Lighting

An easy way to improve the look of a property is to have the right lighting. For daytime viewings curtains should be opened to let natural sunlight in which again will have the effect of making the room appear to be more spacious.

As can be seen there are many ways for homeowners to increase the chances of selling their home. In an increasingly competitive housing market these are becoming more and more important.

Special Thanks to WOW Property for writing the article

WOW Property is a UK online estate agent. Choose WOW Property and sell your home for a fixed fee of just £999. Visit our website and search for a new home online.

Find Removal Companies who can store your goods while you decorate