1 It’s a buyer’s market. But with few sellers around, competition is limited. According to Hometrack, the number of new buyers has risen by 32 per cent over the past three months while the number of homes on the market has grown by less than 10 per cent.

2 Keep the price down. Do not be swayed by the estate agent who offers you the highest valuation: many are overvaluing homes simply to get the instruction. Use the Land Registry website (landregistry.gov.uk) to find out exactly what properties are selling for in your area.

3 Make your agent work. Agents’ fees vary between 1 and 3 per cent. Choose the one that has recently sold the most homes similar to yours and keep it on its toes by negotiating a four-week contract.

4 Buyers start their search online. Your home must be on all the main portals, such as Globrix, Primelocation, Rightmove and Findaproperty.com, not just your agent’s site. The main photo is usually an exterior shot so make sure the façade looks good. A tidy front garden, clean windows and a well-kept front door are essential.

5 First impressions are crucial. Buyers are making up their minds within about 30 seconds of walking through the door, according to Ed Mead, of the London agent Douglas & Gordon.

6 Focus on the front room. If you have £10,000 or less to spend, make sure it goes on the first room that the buyer will see. This usually means repainting walls and woodwork as well as doing any repairs. Also, buyers prefer wooden floors to grubby carpets.

7 Boost your bedroom count. If you are selling a three-bedroom house, all three must look like bedrooms, not a storage room for the rowing machine.

8 Turn the box room into a study, home office or an extra shower room/lavatory. This looks much more impressive on the sales particulars than “box room” and most people can find alternative storage space under the stairs, in the attic — or in a skip.

9 Resist the temptation to turn bedrooms into bathrooms. Most buyers expect more than one bathroom in a house with more than three bedrooms, but two bathrooms is usually enough in a home with up to six bedrooms.

10 If you know there is a problem with your property, fix it or be honest from the outset — don’t give the buyer an excuse to pull out or drop his or her offer at the last minute because the survey revealed something unsavoury.

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