How soon will negotiations end with the couple who vehemently claim they have sold and are cash buyers, only to find they are neither? The answer is “quickly”.

Will I avoid the embarrassment of a seller completely forgetting an early Saturday morning viewing of his Harrogate townhouse when he had only returned home a short while earlier after a very late night?

Discretion forbids me from saying anymore, other than I am still not sure he recalls the viewing ever taking place.

Tim Waring who specialises in prime residential at GSC Grays

Will I be buying two large terracotta garden pots to facilitate a sale on the day of completion after hard-working removers had been too diligent with the house clearance and the buyers took umbrage and stopped the seven figure transaction? I certainly hope not, as I am lucky enough to have generally low blood pressure.

House keys don’t help my medical condition at times but then operator error was a contributing factor when my attempts to open a Fort Knox entrance door failed in front of increasingly impatient potential buyers, only for their eight-year-old son to push down the handle and the door opened with consummate ease.

The owners had just taken their lively dog for a walk leaving the house unlocked. You can guess the rest.

Will I sell another house with a much loved Aga? Of course, but maybe I will avoid suggesting placing dough in the hot oven to cultivate a homely feel for a viewing. The ensuing smell of fresh bread in the garden provided an instant lesson on Aga ventilation design. Stick to coffee.

I will remain a tidy person by nature but some are in a different league to me while others don’t quite get it. Wherever you sit on the tidy spectrum, when selling do you remember buyers will be equally varied.

Your pristine might be just what they want. The busy lived-in family look might appeal to others.

So if your estate agent gives polite suggestions to improve first impressions, they might be worth considering as we tend to know what buyers want. It’s what we do for a living, and we don’t get paid unless we succeed.

Despite at times being highly frustrating, estate agents seem to enjoy their work. I certainly do. No two days are the same, no two properties likewise plus when the nuances of human nature apply to both buyers and sellers alike, there is no doubt it is an interesting profession.

As for the future, me and my peers in Yorkshire property market will be giving our predictions for 2023 in Property Post next week.

*Tim Waring specialises in prime residential at GSC Grays, tel: 01423 590500.

Why there's never a dull moment when you're an estate agent