Before thinking about prices or portals, there are two questions worth answering honestly: why am I selling? y how soon do I need to sell? The answer shapes everything else: the asking price, the room for negotiation, the marketing channels and even the type of buyer to target.

A sale due to a work relocation, an inheritance shared among several heirs or an asset transaction planned two years ahead are very different scenarios. There is no single strategy: there is the right strategy for your case.

• Identify the real deadline by which you want to have signed
• Decide whether you're selling out of need, opportunity or a change of life stage
• Review the tax position: municipal capital gains tax and IRPF
• If there are co-owners or heirs, align expectations before listing

The most expensive mistake in a property sale is setting the price by intuition or by what «the neighbour asked for». An overpriced home can spend months on the market, lose appeal and end up selling below its real value once it is «burnt out».

A professional valuation combines three readings: analysis of recent comparables in the same area, the condition and particular features of the property, and a reading of the market moment. At Profinca we cross-check real closing data —not asking prices— from the last twelve months to set a realistic range.

Paperwork is the invisible muscle of the sale. Having it in order from the start shortens timelines, gives the buyer confidence and avoids last-minute renegotiations. These are the essential documents for selling in Catalonia:

• Up-to-date nota simple from the Land Registry
• Title deed
• Latest IBI receipt and certificate of being up to date
• Valid certificate of occupancy (cédula de habitabilidad)
• Energy efficiency certificate
• Owners' association statutes and zero-debt certificate
• ITE inspection if the building is more than 45 years old

Buyers decide within the first thirty seconds whether a home interests them. Before the first photo and the first viewing, the home should be at its best: depersonalised, tidy and well lit.

It's not about renovating. It's about small gestures with a disproportionate impact: clearing surfaces, removing family photos, replacing yellow bulbs with strong warm light, removing household smells and fixing the obvious.

In higher-value homes, home staging professional staging can speed up the sale by weeks and improve the closing price by between 3% and 8%.

On property portals, photos are the shop window. A flat with backlit mobile phone photos will get a tenth of the visits of the same flat with a professional photo shoot.

The minimum standard today is between 15 and 25 professional photographs, a dimensioned floor plan and, for properties above a certain value, a video and a virtual tour 360º.

A good description doesn't list —«3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, balcony»— but rather tells the story of a possible life. Habla de la luz a primera hora, del barrio, del recorrido a pie hasta el metro, de la calma de un patio interior. El comprador no compra metros cuadrados: compra una idea de cómo será vivir allí.

The usual mix combines the big general portals, the agency's website, the targeted social media and the private contact network of the agency. In premiumtransactions, the latter often closes the sale before the ad goes public.

A viewing is a conversation, not an exhibition. The aim is not to show the home —the photos do that— but to qualify the buyer, understand their financial situation, their urgency and their real level of interest.

Receiving an offer is good news, but it is rarely the final offer. Negotiation covers price, yes, but also timelines, conditions precedent, furniture included and, above all, the buyer's financing .

Once an offer is accepted, the next step is the penitential deposit contract (arras penitenciales): the buyer usually pays between 5% and 10% of the price as a deposit, and a deadline is set for signing at the notary.

Signing at the notary is the public confirmation of a deal already closed privately. At that point, what matters is that there are no surprises.

After signing, a few formalities remain: paying the municipal capital gains tax within 30 days, declaring the capital gain in the next IRPF return and notifying the owners' association.