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P

eople often ask me what they should do to prepare their house for sale. Should they paint the wall where the pipes had to be repaired? Organise the basement? Fix the leaking roof? Put bread in the oven? My reaction is usually very cautious. Most often the question is asked with a view to getting a higher price from the sale of a house. The motives are fine, but the hour is late.

Some people are more organised than others, of course, but aside from such differences, it is usually possible to tell if a house 'works' by its state of order and repair. The feeling that one gets when entering a house answers the question "Does it work?" If it is very disorganised, it is possible that the house simply doesn't work. Chances are that the places that things are supposed to go are not logical and natural and, as a result, things have a tendency to not get put away properly.

On the other hand, some people are meticulous and well organised and they can, even unconsciously, compensate for a house's weaknesses.

If you are not a well organised person, or if your house is not well set up to help you keep it orderly, the first thing to do is to get rid of clutter. This is something that usually costs nothing and will allow a visitor to get a feeling for how her own furniture will fit. This does not mean the house should be empty. An adequately furnished house will allow a purchaser to gauge room sizes and may well direct the eye away from the contents altogether. When in doubt, err on the side of sparseness.

Next, make sure it is clean. Clean houses always sell faster and better. Shiny services should have a sheen to them and windows should be transparent. If your house looks into the sun, the windows may become a particular challenge. Every little mark seems to show up as though nature is compensating for the advantage of the exposure.

In country houses, these same rules apply very much to the grounds and outbuildings. An empty shed is an invitation to make use of it. A full one presents an overwhelming task.

Organisation and cleanliness are the two fundamentals. Getting beyond these, you can look at what has to be fixed and what was never completed, but there are costs associated with this next step. The best answer that I can give to people who ask me what action should be taken to make the house more sellable is that they should do what they would normally do if the house weren't for sale. The state of a house is a reflection of the owner's pride and ability. These are not things that a real estate agent can change with a few words of advice.

In some cases it is even counter productive to give advice. Once I had a vendor who was blind to the obvious defects that both the buyers and I could see. There were water infiltration problems, stained walls and bulging in the concrete block foundation. The price in no way reflected the sorry state of the house. Finally I sat down with the vendor and gave him a detailed list of the obvious problems in an attempt to have him readjust his price. He told me he would consider my concerns and, a few weeks later, he called me back. "Everything is corrected," he informed me. When I arrived to congratulate him, I found that the problems had been expertly hidden. A wall had been built over the collapsing foundation and the water stains had all been covered with new architrave.

The guiding principle of how to prepare your house for sale is well expressed in the old French saying: "Agir comme bon père de famille." As a good father would care for his family, so a good homeowner will care for his property.

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