Selling your house is a daunting task. Never mind the emotional attachment of leaving the place you called home for years or even decades, the process brings with it a lot of baggage. You have to select an honest real estate agent in a pool of shady realtors, set the right price and pack things to move to your new life.

For those struggling with this process or who plan on selling their house in the near future, here are our helpful tips to make your property stand apart from the hundreds of others on the market.

I cannot emphasize the importance of having a clean house when you are attempting to sell it. Buyers are picky and with plenty of houses on the market, they will be quick to walk away at the sight of grime filled carpets and murky bathrooms.

Hiring an experienced and reputed cleaning company will help show your house in all its glory and bring out the potential the house has. For best results, look for cleaners with extensive experience in pre-sale cleaning or move out cleaning.

Cleaning will be required at multiple stages. A deep clean should be the first task. This is a process where the furniture is moved to clean the areas under. Use this as a high level checklist to ensure that:

1. Windows and sills are washed and wiped

2. Carpets are vacuumed and steam cleaned

3. Shower recess is scrubbed and cleaned thoroughly to remove any soap scum or grime.

4. Any mould in the bathrooms should be removed. Call Mould Removal professionals if required.

5. Kitchen is given a deep clean including Oven, Cooktop & Rangehood. 

6. All surfaces are wiped off any dust or build-up. 

7. Hard Floors including grouts are professionally cleaned

8. Cobwebs are removed and wall marks spot cleaned

If you have a budget, get the cleaning crew to use a high-pressure washer on the driveway, garage floor, back yard or any other concrete floors as well.

In addition to this, for every weekly or bi-weekly open or private inspection, a tidy up will be required. It includes ensuring that dirty dishes are washed or kept out of sight, that the house is swept, and the carpets are vacuumed. Oh, and get rid of those piles of laundry and newspapers too.

It goes without saying that clean air is essential too so clean out musty areas and improve the ventilation in your living property. Avoid odorous food on the days around when someone is coming to see the place. If you have pets, clean the litter boxes and other areas that have the potential to stink up. Get a few scented candles for the place and set up a nice ambiance.

When a prospective buyer views your property, they are trying to picture themselves and their family in the surroundings so the inclusion of your personal items like photo frames and books can disrupt that picture. It is for this reason that it is better that you remove your own belongings and give buyers a blank house to imagine their own surroundings.

This brings a problem of where to keep your things. Storage units are an option worth considering. Readily available throughout the country, they can safely store your belongings until you move to a new house. Your other option would be to pack everything personal into boxes and temporarily store it a family member’s house or your neighbour’s house.

If it is a seller’s market, selling a house in lived-in condition is not too hard but in today’s market, it’s a tough sell. A buyer wants to see a clean well maintained house so showing them through a house with cracked tiles and leaky bathrooms won’t cut it.

Call in your handyman and put him to work. If the floor is damaged, make efforts to fix it. The same goes with leaky taps and pipes. Throw out furniture that is broken and fix broken lights or any lights that are at the end of their cycle. A light bulb going out when you are showing a buyer the property does not spell the end of the world, but it can affect their psychology. Talking about lights, try to add as many lights as possible. Actually, draw the curtains AND switch on all the lights. Houses look much better when they are well lit, and this is something you should take advantage of!

You might want to think about painting the house too. A good paint job can cover up imperfections and blemishes from wear and tear. Don’t opt for anything other than neutral colours like cream. You don’t want to be remembered as that seller with the orange bedroom!

The exterior of the house plays the main role in convincing a buyer. Research has shown that 90 per cent of buyers make up their mind just by looking at the exterior.

Go outside and take a hard look at your place. Does it look welcoming? If the answer is anything less than a resounding YES, get to work on improving your house. Begin at the front door. Give it a coat of paint and maybe add a minor decoration to it. Mow down the grass, trim your hedges if any and ensure the house number is clearly visible. Consider giving your house a coat of paint if it looks tired.

Hop on to whichever property listing website that is famous in your area and do your homework on the value of your property. Compare prices in houses located in neighbourhoods close to your house, take into consideration the age and decide on an appropriate price for your property. If you price it too high, you will not get any buyers and if your house is seen listed for too long, buyers will avoid it under the assumption that something is wrong with the house.

The internet is an excellent place to sell things, especially houses. Not only do they cost less than traditional modes of advertisements like the classified section of a newspaper, but they also let you post more information and reach more people. To really hit the mark, employ a professional real estate photographer to take a few pictures of your house for the purpose of posting it online. Like I mentioned above, buyers have plenty of options and if your images are unclear and amateurish, they will not hesitate to move to the next one.