Thirty insider tips to help you sell your house: I’m one of the UK’s most experienced estate agents – this is what you should NEVER do if you want to guarantee a sale in today’s market.

Whether you’re buying or selling, the process is always fraught with stress, anxiety and unanswered questions – especially in today’s real estate market.

But help is at hand from Roger Punch of Marchand Petit in Devon who, with over 50 years’ experience, is one of the south west’s best-known agents. Here are his top tips for closing a sale – or buying at a great price.

Sale

• Interview several real estate agencies before choosing the best one. Ask them if they have sold many other properties in the neighborhood; How long did it take them to sell? Make sure they will give your sale to an experienced negotiator, not the newbie.

• Keep a free parking space for spectators. You don’t want a showing to start off on the wrong foot and have your buyer have to navigate their way to a parking space two blocks away.

• First impressions count, so make the exterior look valuable with clean windows, walls, walkways and driveways. Pressure washing can work wonders. Hide the wheelie bins.

• Ask a friend to take an objective look at your house. Are there smells like wet dogs, diapers, or worse that you’ll be immune to but will give the buyer a breath of fresh air?

• Make sure each room has an obvious function, whether it’s a kitchen, office, games room or home theater.

• If your home has an obvious defect, such as a kitchen that is too small, call a contractor to give you an estimate for drilling a wall or adding an extension. Show the written estimate to the buyer.

• Evaluate the house accurately by checking the competition on real estate portals. If you are asking for more than the house further away, prepare good reasons for potential buyers, for example if you have a bigger garden, a new kitchen, two bathrooms, a new bathroom. Be willing to give a little. The average seller only receives about 92 percent of the asking price.

• Reclaim your garage. If your garage is full of trash, not only is it not serving its purpose, but it’s a sign that the storage in your home is inadequate. Sort it out.

• Keep your neighbors informed of your sale. Then, if they see you giving a showing, you can make the necessary introductions and the buyers will feel welcome. It’s much better than being looked at over the next fence.

• Not everyone likes animals, so if you have a visitor, remove all cats, dogs, snakes and rats. Make sure your children are presentable. You may love it, but the sight of a teenager groaning from his bed while listening to blaring music may put off a potential buyer.

• Tidy up your garden. Keep lawns mowed, flower beds neat, and patio furniture clean. But don’t overcomplicate your planting and create such a gardener’s paradise that your buyer feels intimidated. Not everyone has a green thumb.

• Some verandas – especially those with small lean-tos – put off most buyers. If you have one, give it an appropriate function, perhaps as a “reading nook” or mini orangery. Don’t let it serve as a shelter for your rowing machine or unused exercise bike.

• If you don’t have a great eye for interiors, hire an expert home stager. A one-day renovation may seem expensive, but these people recoup their costs by helping you sell your home in record time.

• Do the basics well. Fill vases, light fires and pay attention to lighting. A few well-placed table lamps are visually calming and also eliminate dark corners.

• Selling a house means selling a lifestyle. Give your buyers leaflets from the local council or tourist office showing color photos of local parks, countryside walks and river views.

• Be friendly and welcoming to your viewers. Offer them coffee. Talk to them about local schools, nurseries, daycares, sports and arts facilities and nearby cafes and gastropubs. But don’t reveal too much. There is no need to tell potential buyers how long the home has been for sale. Don’t say it if you’re desperate to sell quickly to secure your new home. Play your cards close to your chest. During a visit, a former client painted a lovely picture of her village as a country idyll with church bells on Sunday and hunting passing by outside. When I phoned to ask the viewer what she thought of her visit, she replied: “Nice chalet but the village is not for us, I’m a hunting saboteur!”

Purchase

• Don’t judge a building from the outside or rely on Google Earth or Street View, which are invariably historic.

• View the property several times before making an offer. Ideally go there during the week and on weekends at different times. Watch for signs that you or your family may not feel safe there. Defaced signage, skid marks on the road, graffiti, litter and unkempt neighboring properties should all bring up warning signs.

• Having decided roughly which neighborhood you want to live in, focus on your preferred road. You can improve a property, but you can’t change a neighborhood – so don’t compromise. The best long-term buy is usually the worst property on the best street.

• Don’t make a “stupid” offer to start negotiations. This will likely lead to you annoying the seller and losing the deal.

• To take notes. Later, you might have trouble remembering everything about the house, especially if you have to view more properties in the same day. So note details such as the condition of window frames, proximity to the main road, distance from shops.

• Make a wish list of what you need for the home. How many bedrooms and bathrooms do you want? Is a good-sized garden or home office important to you?

• Study plans for local infrastructure. You may like the fact that your chosen home has views of the countryside, fields and valleys. Check that there are no plans to expand the suburbs and destroy everything.

• Make sure the seller knows you know your product. I once had a buyer in Cornwall who asked me “what time does the tide go out on a Saturday?” » Credibility destroyed!

• Don’t overestimate your own DIY skills. Fitting out a kitchen or bathroom may seem simple on television, but it’s not that simple. If you’re buying a home with a renovation project in mind, ask a proven builder to explain what’s involved. Perhaps it would be better to leave it to him.

• Keep other members of your family in mind. The stream at the bottom of the garden seems calm to me, but could it pose a danger to your little ones? The steep staircase may be cute, but could Grandma manage it if she came to stay?

• If the property has had recent building work, make sure the seller has a building control certificate.

• Be careful if you move to the countryside. You may be attracted to the bucolic Archer-style lifestyle, but are you really happy being woken up by chickens every day? Will the smells of the pig farm add to the charm of your garden? If you share a country lane, are you prepared to be held up by cows returning from milking? The people from the countryside were there first and they will be there long after you leave.

• Be friendly but don’t give the seller too much information. If you say, “I’m desperate to move this month because my wife is evicting me,” then the seller is likely to stick to the asking price.

• Never make an offer immediately. Stay flexible and negotiate other terms such as closing dates or facilities and equipment to reach a mutually acceptable agreement.