Kirstie and Phil's foolproof tips to ensure your house sells quickly – and without a hitch

Having a house to call home is the dream for many of us, but that dream is getting harder and harder to make a reality. From a volatile market making it difficult to issue sales along a chain, the goalposts seem to be constantly moving.

Knowing how frustrating it can be waiting to sell a house so you can embark on a new chapter, Kirstie Allsopp and Phil Spencer – the presenters of Location, Location, Location (and property maestros) stopped by This Morning to offer up advice on selling a home.

Their invaluable advice includes everything from gaining the confidence to be more direct during communications to following an 11-second rule for first impressions.

Should you splash the cash on renovations? Consider the 11-second rule

When one caller asked the property experts if it’s worth investing a hefty sum in tidying up the house before putting it on for sale, two key points caught our attention.

First was Kirstie's ever-salient 11-second rule.

"First impressions matter in house selling as they do in everything else", she explained. The general gist of her 11-second rule is to ensure that the first things people see in those first 11 seconds pulling up and entering your home are as good as could be. This includes the exterior, the streets, and ensuring the hallway feels welcoming – and isn't cluttered or dated.

To help decide what needs doing to achieve this, Kirstie offered another great tip – ask a friend whom you trust to speak plainly and directly with you.

Ask them what they could change or correct about the house, because, as Kirstie added, "estate agents, because they want your business, tend not to be honest about this, so you need to have a frank friend."

Phil also made the point of keeping any renovation costs in proportion with the value of the house. If it would significantly reduce the valuation of your house, it could be worth parting with the upfront costs in the hope that, when you do sell, you can recoup a lot of it.

In Phil’s expert opinion, £10,000-£15,000 sounds like a lot, but several budget-friendly home improvements might boost a property's value.

Invest in quality photographs

Phil made another great and logical point that touches on the fact that the buying and selling of a house, in theory, starts long before someone even sets foot inside a property.

They do say that a picture is worth a thousand words, so it's perhaps not surprising that good quality photographs will determine if someone even bothers booking a house viewing.

If the photos aren’t of good quality or massively undersell key aspects and features of your home, you could be losing potential buyers. Phil listed some of the key photographs to get right, including the front of the building, the back, the hallway, and the important rooms.

Have pride in your home

Having sold hundreds, if not thousands, of properties between them, we’re inclined to believe Kirstie and Phil when they spoke rather poetically on the atmosphere that can influence a sold home.

As Kirstie put it, "Pride in your home reflects to the buyer, and people will feel that… because so many people sell their homes when they’re a bit bored with them". Phil agreed, adding, "You can sense when it’s a happy house".

Consider this when you present your home. Speak of its importance, of memories to you, of what could be done differently with the right vision and follow-through. It’ll make a difference from just trying to offload a place without interest.

Ask for the harsh truth if you’re struggling to sell

When one caller explained that they’d failed to sell their home after three years on the market, Kirstie shared a blunt but useful tip – get real with your estate agents.

She told the caller to say to their agent, "Please, please, please tell me' why it's not selling, because 'There is something that [the estate agent] does not want to say".

She added that this could be anything from the price of the house to issues around the area.

In addition to asking for some frank conversations, Kirstie’s advice for a house that is just not selling is to check out what’s happening with other properties around the area. How much are they selling for? How are they being marketed?

Communicate along the chain - don't wait to be told by agents or outside teams

Diana Ross might have sung about being in a Chain Reaction, but being stuck in a chain of buyers and sellers is a lot less fun. When one caller asked if they could do anything about speeding up the process when there are issues further along the chain, Kirstie and Phil said communication is key.

And, perhaps overlooked by many, you can take a more leading role in the communications, without always having to go through other channels.

Kirstie offered up the idea of a "WhatsApp group between [all parties]. You need to be in communication. You need to tell each other what your lawyers, agents, mortgage people are saying to you".

Calling the current system 'broken', Kirstie said the only way to make it work is when “the vendors and the purchasers communicate with each other and really drill down into the delays and tell each other.”

Kirstie, perhaps jokingly (perhaps not!), even went as far as suggesting that if the solicitors are holding you up or preventing you from talking to others in the chain, leave them a letter through their door.

To avoid frustrating delays further down the line, Phil also added that, if you know you’re planning to sell, the best thing you can do is prepare way in advance, advising people to start getting all the paperwork sorted before you even list your home on the market.