Marketing Your Property

If you want to rent your property quickly then you should consider these points

1. FLEXIBILITY – can be a boon. If you will renew the fridge, or consider completely unfurnishing &/ or furnishing you can sometimes strike a great deal. Also a bit of flexibility on timing is helpful but remember vacancy is critical - two weeks without rent will take a long time to recoup unless the price is significantly higher
2. TIMING –  rentals are especially seasonal and you should take advice from your agent as to when is best to put your property on the market
3. AGENT or Do It Yourself – you can…. BUT there really is a lot of work and increasingly onerous amounts of legislation involved in both sales & rentals. What’s more if you don’t know the market and if you’re not experienced you can miss deals or sell yourself significantly short.
4. PRESENTATION –  a few points to bear in mind:

• CLEAN - This obviously makes a real difference - even if you think people will understand that the cleaner is due in half an hour, they don’t. And we mean really clean – replace the mastic/grouting around the bath if you can’t get it spotless with bleach; polish all surfaces including glasses & mirrors, get rid of lime-scale, do the windows inside & out, etc etc.
• TIDY & clutter free - As above it makes a big difference especially sub consciously – don’t deny it, we know you’ve watched House Doctor!
• BRIGHT -  Although lower lighting can create atmosphere, no-one wants a dark place so do all you can to improve it.
• WARM - Even if your flat is vacant it is seriously worth considering leaving the heating on for some part of the day; people take away the wrong impression when its cold or damp.
• DÉCOR - The cliché about neutral (it is preferable!) still largely holds even if we are seeing a bit more character creep back in.  REAL wood floors are almost universally desirable (not laminate.) Modern, especially in the kitchen & bathroom continues to become more important.
• STYLE – It is not always simple to create a desirable & coherent style that has atmosphere & character. It may be worth consulting an interior designer (we can recommend people) or even just a friend who you think is particularly good at that sort of thing.
• WELCOMING – As above people buy into a lifestyle; its those things like interesting art, flowers, flatscreen tvs & the smell of freshly brewed coffee!
• OUTSIDE - Don’t forget these areas will form their first and last impressions. Try to put some effort into making the house entrance attractive and in the case of a flat, the communal parts clean, fresh & tidy.