Copyright:Tim Stubbings

Grazing instead of dining, everyone wanting their own en suite bathroom, open-plan rather than opening doors... The way people want their homes organised has changed hugely over the past 20 years.

This means that whether marketing a house or advising people on the kind of work required to add value to a property, estate agents need to understand what will make a house most appealing to the new kind of buyer.

Historically, people would have lots of rooms for different functions. These days people want simplicity and flexibility, whether it is kitchen/dining rooms or large multi-purpose living areas.

What to call some of these rooms can be a challenge. People use terms like open-plan, and family rooms, but these don't necessarily communicate how the house works, and the challenge for agents is to show people just that.

More than ever, good agents have to develop the skill of listening to what a client or a buyer is saying, hearing the thinking behind it and interpreting it. You have to have an intuitive understanding of their preferences. And you have to be able to see how a house could work, with a bit of skill and attention.

It helps to persuade buyers to be open-minded, too. Strutt & Parker, for example, has introduced regional and even national open house days, which encourage people to look at a number of properties that they might not even have considered, and which can often be an unexpected hit.

Strutt & Parker often advises people who want to carry out building work on their house before they sell, to ensure they get the maximum value from it. There are more possibilities than ever as to how you can build and adapt a property. But there are pitfalls there, too.

People can get very personal about the sort of things they like, rather than think what will appeal more widely. They also get muddled on what they should spend money on. People like plenty of bathrooms these days, but you have to be careful, for example, squeezing in an extra bathroom at the expense of a bedroom. It is all a question of getting the balance right.

No one can be completely certain what is going to appeal to whom and a wise agent will not get fixated on a single formula. Always prepare to be surprised. You may think that your house is perfect for a young couple moving out of London, only to find that an older couple from a nearby village has been looking for something like it for years.

You have to reach them all.

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