This article discusses how to present your house or flat in the best light when trying to sell it. It provides useful and inexpensive hints on giving a property that essential 'show home' look.

First impressions count
If the front garden and the front of your house look tired and neglected, some buyers will not even bother to knock on the door assuming that this is what the rest of the house is like. A neat front garden, and a newly painted front door with bright shiny knobs and knockers will create the right impression and set the stage for what is to come.

Give the place a good spring clean
Giving your property a top-to-bottom deep clean is not only satisfying, it is also the best way of creating the impression of the kind of well-ordered life to which buyers aspire. It will also leave your house smelling fresh and sweet. Have curtains dry cleaned or washed; dirty carpets cleaned; wash down woodwork; vacuum under and behind furniture. This can be time consuming, so if you are short of time, call in professional cleaners; this might appear expensive but it is insignificant when compared to the price you are asking for your property.

Clear away the clutter
In our daily lives we all acquire clutter: tables piled with all that necessary domestic paperwork; work surfaces covered with kitchen appliances; bathrooms littered with ugly bottles of supermarket bubble baths, shower gels and shampoos. These are the items which oil our daily lives, except, that is, when you are selling your property, when it is essential to clear them away into cupboards or file them away. An uncluttered home suggests a well-cared for, orderly home, which is what people want to buy. What is more, your property is now a blank canvas which makes it easier for potential buyers to imagine living in your home.

Keep it tidy
It might seem obvious, but if you have ever gone house hunting yourself, you will know how often sellers leave last night's washing up in the sink, or rush off to work leaving a trail of unmade beds, clothes and wet towels. Remember how off-putting it was? Well, don't do it. When you are showing your own property to potential buyers, there are no excuses: it must be tidy.

Depersonalise 
Buyers are not interested in your life, so make it easier for them to project their own lives in to your space by removing things that are obviously personal. Several years' worth of your children's school photographs may be precious to you but they are meaningless to potential buyers; fridges festooned with fading children's artwork is something you hardly notice any more, but your buyers will; amusing knick-knacks collected on your travels may have interesting tales to tell, but to your buyers it is just junk. Buy some cheap plastic storage boxes and store it all away, or better still give all the clutter a critical look and bin it instead.

Less is more
If you are a hoarder - and most of us are - you may have more furniture than you actually need. It is often easier to say 'Yes' to granny when she offers you that surplus-to-her-requirements sideboard or nest of tables; and how often have we allowed friends to dump furniture on us that they never get round to collecting. Remember a room overloaded with furniture looks smaller, and selling a property is all about creating a feeling of space, so put any furniture you don't need into storage, take it to the dump or call in the house-clearance people.

Neutralise
A colourful home can be beautiful, but it is also an expression of a very personal style which won't appeal to everyone. When you are selling your property you want to attract as many buyers as possible. It might break your heart to repaint that fuscia pink bedroom with the scarlet sari curtains, but it certainly won't break the bank. Repainting startling colour schemes in neutral shades will increase your chances of selling. This is an absolute given.

Kitchens and bathrooms sell properties
Kitchens and bathrooms are the key rooms in any property. These days families spend a lot of time in the kitchen, and even young professionals who dine out a lot or eat mainly take-aways, want a smart, status symbol kitchen. Bathrooms too are places that have moved away from the purely functional and are now spaces where people love to wallow, relax or dream. Knocking your kitchen and bathroom into shape need not cost a fortune. Measures such as painting tired old units, fitting new handles, putting in a power shower and regrouting the tiles don't cost a fortune but may be all that is needed to give these two vital rooms a fresh lease of life.

Take care of routine maintenance
These are the jobs which every home owner should be doing on a regular basis. But how many of us actually do? Ignore a dripping tap and limescale builds up on the basin; fail to clear the gutters of fallen leaves and damp patches appear on your walls; fail to replace loose roof tiles and the rain starts to drip through the bedroom ceiling. Make sure all these routine jobs and the results of any neglect are remedied before you sell because no one wants to buy a property with a dirty basin or water penetration stains on the walls, or moss growing where a leaky drainpipe overflows. Also get all gas appliances serviced and tested by a properly qualified CORGI gas installer.

Remove the evidence of pets
You may be a pet lover, but it is a mistake to think that all your buyers share your enthusiasm. Hard though it is for the pet lover to believe, there are people who actively dislike pets, and there are others who are allergic to animal fur and who start sneezing and wheezing at the mere sight of a cat hair. While you are selling your property keep it as clear as possible of animal fur. Air the property frequently by opening the windows to get rid of any smell. Remove any litter trays during viewings; put cats in the garden; and ask a friend or neighbour, or pay a local teenager, to take the dog for a walk.

Minimise the evidence of children
Buyers won't be charmed by endless photographs of your kids and fading examples of their art work, so put them away out of sight. If you are selling a family house, make sure the children's rooms are kept tidy; invest in plenty of storage to create the impression that this is a house where children keep their rooms tidy and organised, which is every parent's dream.

Don't forget the lighting
The importance of lighting is often overlooked. Dark rooms are very unappealing, so if you have rooms which rely on artificial light make sure it is unobtrusive and that it is turned on during viewings. Discreet halogen lighting set into the ceiling is the best in these circumstances and if the floor above is easily accessible, it is  not expensive to install. In living rooms and bedrooms, attractive table lamps, which cast attractive pools of light, work better than harsh pendant lights or wall lights.

Outdoor space sells houses
The existence of a garden is a big selling point, but any kind of outdoor space - even a tiny patio or a roof terrace - is a plus. Make sure your outside spaces are neat and tidy. Mend fences, mow the lawn, paint sheds, cut the hedges, paint patio walls in light shades to create the feeling of space, invest in some architectural plants and bold pots and avoid overdoing the hanging baskets. A very special garden may appeal to a fellow gardening enthusiast and help to clinch the sale, but most buyers are looking for that elusive mix of beauty and low maintenance, so if you have a high-maintenance garden, think about giving it a low-maintenance makeover. Decking, gravel, evergreen shrubs with a few interesting plants in good quality terracotta pots will usually do the trick.

Clearly define your spaces
We all use our homes in different ways to fit the way we live our lives. We may have converted one of the spare bedrooms into a study, or the dining room into a children's playroom. However, if you are selling your house as a four-bedroom house with two reception rooms, viewers will be confused if what they find is three bedrooms, a study, a sitting room and a playroom. When you come to sell your house it is important to clearly define the spaces, so convert the study back into a bedroom, and the playroom into a dining room. Think about the spaces your buyers want. For example, if there is no clearly defined eating area, think about creating such a space in the living room or kitchen.