So you’ve decided to sell up and buy a new house due to an expanding family or improved financial status or any other reason. In order to do so, you need to sell your own home – but what is the best way to prepare your house for a quick and profitable sale?

There are several things you can do that will entice a potential buyer to put in an offer for your home, some practical and some not so much. Here’s a quick run down of some steps most estate agents would advise you to take to make your house more appealing.

Carry Out Minor Repairs

You’ve probably known about that cracked kitchen floor tile or that damp bit of wall in the bedroom for quite a while but have never quite got round to doing anything about it. Well, now is the time to do it!

Carry out repairs to floor and wall tiles, patch any holes in walls, replace old burned out light bulbs, fix any leaking taps and make adjustments to doors and drawers that don’t close properly.

You should even consider painting your alls a neutral colour, as that bright pink you love so much is YOUR taste and you want your house to be a blank canvas to any potential buyers. Painting your walls an off white or magnolia will allow buyers to imagine their own colour schemes in your rooms, which is exactly what you want.

Wash, Clean, Rinse and Polish

Your house should look as much like a new house, like a show house, as possible when buyers come to view it. That unfortunately means that everything has to sparkle.

You need to get out the cleaning products and wash your windows, vacuum the carpets, scrub the bath, shower and sinks, polish your chrome, wipe down all your kitchen surfaces, clean the oven, wipe down your gloss work, clean out the fridge, dust your tables and wood, including getting rid of cobwebs in high corners, and replace any old, worn out towels and bedding.

Tidy your garden up too, jetwash your driveway and paths, clean out your gutters – the outside matters just as much, if not more, than the inside. It’s the first thing people see, after all!

If a potential buyer sees how much care you take of your home, the more confident they will be in purchasing from you.

Let It Go

Lastly, you need to remember that your home is no longer your home. It is a house, it is a product to be sold to the highest bidder. As much love as you’ve put into it over the years, look forward to doing the same for your new home and recognise that you need to let go of this one.

By disassociating yourself from your current property you’ll find it that much easier to sell and if it feels ‘cold’ to you to do so, then walk around your house, say goodbye to each and every room and imagine your future home, how much fun and enjoyment you’ll get from making it ‘yours’.

Most estate agents will tell you that a reluctant seller usually remains a seller for longer than those who have already moved on in their own minds!

This article was written on behalf of Shepherd Gilmour, estate agents in Manchester.

Are you currently in the process of selling property? The process can be very difficult and you may end up asking yourself “How can I sell my house quickly?” When trying to sell property you need to be a smart home seller. A smart home seller knows that the first impression will be a lasting impression. In order to market your house successfully you will need to perform some small repairs it doesn’t mean that you need to go crazy with improvements and renovations. Instead you should perform small tasks like small repairs such as adding a fresh coat of paint to your house or giving your house a good cleaning.

When you present a house to a buyer, the first glimpse of the home that the buyer gets can trigger all types of emotions affecting whether or not they end up buying the home. This is often referred to as the curb appeal of a house. You should think of this as similar to meeting a person for the first time. The first thirty second is usually what counts the most. Since this first impression is so important it is a good idea to make sure that the outside of your house is up to proper selling condition. Doing so will swing the momentum into your favor.

When selling property there are a number of things you can do to make your property into selling condition. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to spend a great deal of money into getting your home into shape. There are a number of things that you can do to improve your home’s look without having to spend a lot of money. For starters, you should take down any Christmas lights that might be left hanging. It is also a good idea to clean the front lawn and trim the grass. These are just a few things that you can do to help give you house a cheap face lift.

You will also want to consider planting flowers in front of your home. This is a cheap way to successfully add a touch of color to your house while giving it a good clean appearance. This is one of the many inexpensive ways of improving your chances when trying to sell property. When trying to sell your home you will want to decide on a minimum price. You should set your minimum price that you will not move. Make sure that you do not tell your agent what your minimum price is however it is a good idea to only work with buyers who will pay more than your minimum price.

How can I sell my house quickly and with ease? There will be home owners that do not want to go through the hassles of selling a property. These people can easily and quickly sell their house to a professional property buying company like Easy Home Sales. These companies are good for people who need to sell their properties as quickly as possible because of financial pressure. The company will offer a tailor made solution that will be able to meet your needs and will even offer you the option of renting back your property after the sale.

Once in a while, there comes a time when you need to seek another property, probably because of a growing family, career move or simply the demands of living that dictate you must transfer to another place. So of course you want to sell your house to have a good start somewhere else by possessing a purse to dig in as needed. The bigger the nest egg is, the more comfortable you would feel when in a foreign environment, so to speak.

‘Sell my house now’ is something many real estate owners are saying. The first and foremost advantage is you’d most probably save in selling the real estate yourself. You will not pay any agent or broker commission, which, at times can be hefty indeed. Even a modest five percent commission on a hundred thousand rand sale can buy a lot of peace of mind when you are still trying to settle in your place, and you need all the support, most importantly the financial kind. Thus selling the home yourself would give you the best income from the sale, at least most of the times.

Then, you will gain practical experience in selling property, which may come in handy a few times, like the next time you move. There are many steps to take when selling real estate, and most of these you will have to learn. The additional knowledge won’t hurt, and it could even provide you with enough stimuli to make selling real estate a second income-producing endeavor for you, because real estate brokering can be lucrative, too.

Aside from the two primary advantages, you will also know more people outside of your immediate or usual circles. There are bank managers or at least account officers, prospective buyers from in and out of town, government officials or employees who will handle the formalities of the transfer of ownership, legal counsels who will create the documents of transfer, printers who will do your handbills and posters, newspaper editors for your print advertisements, and not the least, boys (and girls) who will distribute your handbills and tack your posters.  All of them will be good to know, and could be of additional help later.

We stated above that there are many steps to take when selling property and many of them are tedious, especially for the inexperienced.  For example, for simply making announcements that you are selling your property, you will need to create handbills or send an advertisement in your local newspaper at least. So you will have to draft a banner ad – create the layout, write the copy, and decide on what to include— if you eschew the line ads, which do not sell as fast as a display ad.

You will likewise have to deal with a lot of people, which takes time, effort and resources, not to say stress.  If you want to sell quickly, selling property on your own may not be the method, despite the obvious advantages. It might be better to consult with a professional company who sell property, who might even buy your property right away. They will know: they are the experts.