Author Archives: Sam

A gentleman called me recently, and asked me this very question: “How many photos of my house online is too many?”

“How many do you have?” I asked him.

“77” came the reply.

Yes, if you’re wondering, 77 photos is too many. Around 57 too many, in fact!

There’s a great marketer’s saying that goes, “Sell the sizzle, not the sausage”, and that’s very relevant here. What it means is, don’t try to show the buyer everything, all at once. If you have 77 photographs of your home online, coupled with 1000 words of description, why would a buyer need to view your home? They can decide whether or not your home is of interest to them, from the comfort of their armchair, based on your photography alone.

Keep a little back; tease your buyer and pique their interest. Here’s a few tips on how to hook their attention, and encourage them to view your home:

Don’t post too many photographs: 12 – 20 images is plenty, you really don’t need any more.
Try to make a third of your photographs lifestyle images; in other words, stylish pictures of interesting features of your home, close-up. Perhaps a garden table dressed with a bottle of wine and some glasses, a candlelit dining table, or flowers on a hallway table. These kind of images snag a buyer’s attention and give them the clues they need that your home may be what they are looking for.
Keep your copy brief and snappy: use bullet points for your main features, and short, interesting sentences for a brief description.
Don’t let your agent use a long description online, as your buyer may well have to scroll down several times before they even reach your brochure link. Keep the copy to no more than a screen’s depth.

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 a potential buyer sees a photograph of your house, they will have an emotional reaction to it, to some degree. The reaction may be positive or negative; it may be indifference, which will probably cause them to dismiss your house as a possible next home for them.

Clearly, the main image is crucial as your best chance to generate a positive emotional reaction, and one way of doing this is to make sure that your front door can be seen in the main shot. Let me show you what I mean.

Take this lovely property for a start; it has some great period features – that decorative brickwork for example – and it clearly has an elegant and perfectly fitting front door, if you crane your neck to see it, that is. What a pity that buyers can’t see it in any of the photos online.

And this old school house, with its pretty windows and attractive roofline, would look so much more inviting if you could see the front door. If nothing else, I’m curious as to what it would look like.

This Lakeland stone property has been photographed at an angle that shows the front door, giving balance to the image and the best chance of creating a positive emotional response in a buyer. I would be intrigued by the fact that the door itself appears contemporary in style, tempting me to seek out the rest of the images, to see what it’s like inside.

What a pretty conversion; imagine if the photographer had taken the shot straight on to the garage; the cute porch wouldn’t be visible. This way, a buyer can see the character of the outside that could give a clue about what lies inside.

So if your house is on the market, check out your online advert to see if your front door is visible; if not, consider asking your agent to change your front shot so that it is and give your buyers the chance to make that emotional connection with your house right from the start.

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 to put your home on the market, and why timing is so important.

Often, when we decide to sell our property, we simply engage an estate agent and then ask them to market it immediately. However, putting your house on the market at the wrong time of year for your particular buyers may mean that your property launch is more of a dribble. You need early and strong interest from buyers who want to move, and that takes a little planning. Newsflash – certain times of the year are better for selling particular properties than others.

The key is to know your buyer and plan according to their timescale, not yours. Different types of buyers like to move at different times of the year, according to their own needs. It’s not healthy for your eventual sale price, or for your emotional wellbeing, to have a property languishing on the market for months, so the better you can plan your launch, the more likelihood there is that your property will sell quickly.

Who buys when?

Young couples and singles: First time buyers often begin their first home search very early in the year. Perhaps they have spent one Christmas too many at home with their relatives, and realised it’s time to move out. Their search often starts in earnest in January and February, and their purchases at the lower end of the market – apartments and terraced homes – then supports the second and third time buyer market – semi-detached and detached homes. This, in turn, supports the larger properties, and so the cycle goes on. One thing to remember about young couples and singles, is that they tend to look at lots of different properties, and as they are not in a hurry, their search can go on for months, and even years. So be patient with them, and let them take their time to make up their minds.

Families: Family buyers tend to buy at three distinct times of year: autumn, spring and early summer. Do you recognise the significance of these times? They are school term times. Buyers with children don’t usually like to house hunt during the holidays. First, they have better things to do, perhaps going on holiday, and second, it’s a whole lot more stressful viewing a home when you have a bored and whiny child to contend with. Mums and Dads tend to wait until the children are in school, so they can view the house in peace.

Downsizers: Older couples and singles usually prefer to look at homes during the warmer months, so bungalows and retirement homes will often languish on the market over the winter time. The elderly don’t want to venture out to look at homes in the rain and snow, and nor do they want to move house in the winter time. For them, summer is the ideal time to sell, and to buy, and this type of buyer tends to look at fewer properties, and make their minds up more quickly.

If you know who is most likely to buy your home, you can plan your launch to market more effectively. Remember that the less time your home is on the market, the closer to your asking price you are statistically likely to get, so plan for a quick sale!

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.

No, I’m not being personal, I’m talking about your online property advert!

Take a moment to find your house on Rightmove or one of the other property portals, and tell me what can see, without scrolling down the page. Web developers call this ‘above the fold’ and it receives far more traffic than the bottom section of the webpage.

If your agent has included, as he should have done, a link to the pdf of your brochure, on Rightmove this link will appear at the bottom. If there is reams and reams of description about your house, a buyer may have two scroll down two, three or more times before they even come to it. Most will just not bother, statistics tell us, and your lovely brochure will go unnoticed.

The solution is easy: ask your agent to chop down your description until you can see your brochure link without scrolling down. It appears just above your EPC (energy performance certificate) so edit your copy carefully until you estimate it fits here nicely. Then send the revised description to your agent, and ask them to update the portals accordingly.

Don’t worry about this loss of description; your online advert is not the place to go into detail about what your property has; think of it as a newspaper advert, and only include a brief but punchy write up that will tempt your buyer to pick up the phone and book a viewing; after all, that really is the purpose of your online advert, isn’t it?

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.

Are you wrestling with the decision of exactly what the marketing price of your house should be?Worried you’ll make a mistake, and concerned about the consequences?

Selecting just the right asking price for your house can be a challenging task.; one that should be made easier by the advice of your estate agent, but often that’s not the case. After all, if you’ve interviewed three or more estate agents to give you an up to date market appraisal, you may have found yourself in possession of three different asking price recommendations.

We’ve been advising homeowners on pricing strategy for well over a decade now, and in that time, we’ve tried and tested some simple guidelines to help you select the best asking price for you to go to market with.

Rightmove’s search bandings

If you choose a strategically optimised asking price, it will make sure your house is found in a Rightmove search:

When you use the drop-down search in Rightmove, you’ll see the price ranges become further apart as the prices go higher. So for searches below £300,000, the bands jump in £10,000 rises, whereas between £1,000,000 and £2,000,000, the price bands are in £250,000 increments.

If you select an asking price that’s just below a Rightmove price band, say £599,999, your property will only show in a search up to £600,000, but not including it. This is what we call the ‘Rightmove Zero Pricing Strategy’. By pricing your property at £600,000 exactly, it will appear in searches that both start and end at £600,000. Simply put, pricing your property at the exact same price as a Rightmove property search band, your house will show in more searches; potentially up to double the number of searches you’d get found in, with a non-optimised price.

The psychology of pricing houses

Estate agents often like to use a price with all the nines, because they believe it’s a psychological price point. But this is an outdated viewpoint, that doesn’t work in today’s digital world. Let’s face it, a price with all the nines like £999,999 is a cheap ploy – an ‘Asda’ price. Your buyers aren’t daft, so don’t treat them as if they are. Give them some respect with a ‘John Lewis’ price.

After all, as my Dad would have said, “Look after the pennies, and the pounds will take care of themselves”.

* * * * *

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 was once called in to help a homeowner with a beautiful Georgian home in Chichester. He and his wife had been trying to sell their house for a soul-destroying seven years. If you asked any of the six or so estate agents who had tried and failed to sell the property, why hadn’t it sold, they would chorus as one: it’s the price. That’s always the reason a house won’t sell, right?

But this house had already dropped in price by a staggering 33%, and was now starting to actually look cheap when compared with the competition, so I knew it wasn’t the reason for the lack of a sale. Once I’d played detective, I uncovered a whole raft of issues I felt were stopping the house from selling. We tackled those fairly inexpensively, put the asking price up, sprinkled on a little luck and hey presto, the house was sold inside a month. Once I had identified the factors that were stopping this house from selling, the owners were happy to rectify the issues. Until my visit, they hadn’t known they existed.

The first step in turning round a failing property sale is to identify what has gone wrong so far. Until you do this, how can you put it right? Whilst estate agents will assume the asking price is too high, (often a price they themselves valued it at) I will look at all the other factors, including the way the house is presented, whether that’s right for the target market, the motivation of the seller, the subliminal messages that the photography and words are conveying, and many other aspects that may not be apparent to the seller. (See also my post ‘Is there a hidden reason your home isn’t selling?’)

With all the houses I’ve helped sell over the last decade or so, there has almost always been a very subtle reason it wasn’t selling. That reason would stop a buyer being able to connect with the house, and to see it as their new home. Without this connection, it’s almost impossible to sell your house, other than to an investor with no emotional investment in the transaction. But until you know the reason, you are relying on luck playing a huge part in your property sale. It’s a big gamble.

So when a client asks me “When will my house sell?” I reply simply, “When you’ve discovered why it’s not selling”. Find that, and you’re almost there.

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’s all in the lighting”, as house doctor Ann Maurice says. The lighting you choose can make or break a colour scheme or a design idea, and lift the ordinary into the extraordinary.

In a climate where natural light can be short-lived and weak, it’s important to let as much as possible of this precious commodity into our homes. Pull back curtains and blinds, position mirrors adjacent to windows, and make sure they are spotlessly clean to really make the most of the light available. Any shiny surface, such as glass ornaments or chrome accessories will really shine near a window, and bounce light around the room.

Remember that the direction in which a window faces will alter the quality of the light; the light through north-facing windows, for example, will have a bluish tinge, and careful choice of décor will either enhance or combat this. So if you want a very cool-feeling room, painting walls bathed in this cold light in pale blues, or cool greens, will emphasise this fresh, calm atmosphere. A warm palette of terracottas, corals and caramels on the other hand, will combat this blue light, and give the room a warm, cosy feeling.

The right lighting for the right room.

The lighting you choose for each individual room needs to reflect not only the desired atmosphere, but also the practical use of the room. Here are some tips to help you make the right lighting choices:

Living room:

This is usually a well-used room, so make sure the general level of lighting is suitable for a variety of different tasks
Picking out a feature wall, or else an architectural feature such as cornicing, beams or stonework, with directional spotlight helps to create interest and drama
Any ‘hidden’ lighting, for example, under pelmets or behind cabinets, will diffuse the light and create soft uniform lighting
Use dimmers to change lighting moods
Highlight artwork and plants with individual lighting arrangements
Shades on floor, table and hanging fixtures will help soften the glare, and create pools of light
Display lighting can draw attention to collections or unusual objects

Dining room:

The lighting you choose for this area depends on your use of the room. An intimate space for entertaining small numbers of friends and family will have different needs to a more open-plan arrangement, perhaps off the kitchen:

The lighting in a family dining area should be kept relaxed and easy, with a good level of light, and many sources to create a consistent level.
To create a more intimate atmosphere, try hanging a large fitting, such as a chandelier, low over the table, so that a pool of light is created in the centre of the table, whilst the guests are in the dimmer light. This creates a very cosy atmosphere; just right for a small party of dinner guests.
Candles are another way of creating a special feel to the room; their light is very flattering to skin tones, so your female guests will thank you!
Candles placed near mirrors or by other reflective surfaces will make for really interesting light plays and shadows, and enhance the intimate mood.

Kitchens:

Kitchens need to be really well-lit, with both overhead and directional lighting, for maximum functionality.

Overhead lighting is best served by spotlights, either ceiling sunk, or else on a bracket. This way the lighting is well-distributed, uniform and as free from shadows as possible
Under-pelmet lighting will light the worksurfaces and sinks so that the chef doesn’t cast a shadow over the food preparation
Special features, such as Agas or feature tiling, can be specially lit with directional lighting to enhance them and create interest
Shiny kitchen accessories, such as chrome kettle and toaster, will add to the lighting level by sparkling and maximising the existing light

Bedrooms:

Keep bedroom lighting low-level to preserve intimacy. Overhead lighting is best controlled by a dimmer switch, and lamps will make bedroom reading easy without raising the overall lighting level too much
Keep any wall lighting directed downwards to help create a calm, intimate atmosphere
Touch lamps are ideal for bedrooms, as they are so easy to turn on and off when you’re half asleep.

Bolder Lighting Ideas:

Lighting isn’t just for the interior – don’t forget the garden! At night, lights can help your garden become a whole new world of shadows and interesting shapes.
Lights these days are often pieces of art in themselves: try over-sized stone lamps in your living room, or huge, ornate multi-stranded light fittings over your dining table. Steer away from the traditional shapes and use lamps and light fixtures to really make a design statement.
Try replacing floor tiles with underlit glass for real impact in your kitchen or bathroom

Creative and thoughtful lighting can really transform the dullest darkest house: just think carefully about the mood you’re trying to create and the use for the room and plan accordingly.

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.

Proceedable buyers generally have mixed emotions about their impending purchase right now. On the one hand, they may be feeling a little invincible, being one of the highly sought-after minority that currently make up less than 25% of active viewers. As a consequence, they may well be looking at properties which were previously out of their price range, anticipating a hard-ball negotiation with the seller.

The other emotion they are probably experiencing is fear, or at the very least, nervousness. Has the market reached its depths? Is it going to fall further? Will they be trapped in negative equity?

Sellers – you need to appreciate your buyer’s motivations and issues in order to be better placed to negotiate with them successfully, and end up with a committed buyer and a good deal.
Here are my suggestions for a mutually beneficial outcome:

1. Don’t rush them – buyers are understandably a little jittery at the moment and they may need longer than usual to make up their minds.

2. Compete well – investigate your competition – buyers are now looking at one average, 15 – 20 properties before deciding to offer on one, so you need to be the best in your category. If you offer the best deal in the area, you can be more confident about your asking price.

3. Give a little away – house buying and selling is a very fraught time, with many obstacles to be overcome before completion. If you have the foundations of a good relationship with your buyers, they will feel more willing to make compromises and be flexible over say, included fixtures and fittings or completion dates.

4. Communication – if things start getting a little tense, ask your agent to facilitate a ‘round table meeting’ if you discuss matters face-to-face with your buyers, there is less chance of misunderstanding occurring and third party corruptions of conversations.

5. Expect the unexpected – in this market, there is every chance that your buyer may get cold feet, may lose their buyer, have their mortgage offer withdrawn or may try to gazunder you. The latter is when a buyer deliberately waits until you are ready to exchange contracts then drops their offer, often significantly. Decide on an action plan for each and all of these eventualities, and don’t start packing until it’s signed.

By following these 5 rules, you will keep your buyer ‘on side’ and the obstacles and challenges you meet along the way won’t seem so insurmountable.

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.

Houses are composed of bricks and mortar, and are described in square feet and pound signs. Homes are full of future dreams and hopes, of family Christmases, and special birthdays; of engagement proposals, football failures and trophies, niggling arguments and comforting hugs. They are made up of your life.

When the time comes that your home no longer fits your life, and you need to move on, it’s rarely without a backward glance and a nostalgic twinge. That moment when you close the front door, and hand over the keys can be a bit of a wrench, even when your stay there has been relatively short.

You see, we put a lot of ourselves into a home. It is a bit like a mirror, reflecting back our personality and style; our philosophy and our approach to life.

Each home becomes a chapter then, of ourselves and of the lives we lead. I have moved 37 times – really! I have had, in essence, 37 chapters. I think of my life in terms of the house I was living in at the time. The house I call home now, is a very sweet, stone built cottage, surrounded by green fields and with views over stunning fells. It sounds idyllic – to me at least. Not everyone would love it. And it wouldn’t suit every life chapter, but it suits mine.

If you’ve completed your chapter in the home you live in, and it’s time to move on, consider this – it’s now time to hand your house over to someone new, so that they can start their life chapter in your home, just as you once did, and as you are about to do, someplace new.

A home has to really fit us. It has to feel like somewhere we want to come back to after a hard day’s work, and somewhere that we can celebrate life’s little victories.

If a home doesn’t fit, no amount of clever marketing, glossy photographs and eager estate agent will convince us to buy it.

But if you walk in and it feels like you’ve come home, you’ll buy it. And the asking price is then almost immaterial. If it is at all in your reach, you’ll make it work; you’ll find a way. Because you’re home.

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.

So you’ve chosen your estate agent, decided upon an asking price, and planned your launch date. Your home is looking wonderful: carpets cleaned, and the whole house spring-cleaned. All that remains is some finishing touches. But what accessories represent the best investment when you’re trying to give your house that extra presentation polish to wow your buyers?

1. Cushions – a really easy way to instantly update that fading suite and add colour, texture and interest at the same time.

2. Rugs – a large, deep rug can transform a room, adding warmth and style. You don’t have to spend a fortune on them; decide on a budget and stick to it. You should be able to get a large rug, say 8’ x 4’, for under £150 if you shop around.

3. Fruit and flowers – try big glass bowls or wide vases of fruit in the kitchen to add colour; fill full of just one type of fruit (oranges, green apples or lemons look wonderful) for instant contemporary style. Make sure flower arrangements are in keeping with the style of the house and also the room: long elegant Cala lilies are great on a large dining table, and little hand-tied posies are just right for a rustic kitchen. Choose carefully for maximum effect.

4.Toiletries – choose the very best you can afford here; it matters: a little Molton Brown goes a long way! Again, make sure that they are kept for viewings only.

5. New bedding – especially for the master bedroom, where it matters most to your buyers. Choose a subtle style that isn’t too garish or flowery, and add some cushions and a good quality throw. For the other bedrooms, adding new plain bedding with some tasteful cushions and throws can update them inexpensively.

6. Towels – used towels never quite look the same as brand new ones; treat your home to some gorgeous new towels, and make sure that no one uses them – they’re just for show! Whip them away and hide them after each viewing so they stay looking their best.

7. Atmosphere – in the form of soft music and gentle fragrances. Choose soothing background music to encourage buyers to linger, and scented candles in subtle fragrances to provide the finishing touch.

Where to buy:

To stay up to date with current trends, colours and styles without breaking the bank, try these high street retailers:

Next – great range of coordinated soft furnishings and home accessories at value-for-money prices.

Marks and Spencer – usually a little more traditional, so better for older homes in the main.

John Lewis – my favourite, but the more expensive of my suggestions. Great for sumptuous fabrics and decorative touches.

Matalan – not the best quality, but you definitely get a lot for your money! Right on trend, and full of bargain pieces like vases and ornaments. Well worth a visit.

House to Home – great online website for sourcing all the things you’ll need, and finding inspiration too

eBay – A fantastic resource for homewares, both new and second hand. You can search by item, size, colour, shape, you name it. I once furnished almost an entire house for sale from eBay, and saved a fortune. Try it!

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.