Pre-sale preparation

Preparing a property for sale in Scotland

What is worth doing before a Home Report is instructed and before photographs are taken — and, just as usefully, what is not worth spending money on.

• Decluttering before selling

  Reducing what is in the property so rooms read at their true size.

• Pre-sale deep clean

  The clean that happens once, before photographs, and is then maintained for viewings.

• Decorating before selling

  Where fresh paint pays for itself, and where it does not.

• Kerb appeal

  The front door, the frontage and the first photograph a buyer sees.

• Preparing for the Home Report

  What the surveyor looks at, and the work worth doing before they visit.

• Fixing damp before selling

  Diagnosing and dealing with damp before a surveyor records it.

• Small repairs worth doing

  The short list of quick fixes that stop a buyer counting problems.

• Heating checks before selling

  Servicing, paperwork and knowing what a buyer will ask about the system.

• Electrical checks before selling

  What buyers and surveyors ask about the wiring, and what evidence answers it.

• Roof and gutter check

  The external check that prevents the most expensive Home Report comment.

• Windows before selling

  Repair, draughtproof or replace — and what conservation rules allow.

• Shared repairs before selling

  Outstanding common repairs, statutory notices and how they affect a flat sale.

• The garden and outside space

  Making outside space read as usable, without spending on landscaping.

• Staging on a budget

  Arranging what you already own so rooms read clearly in photographs and at viewings.

• Photography day

  The final hours before the camera and the Home Report surveyor arrive.

• Smells, pets and air quality

  The thing viewers notice first and mention least.

• Loft, cellar and storage

  Clearing the spaces the surveyor will look at and the buyer will open.

• Paperwork and certificates

  The documents a buyer's solicitor will ask for, gathered before they ask.

• What not to spend money on

  The pre-sale work that does not return its cost, and why.

• Viewing day routine

  A repeatable twenty-minute routine before every viewing.

• Timeline before marketing

  Six weeks from decision to listing, in the order that avoids delay.