Withdrawals from auctions and an increase in private treaty sales mean more properties are hanging around longer - and you've got to try harder. You must lure buyers, tempt them, hope they'll fall in love with something, even if it's a pink en suite. First impressions count. Just as with gleaming teeth, front doors, brasses and plants on the steps all make a difference. You won't have time to repaint the front door but make an effort with the brasses, run plants up one side of the steps and take care to sweep the approach.
Gardens also matter.
Front as well as back, but you might have to put the dog in the kennels while you're selling. Landscape gardener Dessie Donoghue's advice might be worth heeding, as he is regularly brought in to tidy up gardens before a sale. This generally means weeding, pruning back hedges and shrubs, planting some bedding, keeping the grass cut, the edges trimmed. But some people then let their dogs out into the garden. All our work can be undone within an hour.