Follow our crucial steps to make the most of your property...
- Clean the windows inside and out.
- Clean the whole house - if you smoke, stop smoking inside and clean all ashtrays - if you have pets, wash their beds. Pet and cigarette odour are the two smells that come up most often in ‘put off' smells list.
- Look at your kitchen and bathroom from an outsider's point of view - if they are really manky, do something about it - often it only requires bleaching the grout and cutting out and re siliconing - get in behind the basin and loo and get scrubbing there, too.
- Deal with outside - start on the street - what do you see - potential viewers will stand and pause just there too and it's their first impression.
- Don't argue with neighbours about who is going to do what - check if they don't mind and get on and clean it up yourself.
- De-clutter - as if you haven't heard it before, but use this as the perfect moment to move the piles of stuff you don't use to a charity shop - if you do a good clear out in one go, you will be better about getting what you don't need to a suitable recycling unit or charity shop where someone might actually use your silly unwanted nonsense. You are then able to clear surfaces - this will give a much greater sense of space and almost more importantly, less of the feeling that the house is rather hard work to live in, in a tidy way.
- Outside space - however small, in fact even more importantly if it's small - outside space is a real luxury and one that should be cherished, especially in an urban setting.
- Give it a clean - get a few cheapie pot plants and look out for an inexpensive table and chairs to show you can use the space.
- Small rooms - like small gardens it's rather more important to dress small rooms well, otherwise people may not be able to really envisage how the room could work.
- Try to avoid putting things just inside the door of a room - you ideally want to be able to get inside a room before you trip over something.
