Monday 9 April 2007

Selling French Property (Part 1)

The key to selling your French property is to make sure you bought well in the first place. If you bought the right house in the right location at the right price then the job is half done - if you didn't all is not lost. Here are a few tips:

You will have to launch a full scale assault on the market to blow the competition out of the water. Remember you are in direct competition not only with other resale properties but in many cases massive new developments with huge advertising budgets and big marketing campaigns.

These developers pick potential buyers up at the airport, wine and dine them in a 5* hotel, give a guided tour of the show home with its designer furniture and then take them to the marketing suite to see plans and sign on the dotted line. This is what you are up against so you must do everything at your disposal to give yourself a competitive advantage - remember all you need to find is ONE buyer.

When a property isn't very large you've got to maximise every square metre of floorspace. Don't cover stains with throws over furntiture - it's quite literally a cover up and some buyers will think 'if they're covering up the sofa what else are they covering up?' Every room in your property needs re-working to make it feel like a brand new property. Invest money but make every penny count.

Replace old kitchen units, outdated tiles and worktops with the clean crisp lines of all white units and working top; remove partition walls to open out space and turn poky kitchens into ones which will impress buyers. Brits in particular like lots of space to cook in.

Your bedrooms are tiny? If you've got fitted wardrobes then keep them but strip out any other stand alone cupboards and wardrobes to make the room appear larger. The miracle of de-cluttering will show off the square meterage to the full. Simplicity sells.

In brief make your property a show home too - every detail from the furniture, the artwork, the dressings and the lighting should be carefully chosen to make it look as good as a brand new property. Get rid of the junk and the cheap furniture in favour of a chic sophisticated look and don't forget the finishing touches like a parasol and cushions for your sun-loungers.

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