Selling your house requires patience and careful planning.
And even then, you’re at the mercy of the market conditions – which are usually out of your control!
The UK housing market is competitive and unforgiving. Homes can’t stay on market it for too long or their desirability disappears… quickly!
Yet many people simply ‘go through the motions’ when selling their house.
There are many stale, unoriginal, and ineffective property listings that drag on for 6 months (or longer).
Luckily, that isn’t going to be you… because you’re about to read this article!
Read on to learn tips on the strategy, tactics and psychology of selling your home.
1. Decluttering – an underrated art form
The word decluttering brings up images of lazy, mindless clearing out – without any strategy or technique. And that’s where so many house sellers go wrong.
Shoving things into bulging cupboards, and praying that viewers won’t open them, is not a viable strategy.
House viewers love to be nosy and open things they shouldn’t. And lots of house selling experts recommend that you remove at least one-third of the items in every room in your house.
That’s quite a mission… so, it’s time to say goodbye to your sentimentality, because this is going to need an iron will!
One UK homeowner who took decluttering seriously sold their house for £10,000 more than the expected valuation. They achieved this simply because the property suddenly looked bigger, calmer and more premium.
That’s the kind money that ‘ordinary’ sellers miss because they can’t bear to part with old lamps or kitchen utensils they haven’t used since 2009.
In the most extreme cases, when you can’t bring yourself to declutter, it might be time to rent a storage unit.
This allows you to get all the mess out of your house, while the viewings take place. But just remember that you’re only kicking the can down the road…
2. Listings: Master your Rightmove strategy for more offers!
Many potential property buyers begin their journey with browsing.
Scanning tens if not hundreds of properties and making quick snapshot decisions about them is the only practical way to find the right place.
So, at this stage, many properties are only as good as their listing!
Rightmove
Rightmove can make or break the success of your house sale, including:
- The time it takes to sell your house
- The price you sell for
- How many offers come in.
Competition is fierce, so if you think that your house is just going to ‘speak for itself’, then you’re on a hiding to nothing. To maximise your chance of success, you can tweak your:
- Photo selection
- Price range
- Description
- Floorplan.
The importance of photographs
The first photo is the biggest when viewers scroll through the listings.
If it’s dull and unattractive, then your user will keep on scrolling, and not even take the time to learn more.
The data is brutally clear: your lead image determines whether the rest of the listing is seen at all.
Your description is the second big opportunity. Almost every estate agent formats this in the same way, so they all blend into one.
Find a snappy, strong opening that emphasises your USPs in the first few words.
Pricing
Pricing is equally unforgiving.
Rightmove operates in strict price brackets, and if you list your home at (for example) £305,000, you’ll miss out on everyone searching up to £300,000.
Sitting between price thresholds is like shooting yourself in the foot. Don’t do it.
And if your listing goes stale after a few weeks, the solution isn’t to ‘keep waiting’. You need to act – and fast.
Fresh photos, a new agent, a rewritten description, even taking it off the market briefly before relisting can reboot your visibility.
The longer a property sits on Rightmove, the lower the offers become, simply because people assume something is wrong.
3. Choosing an estate agent: Your new best friend – or worst enemy!
Choosing your estate agent is a double-edged sword.
Get it right, and you’ll receive a competitive offer from several potential buyers.
Get it wrong, and you’ll be sitting around for months, with nothing happening.
The biggest mistake is choosing the estate agent that gives you the highest valuation.
Don’t do this!
Get several valuations and then ask them to justify it. Using an estate agent who lies to you is a waste of everyone’s time.
It doesn’t matter what you think it should sell for, nor the estate agent’s opinion. The only opinion that matters is the market’s opinion.
Judge by results
Clever sellers judge agents not on how many properties they have listed but on how many they’ve sold.
Lots of active listings usually means lots of unsold homes.
You should stalk your estate agent’s existing listings. If you wouldn’t buy any of those homes based on the photos, descriptions or staging, why would you trust them with yours?
Develop rapport
Once your agent is on board, build a relationship with them.
They’re more likely to chase solicitors, push buyers, and fight your corner if you’re not treating them like an inconvenience.
But do not micromanage viewings or hover nervously in the kitchen while buyers wander around. Let your agent do their job.
4. Staging your home: Neglect this at your peril!
It’s not rocket science: staged homes sell faster and for more money. Studies show that staging can speed up a sale by a factor of three and add up to 10% onto the final price.
Staging is about creating an aspirational version of your home. Buyers respond emotionally, not logically, so you need to create a vision of what your home could be.
Lots of small changes create a huge impact.
Add a few potted plants around the house, along with a bowl of fresh fruit in the kitchen, to add colour and improve the smell.
Bathrooms should sparkle, with fluffy towels that look like they came straight out of a hotel.
In the hallway, walkways must be completely clear, and hide anything that makes your house look cheap – cables, extension leads, and portable TVs.
A patterned runner hides kitchen-table damage. Slipcovers transform a tired sofa. Mirrors opposite windows make small rooms look bigger.
Even lighting your home properly matters. Replace any tired bulbs and avoid creating ‘dark areas’, which instantly shrink the room in the minds of your viewers.
When you get it spot-on, staging will sway your buyers’ emotions before they’ve even processed the logical details. And in the property market, emotion often determines price.
Don’t overlook kerb appeal!
Kerb appeal is arguably a big part of staging. It covers everything related to the outside of your property, which is where viewers get their first impressions.
This isn’t always in the control of sellers. However, sometimes there are things you can do. For example:
- Tidying up your garden
- Moving your car(/s) off the drive or from outside your home
- Picking up litter in the street.
And more.
5. Think outside the box: Unique strategies worth a try…
You might consider some of the suggestions covered thus far to be a bit ‘mainstream’.
So, if you’ve got them all checked off but still want to go further… here’s a few unique ideas that stray from the norm.
Some of the most sophisticated home stagers recommend hiring items that you can show around your property.
This includes:
- New furniture
- A glamorous car on the driveway
- Guge potted plants as the focus of a room.
And more.
Scents matter!
Lots of house sellers are guilty of focusing only on sight, and not enough on smell.
The scent of your property can create a huge array of moods, and some experts specialise in this, creating different affects based on the room in your house.
Feng Shui
One underrated tactic is neutralising your home’s “energy.”
Whether or not you believe in Feng Shui, smooth sight lines, uncluttered doorways and open hallways make a home feel calmer.
Colours
Layering soothing colours – such as greens, earth tones, and natural textures – creates warmth without sterility.
Even simple touches like airing rooms before viewings, cleaning windows, or letting in more natural light make your home feel fresher and more expensive than it actually is.
The colour of the exterior of your home also matters.
6. Choose your timing carefully – and consider lots of different factors!
You’ve probably heard that timing is critical when you sell a house… but it’s not just the market conditions that determine the ‘perfect time’.
You also need to think about personal circumstances – such as upcoming important dates. This might be a:
- Birthday
- Holiday
- Family gathering
- Change in job.
Spring is the undisputed champion for fast sales. With more daylight, better weather and more active buyers, all the data shows that this is when your house will complete the fastest.
Staying in temporary accommodation
Lastly, being in a long chain is something that you can (potentially) avoid.
By moving into short-term rented accommodation, it breaks your chain completely, which could make your house far more attractive to buyers.
This might seem like a risky strategy, but when the market is so jam-packed with sellers, even the smallest advantage can help.
7. Be proactivity is paramount
The fate of your house sale is much more in your own hands than many people like to believe.
It’s not down to luck or circumstance: careful planning and a smart strategy will always win the day.
Cohesion between agents, surveyors, solicitors and sellers is the closest thing to a secret weapon in the UK housing market.
Transactions fall apart when one person drags their feet. At busy times in the market:
- Conveyancers are overwhelmed
- Surveyors are overbooked
- Sellers have no idea how the process works.
Sellers who line up their solicitor early, push for regular communication, and insist on keeping the chain moving dramatically speed up the sale.
Being chain-free
Delays kill deals.
Sellers who think they can exchange the day after a surveyor visits (yes, this really happens) don’t understand the order of operations, and their ignorance slows everything down for everyone involved.
Having no property chain, or at least being flexible to covering the other party’s costs, could also make you stand out in a crowded market.
Local knowledge
Local knowledge is another useful way to prepare.
If you’ve got any developments or controversial planning proposals near your property, then gather all the facts now. Buyers back away when you can’t answer their questions.
But, if you handle it confidently, you neutralise concerns before they grow into deal-breakers.
Throughout every step of this journey, you should stay top of ming for every professional involved.
Keep following up, following up, and then following up again!
You should be so ‘on the ball’ that your solicitor, estate agent, and mortgage broker are keen to get the deal completed – just so they no longer have to answer your calls!
Selling your house quickly isn’t down to luck
Selling your house in the UK is part logic, part preparation, and part psychological warfare.
To get the best possible price, you don’t need to be lucky – just the most prepared.
- Declutter early
- Stage properly
- Master Rightmove
- And choose your estate agent intentionally
- Time your sale smartly
- Use unique strategies other sellers overlook.
This is how you increase your chances of completed in the ruthless UK market. Not by hoping for the best – but by outsmarting your competition.
Consider alternative sales channels
Even when you’ve done everything right, sales can still fall apart for reasons beyond your control.
In these cases, most people simply restart the process or don’t move, which can be stressful.
However, there are alternative channels for those who are really determined to sell:
- Property auctions: These are usually used for selling homes in bad condition. Bidders bid for properties based on a set guide price. If a sale completes, contracts are exchanged on the day.
- Selling to cash buying companies: Cash buying companies specialise in buying properties quickly. To compensate for this speed (and their costs for holding the property in the interim before they can sell it), they typically offer about 80% or less of the market value.
- Selling with Sold: Beside cash buying, Sold also offers a 30-day contract whereby we manage the sale of your property faster than regular estate agents.
