Good timing is vital – certain times of the year are better for selling your home than others. For example, homes for retirement tend to stick on the market during the winter months, when elderly buyers prefer not to trawl around properties. Families prefer to move at the beginning of the year, or before the start of a school year, in September. Know your buyer and plan according to their timescale, not yours. Once you have decided on a launch date, add it to a calendar in plain view, and use it to schedule in the rest of the tasks you need to do before that date.

Make sure your home is ready for photography and viewings. It is vital you spend time and effort –and even money – on this very important preparation for marketing. Look at your property objectively, or get a friend to give you some feedback. Is there anything you could do to make it more attractive without spending a fortune? Ask a home stage for professional advice, or visit show homes in the area for inspiration.

To select your estate agent, first ‘mystery shop’ the more prominent local companies and assess the way they handle a simple enquiry from you, perhaps about a property you feel would be a competitor to yours in some way. Then shortlist two or three, and interview them in your home. Don’t just choose the agent with the lowest fee and highest valuation – take a considered view on their professionalism, their success locally, and whether you like them or not. After all, you’re going to be working quite closely with them for some time.

Wherever possible, professional photography is vital to help sell a house effectively online. Buyers do not like reading text and will often decide whether or not to view based solely on the photographs of your house. If your agent does not offer this service, it’s worth paying for it privately. That way, at least the images belong to you if you decide to change estate agents down the line.

The description that your agent writes for your brochure and online advert needs to really sell your home to a buyer. To differentiate your property from your competition, use lifestyle descriptions that sell the dream, not the bricks and mortar.

When you decide on your asking price, you need to ask yourself – does it fit in with an online search? In this day and age where over 90% of property searches are online, you need to select an asking price that will ensure your home is found by the maximum number of buyers searching the property portals. Stay away from the 9s, such as £499,999, and instead choose a rounded figure that fits in with the price banding the online portals use, such as £500,000. This will maximize the number of buyers who will see your property.

If your estate agent produces property details on the office printer, do not accept it. Brochures should be printed professionally on quality card so that your photographs look as attractive as possible.

Launch your home to the market on a Thursday or Friday, to generate weekend viewings. The first four to six weeks are key to successful selling; research shows that any offers you receive during this time are more than likely to be the best you will ever get on your property.

Once you are on the market, keep your home spick and span, and beautifully tidy. Buy fresh flowers, and keep new towels and bed linen just for viewings, so you can quickly freshen up your home with minimum effort when a buyer books a viewing.