How to sell your home and get the best price

What's the most important thing when you want to move home?

Should you worry more about getting the best price or simply about getting your home sold?

On this week's podcast we delve into the art of home selling, looking at how to make sure the price is right, whether to do work before you sell, or just a quick spruce up and why what's happening in the property market near you should be a deciding factor.

Another month and another set of mixed messages about the state of the housing market is revealed.

First-time buyers who have a deposit and home movers in the North are doing fine. But London is on the ropes and second and third movers are staying put, bringing the market to a standstill.

According the Halifax, prices nevertheless managed to rise £3,000 last month in this ‘subdued’ market.

Editor Simon Lambert, assistant editor Rachel Rickard Straus and money broadcaster Georgie Frost get into the aural attic to unbox the facts.

The villain of the piece, they agree, is stamp duty. It used to be a 1% tax on purchases but it got tweaked into a giant cash cow for the Treasury by successive Chancellors.

Stamp duty is stalling the market and needs to change but how?

And is it really worth putting in a new kitchen before you put your home on the market if things get desperate?

Also on the show: Paddington Bear 50p Gate.

An exclusive This is Money report this week found an enterprising student in Caerphilly who had been handed a not-yet-released Paddington Bear 50p coin in her change.

The shop happened to be down the road from Royal Mint, where the coin was made. The coin happened to end up on eBay with bidding topping £15,000.

Find out how this happened and whether it’s true, spoiler alert: it is, what ridiculous lengths the Mint went to try to get its coin back and how you can get your hands on one.

Finally, the clamour to tackle inner-city pollution has taken an unexpected twist with motorists in a huge new area of London bearing the brunt of a proposed new fee.

Owners of reasonably new cars that don’t meet the emissions standards of brand new ones, face a £12.50 charge every time they drive - even if they live in the zone and need to take the kids to school.

Not everyone is happy. Especially as it looks like the explosion in numbers of online shopping delivery vans and not cars might be the major cause of pollution.

Enjoy,