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What do buyers look for in terms of the house itself?

Many agree that location is a decisive factor, but so are tangibles like the price and condition of the property (is the price worth the additional huge sums of money to put this house back into mint condition? How much time will I need to renovate the dilapidated portions of this house?).

Buyers will be on the alert for the following:

Start with the outside of the house and ask yourself the following questions - because these are the questions that your potential buyer will be asking!:

* Do these garbage cans, discarded wood scraps and building materials strewn about carelessly an indication of the seller's negligence?

* Are the gutters and roof in place? When was the last time the seller changed the roof?

* Apart from the human occupants of the house, are there termites and other insects that live here also?

* These overgrown bushes and trees are distracting. What is it that the sellers don't want us to see?

* Is the lawn is looking unhealthy? Is the rest of the house like that?

* Have the patios and decks been converted into storage areas? Why can't we see what they actually look like?

* The paint is peeling off; is that why the house looks so drab and uninviting?

* Why are there no lights outside the house? Is this the owner's way of saving on utility bills? Is this a safe neighbourhood?

The above questions are just a few of the many questions buyers are likely to ask with respect to the outside of the house. A house's exterior constitutes the buyer's first impression. And we all know what they say about first Impressions.

* High and low pricing: sellers who like to make a killing price their property way too high, making it out of reach to buyers who are looking at similar properties in the same location. Don't be priced out. Going to the other end of the spectrum, you'll know that you priced your house too low when it's bought the same or next day after you or your agent advertised it. It was 'snatched' by someone else because it was way below market price.

Obviously, you as seller will try to get the highest price you can get for your property so you start with a high price.

The buyer, on the other hand, will offer the lowest possible price he can negotiate. So you start high and he starts low. This creates plenty of room to negotiate - the gray area that lies between the highest and lowest prices.

This is where sellers can make the mistake of not demonstrating sufficient flexibility to the buyer!

This is the reason there are high and low prices in real estate - what Albert Lowry called practising the give-and-take principle. 'Such give-and-take is part of the bargaining process' It gives you both room to negotiate' As you and the buyer make proposals and counterproposals, you are inching closer to agreement' Then at some point one of you will yield no further.' Develop the extra sense to know when to stop negotiating.