Author Archives: Sam

Books can’t be judged by their cover; this is a fact. A gloriously beautiful sleeve might contain some dreadful drivel, which leads you to regret your impulse purchase at WHSmiths. Homes on the other hand, are always judged by their exterior façade; this is also a fact. An important one, at that. If you’re eager to sell your property but its frontage just screams to onlookers that you don’t love your home, you aren’t going to be getting many viewings. People judge within seconds, and a weed filled lawn will mean viewers don’t even make it to the front door.

The front of your home needs to be edging on picture-perfect; not only does it paint a good impression of the owners, it puts potential buyers in positive spirits before they have stepped in the door. Follow our tips for the prime things you need to have looking pristine before the ‘For Sale’ sign is hammered into your lawn…

Windows – If you have trouble looking past finger prints and dust on your windows from the inside, people will see that on the outside too. Give them a good clean regularly. Check on your window frames too; if they’re rotten, they aren’t going to look very appealing. Consider replacing them before putting your house on the market. Ensure that they fit in with the look of your home.

Front Door – People are drawn to the front door at first glance. Make sure it stands out by giving it a fresh coat of paint. The colour should fit in with the look of your house, so don’t make it too garish. Bright colours are in at the moment, but vivid pink might make your door a little overstated.

Neighbours – You would think your neighbour’s house wouldn’t matter, but it does. If they have rubbish on the lawn or anything else unattractive that really doesn’t need to be there, ask them politely if you can remove it. To make your plan less obvious, offer a hand; if you’re mowing your lawn, say you’ll do theirs too. The last thing buyers want to see is dirty surrounding houses.

Lighting – Many people might choose to drive by a potential property after dark, and it is essential that your house looks appealing. Having a nice lantern on the porch or a few front garden lights adds a special touch.

Clean & Neat – To give an overall good impression, ensure everything is as clean and spruce as possible. Repaint tired paintwork and railings, get rid of the weeds, trim the lawn, and make sure nothing unsightly is sitting on your drive, such as a skip.

By following such straightforward tips, the front of your home will be screaming with kerb appeal within hours, waiting to attract any interested party that wanders by your house.

If you’d like my help to sell your home more effectively, please answer a few short questions here and if I think I can help you, I’ll be in touch.

It was a sweltering hot day in June and I was showing a young couple round a very sweet little flat in Kendal, Cumbria. I was a rookie – only been in the job two weeks working for Barratts and this was a part exchange property I was showing. The flat was owned by a young professional lady who was buying one of our new properties and we needed to sell her flat to make the figures stack up. She’d furnished it beautifully, very contemporary (though it was the 1980s, I should point out, so chintz and apricot was definitely the look of the moment!) and the viewing was going really well. The young couple clearly really liked it and asked if they could look around again, and I waited in the kitchen. They returned, making the right kind of noises, and I thought it was in the bag. Then she opened the integrated fridge, and it all went wrong. It was horrible. The food, if you can call it that, was all mouldy and furry, and the smell was terrible. Not only that, but the fridge clearly hadn’t been cleaned for many months, if not longer, and there were bits of decomposing foodstuffs and nasty stains all over it. For a moment we all stared at it. Then she shut the door, and looked at her boyfriend. He shrugged helplessly. The lady then opened the cooker, to be met by a very similar sight, and finally the microwave. Horrible.

Needless to say, this couple did not put in an offer. She just couldn’t come to terms with the owner’s slovenly habits and you just knew that no matter how much she scrubbed, the memory of what she had seen would linger like a very bad smell. You see, it had tainted her view of the flat, and of the owner, and she just couldn’t separate the two issues.

You may think that what’s inside your fridge is irrelevant when you’re selling your home, but if you have an integrated fridge/freezer, as many of us do these days, I’m afraid it is going to play its part in helping or hindering you to sell. I’m not suggesting you fill your fridge with champagne and caviar, but you could make sure it is spotlessly clean, and fill it with some nice fresh fruit and veg. I promise you, it will make more difference than you or your viewers will know, because it is happening sub-consciously. We don’t make rational, logical decisions when we are buying a house: we choose a new home that “just feels right”, and one of the hundreds and even thousands of clues that we pick up on a viewing, is whether the owner’s lifestyle is something to aspire to, or eschew.

If your home is on the market, go check your fridge. And if it doesn’t look like an advert for Indesit, go to work. Your viewers will notice, I promise.

If you’d like my help to sell your home more effectively, please answer a few short questions here and if I think I can help you, I’ll be in touch.

The prospect of a photographer taking pictures of your home isn’t always the most pleasant thought. You want your home to appear homely and inviting, but not too lived in. And you want it to look clean and neutral, but definitely not clinical. Sounds complicated, but our home staging rule is simple: declutter, de-personalise and dress. And since it’s the hub of the home, let’s apply our method to the kitchen. Because, here’s a secret: it’s not the photography itself that’ll catch people’s eye; it’s the preparation before the photographer arrives.

De-clutter

Let’s start by decluttering. Sounds taxing, but it doesn’t have to be. Simply make sure that all worktops are clear, chopping boards are put away, and tea towels are tucked out of sight. The same applies to bins. Yes, every kitchen has bins. But there’s no avoiding that even the most tasteful bin, is a rubbish container in disguise. And anything that can be associated with dirt and grime is not a welcome distraction.

In fact, anything that can be removed, probably should be removed. Because the kitchen should look as spacious as possible. So if your microwave lives on the worktop, consider giving it a temporary new home. Appliances on show make the kitchen look cramped, and a lack of space is unappealing to any family.

De-personalise

Preparing your home for a photographer can feel a little intrusive. Your home is filled with your family’s memories, and the personalised touches are special to the people inside. But since it’s an unavoidable formality when selling your home, it’s best to take it as an opportunity, not a chore.

Because if you’re selling your home, you’re ready to move forward. That means a new home, and a fresh start. When styling your kitchen, neatly pack away anything that’s too personal, and store it ready to unpack in your new home. You’ll feel more comfortable without the photographer catching your children’s portraits in the background, and a blank canvas will help potential buyers envision their family in the space.

The same rule applies for fridge magnets and personalised name hangings. In fact, anything that is sentimental is best out of shot. Yes, the kitchen is a family space, but it’s best to pack any rogue toys into storage. Because, whilst an endless trail of toys is the reality of our homes, no one is ever really impressed by reality.

Home styling is about romanticising reality. It’s about creating an ideal that is unachievable every day. Take pets for example. Most families have a furry friend or two, and yet no one really likes to see their food bowls and litter trays. So animal lovers or not, potential buyers will thank you for hiding the cat mat out of shot when the photographer arrives.

Dress

Now that the kitchen is a fresh blank canvas, let’s have some fun. Dressing a home to appeal to another family can be tricky; you know what appeals you to you, but making your home desirable to another family is a whole other ball game. A flick through a few home magazines is a great source of inspiration. But a few finishing touches might be all you need to catch people’s eye.

So, where to start? Take a step back, and look at your de-cluttered, de-personalised kitchen. How does it look? Hopefully the words ‘spacious’ and ‘open’ spring to mind. But the de-personalisation might have made the space a little cold now too. So, now we personalise again. Seems illogical, but there’s a theory to the madness. This time, we personalise with potential buyers in mind. It’s not true personalisation, but staging is, well, staged. And it’ll help other families to picture their family living inside.

The next time you’re mooching around John Lewis, or browsing The Little White Company’s website, take a look at their homeware and accessories. It’ll give you inspiration for your new home, and anything you pick up can be taken with you once your home sells.

For larger textiles, such as curtains and blinds, opt for neutral, subtle tones, and steer clear of any bold, loud patterns. Cushions and throws can add a touch of colour to your kitchen chairs or sofas, but again, pick out the calmer colours. Fresh textiles are a quick way to add warmth and homeliness, but we want to keep a calming environment too. Anything with too much personality, or that jumps out, should be left on the shelf. These finishing touches shouldn’t be a feature, and they shouldn’t detract from the kitchen itself. They should simply compliment the room, and make it cosy.

Kitchen tables can be a feature though, and if dressed to impress, they can help bring a room to life. So if you’re tableware is a little tired or outdated, it’s the perfect excuse to indulge in a new set. Table mats that complement the decor add a nice touch too. Laying a contemporary runner down the center, and placing a delicate trail of candles, completes the elegant finishing.

Happy selling!

If you’d like my help to sell your home more effectively, please answer a few short questions here and if I think I can help you, I’ll be in touch.

Sam

When you have a promising house viewing, it can lead to excitement. You begin to picture an imminent move, the house you want to purchase being yours, and order in some packing boxes. But then you find out later that the potential buyers didn’t take it, and their smiles and gushing at the décor suddenly seem a bit false.

So why was your home rejected? If you’re sensing a continuing trend, you can’t stay on the same train; you need to find out what’s putting people off. There could be a multitude of things, but if they’re not obvious to you, you won’t know what to change. So what can you do? Ask the people around you…

Ask your agent – Your agent can prove very useful after a rejected viewing. A standard response can be “They just weren’t interested”, but this isn’t good enough. The viewer probably said this to the agent, but the agent can request more information. Ask for specifics; was it the price? The décor? Too cluttered? Whatever details you can get from the horse’s mouth, are helpful for you.

Ask a friend or family member – While this option has the potential to be a little biased, you need to ask your nearest and dearest to be brutally honest with you. They may like your home, but can be useful to pick at the nitty gritty that you might just not see. Don’t be offended; at the end of the day, you want to sell up and need as much helpful information as you can. Friends or family who are looking to move can be really handy too.

Ask a neighbour who recently sold – If you’re quite friendly with your neighbours and your homes are pretty comparable, ask them to take a look at your home. Get them to offer any suggestions as to why they think your home might be turning people off, in comparison to their recent sale.

Ask another potential buyer – While they might not be interested in your home specifically, it is worth asking other potential buyers to have a snoop. See if your friends and family have friends who are looking to move, and if it isn’t too much of an inconvenience, ask them to have a look around. This could provide a really remarkable insight into your home from another perspective.

If your home isn’t shifting and the buyers are sending a reject your way, ask the people around you for their assessment of your property.

If you’d like my help to sell your home more effectively, please answer a few short questions here and if I think I can help you, I’ll be in touch.

Moving with children can be a very stressful time. Trying to allow for their schedules, needs and energy levels can be a huge drain on your own time and energy while at the same time, trying to move home – something most of us only do a handful of times in a lifetime!

Having moved so many times that I’ve actually lost count, and the last 17 with three children, I thought I’d share with you here my own personal dos and don’ts so you can learn by my mistakes!

Do involve children in the move by getting them to pack and label their own possessions. Turn it into a game and make it a positive, fun experience.

Don’t rush them into ‘loving’ their new home and life. The move wasn’t their idea and they may not have known about your decision until it was all cut and dried! Give them time to get used to it, and before long, their old home will be a distant, if affectionate, memory.

Do create a countdown chart on the wall. Make it colourful and fun, and encourage them to cross off the days as you get closer to moving day.

Don’t forget that young children get tired and whiny easily and when you’re stressed out on moving day, your patience may fray! Consider roping in family and friends to look after them, and give yourself the chance to focus on the move without distraction.

Do have children pack their most special items in a small case that travels with you in the car. You really don’t want to be opening boxes at midnight when you’re tired to look for their cuddly toy, blanket or other favourite thing. Having their familiar possessions around them will also help them feel at home more quickly and give you all the peaceful night’s sleep you need.

I’d love to hear any of your own moving tips – with children or otherwise! Leave me a comment.

If you’d like my help to sell your home more effectively, please answer a few short questions here and if I think I can help you, I’ll be in touch.

Once the preserve of new builds or stately homes, floorplans are an increasingly useful tool to help sell your house.

A simple diagrammatic representation of the footprint of your home’s main floors, the tool helps quickly and visually explain to the buyer what is on offer.

But to make them as useful as possible – and to drive more viewers to your property – it is worth remembering three key points:

Include measurements. The plan should be to scale – and with modern laser measurement tools cheaply available there is no excuse for an estate agent not to have one. Prospective buyers can tell at a glance how much space a room has and even check if their furniture fits.
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Include a compass rose to show the orientation of the house – many buyers will be keen to seek that back garden in the south to catch evening sun.
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Total square footage of the property is a must – it allows easy comparison between properties and is a shorthand way for buyers to understand what they are getting. This is especially useful as modern houses tend to have more rooms but of smaller sizes than older properties. A modern four-bed home may only have the same space as an older three-bed property.

So now we know what we should put in a floorplan, we can look at the bigger question – why bother at all?

The prospective viewer can tell at a glance if the house is suitable for their needs and not waste their – or your – time looking at something that was never going to work for them. Layout is important to meet people’s needs and tastes – could a room be a playroom, a study, a guest room, a hobby room?
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The floorplan is a quick visual reminder for the buyer after viewing. Especially if they have seen several properties in quick succession, it is easy to blur memories as to which house had what feature. The plan helps the buyer understand the home when making their decision – even helping with potential alteration thoughts such as making it open plan or installing an en-suite bathroom.
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Size matters – by seeing a floorplan, rooms that are not at their best to visually see can be seen in a new light. Your junk room that seemed really pokey and unused may easily be written off on a viewing but becomes an ideal crafting room on a floorplan.

Floorplans are an essential tool in today’s marketplace so make sure you not only have one but make sure it is clear and accurate and it becomes a great sales help.

If you’d like my help to sell your home more effectively, please answer a few short questions here and if I think I can help you, I’ll be in touch.

I spoke to a gentleman this week who has had his house on the market for three years. And in that time, he has only had three viewings. Really. He sounded utterly despondent, and no wonder!

So what can you do when you just aren’t getting any viewings at all? Here’s my action list to help you to address the problems, and improve your situation – cut out and keep it!

Presentation – ask a friend to walk round your house with you, and write down all those little jobs you’ve been meaning to get round to doing. Ask her to point out any area that is particularly personal, like name plaques on doors or a photo gallery. De-clutter, de-personalise and add shine through dressing and accessories.

Photography – get in a pro! If neither you nor your agent can afford it, then read my Six Secrets to Fabulous Property Photography and get the best shots you possibly can – including some lifestyle images – to make your house look like a magazine shoot.

Description – brainstorm with your family and come up with the best descriptive words to describe your home. Use emotion and feeling to really get across the essence of your home.

Rightmove ad – keep the text in your summary advert short and sweet. Write a snappy headline of no more than a line, to encourage clicks. Pick the best ‘lifestyle’ image that represents your home and ask your agent to use it as the main shot on your advert.

Estate Agent – is your agent fully on board? If not, get another! Newer agents are often hungry, with something to prove. Offer them a great commission to incentivise them to sell your house quickly; this is not the time to scrimp on fee!

Prepared? – have a plan that you stick up on the inside of a kitchen cupboard so that as soon as a viewing is booked, the whole family can spring into action. Whether it’s moving the cars off the driveway, taking the dog out for a walk, or having freshly laundered bedding ready to pop over the top of the beds, having a plan will make sure you have a professional approach to your viewings when they do happen, which they will!

If you aren’t getting viewings, perhaps it’s time to call in an expert – me!

If you’d like my help to sell your home more effectively, please answer a few short questions here and if I think I can help you, I’ll be in touch.

5 Top Tips to keep your estate agent onside.

The market is buoyant right now. Properties are selling quickly – mostly. If yours isn’t getting much interest from buyers, you may find that your estate agent has stopped calling. Perhaps it seems they are even avoiding your calls. You’re left feeling frustrated and powerless, wondering what on earth you can do when no one wants to view your home.

Communication between you and your agent at this tricky time becomes all the more important. Without communication, there can be no trust, and without trust, there is no worthwhile relationship. What can you do to keep the channels of communication open, and keep your agent onside?

Here are my 5 Tips to keep your estate agent onside when they don’t want to speak to you:

Pre-empt any issues by agreeing a communication schedule before you launch your home to the market. This is over and above any calls to arrange viewings, or to give feedback afterwards; this plan outlines your expectations and so your agent has some chance of meeting them. For example, you could ask for a fortnightly call on a Friday, regardless of whether there had been any viewings in between. In this call you could ask them about market conditions and trends, recent sales, viewings on other comparable properties, and updates on any of your recent viewers. With a plan agreed in advance, there are clear expectations and if these are not met, you can refer your agent back to their original agreement.
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Share your plans with them: if your agent knows how important your move is, perhaps to be closer to a special relative, to give yourself more financial security, or to realise your long-held dream of living in the country, they will be able to genuinely identify with your aspirations. By taking them into your confidence, you are showing that you trust them, and the resulting enhanced relationship will allow them to do the best possible job of selling your home for you.
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Ask for advice: lots of vendors do this, but then they either don’t listen to any suggestions, or else they argue with it. If you genuinely listen and show that you value any input that might improve the level of interest in your property, you will find your agent much more confident about discussing the issues with you.
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Keep your communication positive – if your agent feels that they are being told off, or held to account, for a lack of interest in your property, they will be increasingly reluctant to pick up the phone to you. If however, your tone is encouraging, friendly and supportive, they will look forward to speaking to you, and they will be only too happy to have a chat to you, even if there is nothing concrete to report.
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Pop into the office, if you live close enough. Take them cakes, or flowers out of your garden for the office. If they offer to make you a cup of tea, even better. Take the time to really get to know the staff in the office, and you and your house will be at the forefront of their mind when they next receive a suitable enquiry. Agents are just like you and me; they have favourite clients, so make sure you’re one of them.

Keeping your estate agent onside can have a big effect on the interest you receive on your house. You may be feeling frustrated, but chances are, they are too. Add to that the embarrassment they could be feeling, having told you initially that they were sure your house would sell quickly! A bit of kindness and understanding can go a long way, and reassures your agent that you consider your house sale a team effort.

If you’d like my help to sell your home more effectively, please answer a few short questions here and if I think I can help you, I’ll be in touch.

A lovely couple contacted me recently for advice. Let’s call them Paul and Claire. They were thinking of selling their cottage in Norfolk, and had just invited the pre-requisite three estate agents round to value their house.

Agent one had valued it at £300,000, which was about the price they had themselves been thinking. So far, so good.

Agent two turned up, and asked them who which other agents had been round. Wanting to be honest, they told him. He then valued their cottage at £325,000, which they were quite pleased about. If they could get that little bit extra for their house, they could afford something nicer than they had been looking at. Things were getting better.

Agent three turned up, and again asked which other agents had been round, and again, in the spirit of transparency, they told her. She promptly gave them a valuation that nearly made them fall off their chairs: £350,000. Surely it wasn’t worth that much??

That evening, Paul and Claire popped into see a neighbour, who was also planning on selling her house. When they told her the story, she was delighted. Her house was a little bigger, and had a better plot. “I’ll put mine on for £375,000 then”, she remarked, excitedly.

The next morning, Paul and Claire called me.

They were confused by the valuations, and concerned that their cottage simply wasn’t worth that amount. Reluctant to put it on the market at a price that would cause it to stick, but also fearful of giving it away when they could have got more for it, they were utterly bewildered at what to do next.

I explained to them what was going on: simply put, estate agents are running out of properties to sell. This lack of ‘stock’ is causing a huge challenge for the industry. Back in 2007, agents had too many properties, and they just weren’t selling. Now, they don’t have enough to satisfy demand from buyers. Is this supply/demand imbalance causing asking prices to rise? Yes, of course. But estate agents are playing a significant part in this outcome too.

Whilst agents are competing so fiercely for new properties to sell, they are being compelled into ‘buying boards’; in other words, over-valuing properties just to get the client to sign with them. Now it’s not as disingenuous as it may sound; after all, prices are indeed going up in many parts of the country (not so much in Norfolk perhaps), and buyers, faced with so little choice of properties, will often pay more than they want to in order to secure their next home. With plenty of sellers willing to chance their arm and put their home on the market for an inflated figure, seduced by agents’ valuations and the tabloid headlines, we are actually all playing a part in this current state of play, with property prices going up, it would seem, daily.

Back to Paul and Claire.

We had a long discussion about the true ‘value’ of their cottage. Not a ‘test the market’ price, but also not a giveaway price either. What we were aiming to do, was to find the price that the property would sell at in the timeline they wanted.

We looked at precedent: what had sold in the last six months in their area. We also trawled through properties currently on the market, spotting local trends and noting anything that was sticking. After this exercise, Paul and Claire reluctantly concluded that the original valuation of £300,000 was in fact fair and reasonable. They understandably felt disappointed, having in effect ‘lost’ £50,000, but more confident that their cottage would actually sell, and not stick on the market.

So did they sell?

They certainly did. For the asking price too. They chose the first agent, had around half a dozen viewings, and accepted an asking price offer inside three weeks. Could they have got more for their house? Perhaps. But perhaps not. Every week, I talk to sellers who have been trying to sell for months, and even years. Paul and Claire weren’t prepared to risk that. They just wanted to be able to afford to move into something bigger, and they achieved that.

Perhaps our obsession with the value of our houses will never go away. But with the amount of data that is now available to us, sellers have a responsibility to make sure that the price we ask is reasonable, and fair. Yes, putting a house on the market at an over-inflated price can occasionally produce a windfall for the seller, but at what cost? Their neighbours will then believe their house is worth more, buyers will then be compelled to ask more for theirs, and so the huge price hikes go on.

Of course, this is the way the free market economy works. The laws of supply and demand create a roller coaster of prices that since the 1970s, has shaped the property market in the UK. But remember, we have a choice. We can choose to accept what we believe is an over-optimistic valuation by an over-eager agent, or we can sit back and consider, “is my house really worth this?”

If you’d like my help to sell your home more effectively, please answer a few short questions here and if I think I can help you, I’ll be in touch.

When looking at homes for sale online, the first picture people usually see is a front-facing shot. And there’s a good reason for that. The ‘front-aspect’, or ‘face’, is the familiar view that greets us each time we arrive home. So having an inviting, warm appearance is key. But after a cold winter of hibernation, our front gardens suddenly begin to look a little wild. It’s difficult to know where to begin, and it’s hard to know what really appeals to other families. So we’re here to lend some hands. Just follow these three easy steps, and you’ll have a picture perfect frontage in no time!

Pick the perfect season

This one is a little tricky, but if you’re looking to sell this Spring, you’re in luck. It’s no secret that in this season, everything begins to blossom; the daylight is fresh and inviting, and the Sun casts a gentle hue on natural woods and brick. Gardens look loved, and capturing beautiful shots is a breeze.

A spot of preening

Take a walk down your front garden, and stand facing your home. Position yourself so that the whole house and garden is in view. Take a picture, and head back inside. Have a look at the shot, and note down anything that detracts your attention from the house. Are the curtains drawn? Or perhaps it’s time for the window cleaner to take a visit? (We all know the feeling!) Sending the picture to friends and family is helpful too; it’ll help you see through objective eyes, and they’ll be able to spot the things you may overlook.

Take bins for example. Most are kept in a convenient spot to the front or side of a home. It works for everyday living, but it’s not the first thing a potential buyer wants to see. Moving them to a more discreet location is a quick job, but it will go a long way to smartening up the frontage. Have a quick sweep of the drive too, and hide away any rogue bikes or watering cans.

Now to tackle the grass

But don’t worry if you’re not the green-fingered type, a quick mow the lawn is all you need to make the garden presentable. Try to take cars off the drive, and park them elsewhere ahead of the photographers’ arrival too; it’ll make the frontage look more spacious, and give people an unobstructed view of the home.

Reinvigorate with colour

The subtle tones of Spring are a delight. A splattering of flower pots adds a delicate touch, and sweeping back any unruly stones or gravel is a worthwhile work-out too. And double-check that any overhanging trees are trimmed back just enough to see the house front. On that note, if the front door looks a little unloved after the winter season, consider freshening it up with a repaint. If you have a picket-fence on show, perhaps give it a lick of paint too. And whilst you sigh as you open the paint pot, know that the couple of hours you spend with a paint-brush in hand will make all the difference to a potential buyer.

And, to finish, popping a few hanging baskets either side of a polished front door is all you need to complete a picture-perfect frontage.

The final touches

So, your home looks magazine-worthy, and you’re ready to schedule the photographer. But what time is best to take the shots? Well, it depends on your location and what aspect your houses faces, so it’s best to double-check with your photographer. Some may advise a mid-morning shoot, others favour a mid-afternoon glow. Most would suggest avoiding midday, as this is the time that shadows appear the darkest overhead. They may suggest returning in the evening to take some twilight shots, though.

There are no real rules when it comes to photography, but for daylight shots, an abundance of light and clear skies is helpful. If it’s raining, try to reschedule, but it’s not a deal breaker if it’s overcast. As long as your home looks welcoming, it’ll catch the eye of potential buyers.

Happy selling!

If you’d like my help to sell your home more effectively, please answer a few short questions here and if I think I can help you, I’ll be in touch.