UKC

We are looking at moving, either to a bigger house or a new area. We have never sold a house before...

Our house is currently very much in need of decorating. Is it generally worth getting a lick of paint on before putting it on the market?

Is a local estate agent better than purple bricks or something?

Is it a total nightmare :o

Thanks!

Yes I suggest decorating if you can do it easily. We also got the carpets cleaned (before the estate agents took a photo).

Yes.

De clutter. You will end up throwing loads out if you move, so do it now.

Tidy the garden.

Lick of paint.

Rightmove is where its at, the estate agent is almost irrelevant, but get three prices. Then focus on houses like yours for a couple of weeks and research recent selling prices and make a realistic assesment. Your just as capable of valuing your house as an Estate Agent is. I would then buy a board and put it up in the garden and see what happens for a couple of weeks. £100 for a proper board, if that ?

If no joy get a local estate agent on no sale no fee and negotiate a price 1% seems the norm, but remeber its +VAT

Purplebricks. I think they just take a fee up front which is cheaper, but you pay whatever happens, so if you do not sell, it still costs. Remember a lot houses never sell for one reason or another

Well done for having the self awareness to notice that the house needs some cosmetic attention, a lot of sellers become blind to the shortcomings of their own homes.

You need to factor in whether the time, effort and cost involved in decorating will make you in a return in terms of the value and saleability of your house.

Decoration does not normally increase the value of a house but it will make it easier to sell. 

The cliches exist because they are true.

Remove clutter and de-peronsalise the space. Buyers need to be able to imagine themselves and their possessions in the space rather than being distracted by your stuff. Consider getting a skip for the real rubbish and charity shop, Freecycle, eBay the rest of it.

Keep it neutral. Magnolia is cheap and makes rooms look lighter and larger.

First impressions. Make it easy. Can your possible purchaser park on arrival? Is the front garden a dumping ground? Make the front door look good. Make sure the door bell and hall/porch light works.

Once a lot of people have undergone these actions they actually fall back in love with their homes and stay put.

Try not to mention that the reason you are moving is that you need a larger house, it makes yours feel small (even if it not). Consider some little white sales stories. Closer to work, school, dependents etc. are reasons for moving that throw fewer doubts into a potential buyer's mind.

Online agency or not. Depends on your time and confidence. If you the time to manage viewings confidently then why not. If you are aware that this is not your strong point and you have a tendency to blurt out the truth about the annoying neighbours, poor parking and the dodgy electrics you might be better off leaving viewings to someone else. Some online agencies offer this service. Look around you, who is successful at making sales in your area. Whatever you do run a beauty pageant for the local agents to come and assess your property, see it as free consultancy. You can make an informed choice after their viewings.

Arrange your own solicitor before you go on the market so there are no delays when it comes to getting the deal executed.

Someone else mentioned carpets. I purchased a semi-industrial Vax carpet cleaner. It had paid for itself many times over.

Good luck.

Careful with pre-payment deals like Purpebricks. I recall some problems people were having last year when they took the option for deferred payment but failed to notice they had signed up to a credit agreement. In one of the example cases this credit agreement was cited as a reason that the seller's mortgage application on their new property was rejected (who knows).

Point being keep your eyes wide open!

From the perspective of someone who has viewed and rejected hundreds of houses I can tell you this:

1 - Neglect is easy to spot, both in the house and in the garden. 

2 - Weird and wacky colour schemes, pictures, souvenirs and room arrangements may reflect your unique personalities and lifestyle but they won't attract viewers who want to imagine themselves living in the house.

3 - By the same token neutral colours, lack of clutter and clean carpets and toilets are crucial. That means no aroma of wee wee where chaps have tinkled on the bathroom floor. 

4 - I've lost count of the hours of my life I've wasted looking over and even getting excited by houses whose owners didn't really want to sell but were just testing the market or just weren't keen to move. We had to winkle the previous owner out of our current house because his wife and family had left and he was unhappy about selling the family home and splitting the proceeds.

Thanks everyone! Selling a house that 4 dogs, 2 cats and various smaller pets live in is going to be interesting: making the house clutter free and neutral is hard. But equally moving out is a no go as we can't rent with them!

With that many pets, keep them out of the way. Not every one loves them and even if they did that many might be overwhelming. Be aware that your house might smell! Keep the cat and dog hairs in check. 

I second the advice about keeping pets out of the way.  Try and arrange things so that when someone views the dogs aren't there (take them for a walk and get someone to hoover after you've left) and make sure that if you have a cat litter tray that it's out of the way and that any cat or dog droppings are removed from the garden.  If you can put feeding and water bowls away then do so, if not then make sure they're clean and don't smell.  One option for moving stuff that you use routinely but think is best not to have around when people view is to put stuff in a car boot, which might be another place to put things like feeding and water bowls.  If you can't find anywhere to put stuff you don't wish to part with but don't need immediately when you declutter, the loft is your friend.  If the loft can't be your friend, rent some storage space in one of the places thsat offer this (there are a few, have a google).  A lick of paint and clean carpets will always help too.

All this comes as a result of buying and selling houses myself and from looking round houses where the owners had pets.  The very worst one was a house where one of the dogs had just had pups and so we couldn't go into the room they were in; another room was so full of boxes (decluttering had meant they put lots of things in boxes and stuffed them all in one room) that you couldn't get into it; and the whole house smelled of dog.  When the estate agent called for feedback, we advised them to take the house off the market for a few weeks and have some strong words with the seller about cleaning, tidying and generally de-dogging the house as at that time it was unlikely to appeal to anyone and reflected rather badly on the agency that they would invite viewers to a house in that condition.

Good luck with your sale.

T.

here's a list of things that turned me off when I've been house-hunting

If you have a leaky radiator don't leave an ash tray underneath to catch the drips, get it fixed.

If you go away on holiday and are expecting viewings, don't leave your cat locked in the kitchen with open bowls of food on every surface and extra litter trays all over the floor.

If you have a crappy loft conversion don't forget to put in the advert that the house is only suitable for midgets because the doors are only 5' 10" high.

Black loo-roll will really give your potential buyers a laugh.

Apparently it's a sellers market - is it worth the hassle of painting / tarting up when new owners will probably want to paint it anyway. Simply offer a few grand off the price when they comment.

Some good advice there, particularly the point about parking. If parking in the area is at a premium and you've got a parking space move your own car around the corner, and let the viewers use it. Good points about presentation - don't forget the gutters - any grass growing out of them? If so get a jobbing builder to clear them, and remove any junk/rubbish from the garden. Repair any dodgy fences/gates - remember first and last impressions!

The dogs are a major off put for many buyers which dog lovers don't always appreciate, so some good advice there particularly about hairs, mud on floors and smell. . If you can get a friend or someone to take them out for a walk when viewers come all for the good. The point about smell is also important if you have any smokers in your household.

One of the good things about using a (good) agent is that if the buyer wants to negotiate you don't have to do it face to face. It gives you thinking and breathing time. Also a (good) estate agent  should help buyers arrange their mortgage and can enquire into their finances which you might find embarrassing and sensitive.

Show them round but don't crowd them. At the end of the viewing offer them the chance to go round again on their own if they want - this obviously needs you to use common sense and judgement about trust, so don't leave any small valuables, money or wallets lying around! 

Good luck!!

.

My tuppence:

- 50l of pale (but not white) emulsion can work wonders (but may show up your woodwork).

- Carpet cleaning worthwhile; new carpets not

- Decluttering a must (kitchen worktops too)

- If you can't sort the pets to be away, choose one room to take the hit.

- Cut the grass and tidy garden especially at front

- Clean the bathroom/s

- If a room is ina bad state (bathroom or kitchen typically) it is not worth doing it up.  I saw a place with £50k worth of new kitchen... but it was blood red and needed ot go straight out again!

Regarding agents it's worth gettign decent photos taken.  After that any of the fixed price web companies thta will get you on Rightmove and Zoopla would be fine and save a fortune (High St agents are 1-2% typically).

When you show around, shut up!  No one wants to be shown every single double socket.  Give people space to look around and then invite questions.  Have some copies of the details to hand out.

We found eMoov to be absolutely brilliant.  They were by far the best agent we have ever dealt with, and cost more than a grand less than the cheapest traditional agent quote.  It does mean you have to show people round your house, but that's better than some 19-year-old in a shiny suit!  You don't need a For Sale board (who finds houses by looking around for boards these days?) - what you need are good photos on Rightmove and Zoopla.

A couple of hundred quid spent on a storage box for a few months can make your house significantly less cluttered - just pile anything you won't need for the forseeable future in it.  Also makes moving day a bit less arduous.

Allegedly magnolia sells because it provides a blank canvas, even if in my case I spent the following years eradicating every last bit of the nasty wall-puke colour from mine.

Thanks again. 

The dogs will go in the camper van when visitors come! They would love to meet new people a bit too much... Good point about giving them your parking space, like it... 

Also considering taking some stuff to a relatives house to make the place tidier (haven't told relative yet... )

I think the issue of smell is quite important. People get used to their own smell so it doesn't bother them when the house stinks of fags or frying or dogs. A damp house smells worse than a dry house so keep your windows open for ventilation and remove any source of odour. Don't dry food for 24 hours before a viewing because fat droplets stick to kitchen surfaces and give off a smell. Obviously if you're marketing the house in cold weather, the heating must be on and every room warm. 

There's also nothing more off-putting than fittings and fixtures that don't work - lights, taps and door latches need to be working well and not falling apart, which all adds up to an impression of "expense" in buyers' minds.

Remove the grot and clean properly where you'd not normally bother

Bland it out

Bake bread

Brew coffee

Have the fire burning

Don't get pissed beforehand fart loudly and giggle at your own prowess when showing people around.

Personally I much prefer (and think is more effective) getting the agent to show people around

Clean the windows.

I used to brew coffee and to replicate the smell of baking I put a mix of vanilla essence and cinnamon into water on a baking tray and let it evaporate off in the oven on a low heat.

Lots of good advice above, for my part i would say avoid purple bricks like the plague! We recently moved and the people we were buying from used them and they were useless. Nearly caused the entire purchase to fall through. 

My wife is an estate agent. Company’s like Purple Bricks are hated as they fail to do any of the essential housekeeping to get the chain through. When a chain is having problems the traditional estate agent frequently has to deal with problems (even though not employed to do so) on behalf of these companies otherwise the whole thing falls apart.