Make your home hot property

Should they focus on dropping the asking price? How about splashing out thousands on redecorating every room? Is it worth getting planning permission for an extension?

There are plenty of factors to consider but sellers must move fast in order to take advantage of the small window of opportunity to snare a buyer, according to Kate Faulkner, managing director of DesignsOnProperty.com.

“We are seeing a flurry of activity in the market but it will only last until the end of June,” she warns. “Then it will go quiet because traditionally July and August are slower months.”

The combination of rock bottom interest rates, a gradual increase in the number of mortgage deals available and the significant property price falls witnessed over the past year have lured buyers back.

Peter Bolton King, chief executive of the NAEA, believes the fact more homes were sold in April than in any month since October 2007 proves that people’s attitudes towards owning property had not changed.

“The NAEA always said demand for property remained strong, but confidence in the market had gone,” he says. “These figures show that this confidence is returning.”

However, the picture is still very mixed with some areas not expecting to enjoy any improvement in sales, while others are selling stock within weeks, according to Mandy Bradley, director of website Propertyforecasts.co.uk.

“We expect to see either zero growth or very small increases in some regions over the coming month but there are significant local variations,” she says. “Some neighbourhoods will still be blighted with significant falls in average prices.”

Before deciding how to market your home you need to find out for how much similar properties have sold for in the area, says Faulkner. “Anyone with a house for sale needs to shift it quickly, while those thinking about selling must price well to ensure a quick offer,” she adds.

You will then need to choose whether to employ an estate agent or sell the property yourself. Here are some of the factors that you will need to consider.

Estate agents

This is still by far the most popular way to sell. A good intermediary will take the strain out of the process, find a steady stream of prospective buyers, show them around and manage the whole process through to completion. However, their assistance comes at a price.

Agents will generally charge between 1 and 4 per cent commission for finding you a buyer. This means that the cost of selling a £200,000 home will vary from £2,000 to £8,000, plus VAT.

Advertising in newspapers and magazines

Apart from the windows of estate agents, the local paper is still the favourite way for potential buyers to search for properties.

The cost is relatively cheap and the titles will be read by the area’s residents wanting to move, as well as those looking to come to an area.

You supply a picture and copy which will appear an agreed number of times. You will need to print your contact details and consider putting up your own For Sale boards.

Specialist property websites

There is no shortage of sites on which you can advertise your home for sale.

For example, HouseWeb (www.houseweb.co.uk) has a range of advertising packages ranging from £47 to £599, depending on how many photographs you want to appear and whether you want extras such as printable flyers.

The benefit of this option is your property will be on the website 24/7, although you will be reliant on people visiting the site so make sure you know how many hits they receive on a daily or weekly basis, and whether there are any hidden costs.

Sell it yourself on eBay

You can buy and sell just about anything on eBay so why not put your property up for sale? It could be viewed by millions of people around the world every day, and the fee to advertise a property is just £35.

However, due to laws governing the sale of properties in the UK and Ireland, eBay’s listings are not legally binding offers. The auction simply brings the two sides together and it is then up to them to complete the transaction.

Advertise it on your own website

An increasingly easy option, particularly considering how cheap it is — even totally free in some cases ­— to set up a basic website or blog. Apart from your time and registering a domain name, you will only have your hosting costs to pay, while some internet packages give you a certain amount of free web space anyway. You can put on as many pictures and as much information as you like, and even enable visitors to download any plans or extra information.

The biggest problem, however, will be driving the numbers of people to your site that is required to result in a sale.

Putting it up for auction

Homeowners wanting a very quick sale — who are prepared to let their house go for an absolutely bargain price — might consider selling it at a property auction.

It’s also worth considering if your house is particularly unusual. As long as the bids received beat your reserve price — the minimum you will accept — you can guarantee it will be sold on the day of the auction.

Contracts are exchanged the moment the hammer falls and a 10 per cent deposit is handed over, while completion usually follows within 28 days.

The downside is that the price achieved will probably be low and you will have to pay the auction house an entrance fee (usually between £200 and £500) plus commission of about 2 per cent if it’s sold.

Holding an open house

The idea is to advertise an open day where you throw the doors open to anyone that might be interested in your property.

The benefit of this approach is that you don’t have to spend hours cleaning the house every time your agent sends someone over, and it is cheap. Apart from the costs of advertising and maybe some light refreshments, there is no other outlay.

However, the risk is that nobody shows up, or the ones that do are just killing time.

Targeting potential buyers

Look at properties for sale that are smaller than yours and consider putting a flyer with the details of your house through their letterbox.

If, for example, you have a three-bedroom bungalow, that might be seen as an attractive option for a young family who are selling a two-bedroom terraced house because they need more room.

This option is labour intensive but is very cheap and might reap handsome rewards.Selling a property largely comes down to the art of persuasion and knowing how to deal with potential buyers, according to Dr Sandi Mann, co-author of Upping Sticks: How To Move House And Stay Sane.

“People are reluctant to spend money on their homes at the moment but carrying out little DIY jobs can make them look much better,” she says. “These include fixing cupboards that are hanging off and using pictures to cover wall stains.”

Any money you have should be invested on the entrance. “This is the first and last thing that potential buyers will see,” she adds. “Creating a good, lasting impression will ensure the property has kerb appeal.”

Psychology is also needed if you are opting to sell your home privately because you will be responsible for showing people around. “When you get someone through the door it all comes down to the art of selling,” says Dr Mann. “If you find it impossible not to point out every fault then perhaps you’d be better off employing an agent.” ELAINE and Paul Harrison insist that it’s worth considering putting your home up for sale on eBay — as long as the price is right.

The couple, from Hemel Hempstead, have sold a property in Orlando, Florida, via the site, and have also advertised one in the UK and another in Spain.

“A lot of people look on eBay but you must remember most will be looking for bargains,” she says. “It will have to be pretty cheap in order to sell.”

The Harrisons — who have two teenage boys — blame price for their lack of success in finding an eBay buyer for a three-bedroom mid-terraced property in the UK. “We bought it for £165,000, spent £15,000 doing it up and were asking £215,000,” she says.

“We had a couple of enquiries, but as I was not so desperate to sell I didn’t want to bring the price down.”

But the couple will certainly consider using eBay again.

“It is a great tool,” Elaine adds. “If you want to strike up interest in a property without paying agents’ fees then it’s definitely worth taking a chance.”