In a slowing housing market, vendors have to work harder than ever to sell their homes. According to the latest figures from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, sales were down 18% last month compared to August 2004. So how, in a buyers’ market, can you ensure your home boasts the “sold” sign and not your neighbour’s? “The first thing is to get the price right,” says Stephen Jeffery, a property finder. “If your house is the cheapest, vendors will see yours first. Once you have got them in the door, then improve the presentation.”

John and Carole Bailey’s contemporary-style Georgian house, Seedley Barn in Leintwardine, near Ludlow, Shropshire, was, they admit, overpriced. Despite its 15 acres, additional Welsh border cottage and wonderful views, the spacious four-bed home sat for nine months at more than £1m. Eventually, the retired couple, both in their sixties, changed agents to Savills and dropped the price to £895,000. “We have not had enough people looking at the house, so we have dropped the price to generate interest,” says Bailey, who has also done some touching-up to the house: they have repainted throughout, upgraded the toilet and bath in one of the three bathrooms, planted some extra shrubbing and kept the lawns and hedges clipped.

“The garden is important,” agrees Jeffery. “A cut lawn instantly creates the right impression.” However, he stresses that you don’t need to turn into Capability Brown to do this. “These garden refurbishments you see on television are a waste of time. It’s the house, its location and the price that sell a property, not the garden. You can always re-landscape a garden.”

While competitive pricing is the first rule to lure in buyers, the second is tidiness. If a home is messy, buyers will leave faster than you can say “best offer”. Natalie Hall, negotiator with Currell estate agents in London, shows time-pressed City folk around the stylish flats and lofts of Clerkenwell.

“If their vision is cluttered with ornaments and things, it’s not conducive to a good impression,” she says. “Buyers are too busy to see through the mess, which is why it is very important for vendors to declutter.”

Clear space and clean rooms; sparkling windows, kitchen sink and tiles are also essential. If your bathroom or kitchen is more than 10 years old, replace tired units and cracked, stained counters — but within reason. “For the average house costing between £200,000 and £400,000, brand-name kitchens are a waste of money,” says Jeffery. “You can put in a ‘cash and carry’ kitchen for £3,000 that is more than adequate.

“Also, make the house smell nice. It’s very important to ventilate: open bedroom windows so it’s not fuggy from the night before.”

Fortunately, fresh air and a fresh look need not cost much. Hall estimates that £2,000 would be enough to whet a buyer’s appetite. “The key is to remove smaller items and achieve a clean look,” she says. “Avoid oversized furniture and bad mixes of antique and contemporary.”

When television researcher Alan Rufaie had no luck selling his loft, decorated in a country cottage style, he decided to refresh — and re-price. The flat, which had been on the market for £355,000 for six weeks, was reduced to £339,950. Victorian burgundy was jettisoned for cappuccino. Out went the red velvet curtains and in came cool blinds; up came bathroom and kitchen carpet and down went lino. “I think some people don’t want to do anything — they just want to move in,” says Rufaie.

He also removed some pictures, though Hall warns not to depersonalise too much. “Buyers can be distracted by personal items, such as photos, but you don’t want to remove all personality, particularly in new-builds where the flats are identical,” she says. “Some people don’t want to walk into show homes as they are concerned that their stuff won’t fit in.”

“When I walked in after the refresh, it definitely looked more saleable, more modern,” says Rufaie. He spent £500, and one week later the flat went under offer — at the slightly lower price of £327,000. All of which goes to show that although the right price can make a property sell quickly, a fresh coat of paint can help it sell even faster.

nwww.thepropertyfinders.com; www.savills.co.uk; www.currell.com

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