Not being able to sell your house can be frustrating, annoying, disappointing and a nuisance. Here's some tips to get your house sold.

When you put your house on the market you want it sold as soon as possible so that you can get on with your plans. If you are unable to sell your house it can be a financial drain, postpone plans and come to feel like a weight on your shoulders.

You need to ask yourself what is going on here? What is the problem? You may need to attack the problem from different angles.

Have you had any viewings? If yes, ask the estate agent for feedback from the clients. Try to get as much information as possible. If you have not had many viewings then why not? Has the agent advertised the property sufficiently, where has it been advertised, how often? Assuming it has been advertised sufficiently what is putting buyers off? The photos makes a big difference - first impressions count. Ideally you want to take a picture of your property on a sunny day with no parked cars or other eyesores. If the original photo looks unappealing take your own and send them to the agent. Perhaps you can get a better angle from your neighbour's garden which the estate agent couldn't access. After the photos are at their best does the property look as good as it can from the outside - often before booking a viewing buyers will pass by a property they are interested in to get a feel of it. It needs to look good all the time, not just look good for photos and viewings. Compare the price of your house with similar properties in your area. Is your house priced too high? Is the price putting people off?

If you have had viewings but no offers then there's something putting people off on the inside. Take a fresh look at how you are presenting your property. What is the first impression when you enter? Is the hallway inviting or welcoming or do too many coats on the coat rail and too many bags, shoes and general clutter grab the viewer's attention? It needs to look tidy, well cared for and loved. After all if you show you don't love your home why should anyone else? If you have pets does it smell of pets? The atmosphere and smell needs to be fresh and again, the key, it needs to be inviting. You are inviting someone to spend thousands of pounds on this property. You want them to want to stay, not be out of the house as soon as possible. If you have a lot of general "stuff" which you want to keep consider storing it in a friend's garage or in a paid-for storehouse. Of course you need to live in the house so don't want to declutter completely but if you are serious about selling your house you need to give it your best shot, or potentially lose thousands of pounds just to get rid of it.

Go through each room and look at it from every entrance angle. What do you notice - what's good, what's bad. Put in the effort to make it look it's best. Then, ask your friends, family, and estate agent for their opinion. What do they like and what don't they like? Then act on their feedback and ask them again. When it's in tip-top shape consider relaunching your property with your estate agent and make sure that all their staff know what a great house it is.

Be careful - once you've made your house beautiful and appealing you might just want to stay there!

Susy Copus is a property commentator and has written for the UK Property Search Engine, http://www.wheresmyproperty.com, http://www.renovatealerts.com who specialise in finding property to renovate and http://www.propertymoneymaker.co.uk.

The opinions expressed are those of the author and the material is for general information only and does not constitute investment, tax, legal or other form of advice. You should not rely on this information to make (or refrain from making) any decisions. Always obtain independent, professional advice for your own particular situation.


To find your new home go to http://www.wheresmyproperty.com, the UK Property Search Engine listing around 900,000 properties from 1000s of estate agents.