Author Archives: Sam

Many of our HomeTruths’ clients come to us for help, as they have lost trust in their estate agent.

In order to sell your house successfully, it’s really important that you and your estate agent are on the same page, which means you may need to go through several different estate agents until you find the right one for you.

Here are some tips on how to survive in the property dating game:

Get prepared for selling your house – if you really want to succeed in the property dating game, you need to commit; going into half- heartedly will not work. Do some research and prepare for the worst; promise yourself you won’t give up, no matter what happens.
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Think about what you want to gain from selling your house and why you are selling. Consider the timeframes you expect and where you want to be in 1/3/6 months time. A good reason to sell will drive you to sell your house properly.
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Dress your house so that it is looking at its most attractive. Make sure that the photographs are taken professionally so that the house looks appealing and gets the most amount of viewings. If your house is professionally and stylishly marketed, your confidence in selling your house will improve.
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Target buyers who have a good chance of buying your house. When marketing your property you need to make sure it stands out to those who can afford your asking price, find the property attractive and are interested in what the property has to offer. Marketing includes price, photographs and the how stylish your property brochure looks.
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Take breaks from being on the market occasionally if it’s not going as well as you thought. Recharging your batteries and keeping confidence and optimism levels high in the dating game is an absolute must. Everybody hits rough patches but don’t let your search for your dream buyer become a dreaded nightmare.
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Never make yourself seem desperate. People like properties which other people also dream to have. The more somebody has to chase a property, the more likely the love will blossom. Keep confident about your price of your house; do not drop your asking price because if you do not feel confident about your price, nobody else will.

Make sure you follow these 6 tips in the property dating game and you will have people falling in love with your property in no time. If you want any other tips in the property dating game or you are ready to use us as cupid, do not hesitate to pick up the phone.

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.

Ireland has certainly enjoyed a property boom in recent years, but now, sadly, it’s paying the price. On our trip last week, my husband and I drove across from Dublin to Achill on the west coast, and the same sad story was evident in every town and village on our route.

Big faded placards announce bargains no one wants; no show home welcomes brave browsers, and the front doors of the identical cookie-cutter houses are already peeling from months (years?) of neglect. The developers, or more probably, the banks who funded them, can only watch helplessly as the seasons roll by with buyers either unwilling or unable – or both – to make an offer, even an insulting one.

But it’s the sometimes solitary occupants who I feel most sorry for; the bright young families, eagerly moving into what may have been for some, their first home; excitedly planning room schemes, and running their fingers lovingly over the new appliances and that shiny new shower cubicle. Now, however, the house looks tarnished, not least because whilst they thought they were buying an investment: a house to add value to; a stepping stone of a home: like the early occupants of these three bed semis below, they have already made a loss of 118,550 Euros – that’s a cool £100,000 at today’s exchange rate, or a whopping 41%. All they can do really, is wait it out. Now is not the time to sell for a loss – even if their lender would allow them to – which is unlikely. Not only have they lost their original hard-saved deposit, they are now also paying mortgage payments at a level their home is not worth, and for which they could have bought a property considerably bigger. No wonder Ireland is depressed, and not just economically.

It’s all too easy to decry the wild greed that gripped the Irish property market and whipped it into a frenzy of speculative property developing, but it’s the first time buyers and the young families that have really lost out. The developers just go bust, and start again, or else dust their hands off and move onto a more lucrative industry. (Debt recovery, for example….)

So, before we start complaining about our measly 1.6% – that’s the amount that the Land Registry announced yesterday our semis have lost in the past year – spare a thought for our Irish neighbours, and cross your fingers that their property market recovers in time for the most vulnerable home owners to move on.

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.

Estate agents have it bad these days, (you ask them). Not enough houses coming to the market; not enough buyers registering; over-optimistic sellers; over-cautious buyers. They’re competing for the best properties, and slashing fees to secure the instruction. Where 2% was once achieveable in most areas, even the better agents are reluctantly shaking vendor’s hands at 1.25% to list a £500,000 property. But then what happens? They can’t afford to produce one of their lovely, ‘Country Life’ style brochures – the client gets four fuzzy sheets from the office printer. That fabulous professional photographer is ditched in favour of ‘Sean our junior negotiator who got a nice little camera for Christmas’. And print advertising? Forgot it – way too expensive.

Before you start feeling sorry for our hard-up estate agent in his two-year-old BMW 7 Series. He’s doing ok – it’s the admin lady, and the viewing reps that’ll really feel the knife. And not to mention the vendor, unable to attract even investors with his sorry excuse for a marketing campaign, if you can even call it that.

Stop! It doesn’t have to be like that! Our first rule at HomeTruths, is pay the agent what he’s worth. If we’ve selected the agency, I can tell you that he’ll be worth every penny of the 1.75% or more, he’ll be charging you. And for that, you’ll get stunning professional photography, a gorgeous glossy brochure with detailed (and accurate) floorplan, his best attention including, where possible, accompanied viewings by one of the partners or senior managers. After all, you’ll be paying for it in commission, and we’re going to make sure that you get the best service possible.

So, before you jump in to hard-nosed negotations with your potential agent, stop and think. Then call Sam. Because our agents don’t cut corners, at least, not on my watch.

Kitchen image courtesy of www.homesandgardens.com

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.

“This blog post is courtesy of the wonderful Jo Jacob from Benella – de-clutterer extraordinaire!”

Sam and I have just had a heated discussion over the word “de-cluttering”. Sam believed it implied that there was rubbish around peoples’ homes, and therefore our clients would believe it an insult if it was suggested that a good de-clutter was in order to have their homes seen in a more favourable light.

I disagreed! I believe that clutter for many people can be paperwork, too many clothes (surely not – us woman cry!), children’s toys and anything else bought into the home that does not have a place to go.

This clutter can simply build up if not dealt with regularly and then the job seems too big to start therefore it is left.

We had to grab the dictionary in the end and the noun description of clutter is “a disordered heap or mass of objects” therefore it is not rubbish – so here I am – allowed to write about it!

Many people have clutter in their homes, I am a professional de-clutterer and I still have drawers that my husband tuts over as that is where I put the things I don’t know where else to put! The rest of my house I have to stress is very organised but not at all minimal. It is not a problem for many until their homes go on the market and people come around to view. If you have a pile of items in the corner, a desk overflowing with paperwork or toys taking over the living room, a viewer could jump to the assumption that there is not enough storage – therefore your house will not be big enough for them. They could also focus on the “disordered heaps” and not think about where they would put their possessions.

I therefore suggest having a good de-clutter before photos and viewings are taken. It is a great start to packing up anyway!

Here are some tips if you need help:

1. Always start on the least emotional place – don’t sit down with old sentimental letters first.

2. Set yourself a time limit– start with one drawer or the kitchen timer on 10 minutes.

3. Action items– keep/charity/re-cycle/throw.

4. When removing things from your home, action it straight away – you may unpack it again otherwise if left too long.

5. Keep in mind the golden rule – whatever comes into your home, needs to have a place to go or exit out again, if it is left somewhere – it becomes clutter!

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.

“Why do you have so many hairbrushes?”, asked our good family friend yesterday, who is stopping with us for three weeks. I turned around to check what he was talking about and my eyes landed on a familiar yellow glass jug filled with at least 6 hairbrushes.

“Oh, we outgrew this house long time ago!”, was my reply. I think I proceeded by elaborating on when exactly we began to feel the lack of the living space…

Later that evening, when I was passing the ‘famous’ jug of brushes for a hundredth time, I suddenly paused recalling the earlier conversation.

That’s what came out of my introspection on this subject:

It is a weird place to keep the brushes! It makes perfect sense to us to have everyone’s hairbrush stored in the corridor, so that you can get a final ‘hairdo check’ on your way out of the house.

Until recently, it was six of us sharing our well outgrown 3-bedroom house and I believe I started this jug purely for practical reasons: my daughters kept misplacing their brushes and we were getting out of the door later than we should be doing on most mornings.

Now, this jug is not a pretty and exciting décor piece. It is, however, a very noticeable piece upon entering our house. I would not go as far as saying that it creates a focal point, but it definitely cannot go unnoticed.

Except that we don’t notice it anymore. We reach for it and use it every single day. But the truth is…we only notice it when it’s no longer there.

Our homes are full of these ‘jugs’: objects and scenes that are there for practical and habitual reasons. We are using them almost on autopilot. We are immune to them and hardly notice them. Having them where they are now makes perfect sense for us!

But what if a fresh pair of eyes catches the glimpse of these items? Would it make sense to them or puzzle and confuse them?

If it’s your home, you are free to have whatever you like wherever you like décor-wise. That’s your right! Use and enjoy it!

However, if you are trying to sell your property, you need to shuffle your stuff around to make sense (logical, aesthetical, emotional, etc.) for your potential buyer.

Just remember to be savvy about who to ask for feedback and how to approach the whole process of preparing your house for sale.

Let me give you my best tip:

Borrow a fresh pair of eyes! Professional home stagers are great. However, anyone with a flair for interior decorating who is open, honest, opinionated and is totally new to your house would be your second best choice (e.g. a work colleague you trust).

Even if your house has been on a market for a while, it’s not too late to get busy and creative to attract more viewings. If you don’t know where to start or simply don’t have time to do it yourself, consider inviting us to help you!

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.

From the beginning of November each year, many sellers start asking us the question “should I take my house off the market for Christmas?” The simple answer is yes. Here are my reasons:

1. Stale properties lose value. No one wants to buy a house they think no one else wants to buy, so resting it from the market for a while will make it seem like a fresh property to market when you relaunch;

2. With your Christmas tree up, presents and food everywhere, and Aunty Doris asleep in the armchair, chances are your house is not looking its best over the festive period. Give yourself chance to enjoy your Christmas without having to worry about how your house looks, and put it back on the market when you and your house are both recovered and refreshed;

3. Buyers often disappear over the Christmas period, distracted by their own festive commitments. Moving house usually loses its urgency for a few weeks, until the new year begins, when viewings pick up pace once again;

4. Your estate agent is probably also distracted, and too busy thinking about what presents he’s going to get to concentrate fully on selling your house;

5. Any advertising is often overshadowed by larger, sparklier adverts for gifts from the big advertisers, like John Lewis and Marks & Spencer; your house just won’t get a look-in with that kind of marketing noise.

So don’t panic that you’re off the market and no one will find you – very few buyers, if any, will be even looking. Also, have a chat with your agent before you do take your house off the websites; make sure he knows that you do still want to sell, you’re just resting the marketing. That way, if he does get a super-keen buyer, he’ll call you. In the meantime, enjoy a viewings-free Christmas!

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.

On 13 July 2007, there was an article in The Times, written by my old co-presenter Lucy Alexander, called “How to sell your home in a hurry”. She consulted with three property experts to discover, that magic strategy, sellers need to sell their houses quickly – Phil Spencer, presenter of Location, Location, Location; Ed Mead, estate agent, and Sarah Beeny, presenter of Property Ladder. Here’s an excerpt of their advice, and my responses:

Phil Spencer: “Ask your agents why they haven’t sold it and how you can help them do their job.”

I like Phil, he doesn’t mess about with his advice. There is a problem with this particular piece of advice though – the agent doesn’t know what else to do! Many times at HomeTruths, we have come up with a whole raft of ideas to help increase interest in a house, when the agent had completely run out of inspiration and indeed, motivation. In my experience, they only have one suggestion when a house won’t sell – dropping the price.

Which brings me neatly to Ed’s advice…

Ed Mead: “Drop the price to appeal to a whole new level of buyers – there’s no point tinkering at the margins.”

Let me ask you this: if your house is for sale at £600,000, and you aren’t getting interest, how would it help to drop the price to £550,000? Is Ed saying that the buyers at £550,000 are completely different from the buyers at £600,000? Time and time again, clients come to us already having dropped their asking price, sometimes several times, but to no avail: no new buyers magically appeared at the lower price. It’s rarely the asking price that is stopping the house from selling.

Sarah Beeny: “If it isn’t selling it’s too expensive. Drop the price, take the house off the market for two weeks before launching it with a new agent at a price at least 10 per cent lower.”

Sarah’s great at shooting from the hip, but on this subject, I think she’s way off target. Consider this: if a new model of Mercedes isn’t selling as well as Mercedes hope, do they drop the price? Or do they instead re-train and incentivise their staff and roll out a ramped-up marketing campaign? They know that discounting is a mug’s game. They prefer to leave any discounting to the salesperson sitting in front of a hot buyer – just as you should save any room for negotiation for a buyer ready to offer on your house.

For real expert advice that gets your house sold whilst protecting your asking price, it’s time for some HomeTruths.

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 seems that every day we wake up to a new and often contradictory headline about house prices. They’re falling! No wait – They’re shooting up! It’s boom – or is it bust? – over and over again. But what’s really happening? Well in my opinion, the market is much less dramatic than headline writers like to hear. Yes, it’s a little flat at the moment, but the buyers that are looking, tend to be more committed to making offers. To give you an example from one national estate agency chain, who tells me that viewings are 40% down from this time last year, whilst sales are only down 7%. So, confidence is improving, and time-wasters are being deterred.

My market comment is three-fold, and, forgive me if this is a little dry, but I think it’s important to look at the actual data, both current and historical.

I’ve also added my own HomeTruths take on the matter, so read on and prepare to write your own headlines…..

1. Data accuracy – It seems that every day, we read another headline claiming that house prices are ‘soaring’ or tumbling’! But what should we believe? Firstly, it is very important to understand that every piece of data released on house prices is skewed in one direction or another. eg Halifax only include data from their borrowers, Land Registry House Price Index (HPI) uses sales data collected on all residential housing transactions, since January 1995. Home Track (www.hometrack.co.uk) is the most accurate house price data available, as not only is the data gathered from all available sources, but also it is weighted according to relevance and importance. Currently, Home Track report that year on year, (October 2009 – October 2010), House Price Growth stands at 1%. If you look at the graph below, you’ll see that after a couple of dips in 2005/6 and 2009, we’re beginning to level out.

2. Historical evidence – Let’s look at two data sources: the Halifax House Price Index (1983-2007), and the Nationwide House Price Index (1952-2007).

The Halifax House Price Index (HPI) data goes back to 1983 and take in the Eighties boom, the Nineties bust and the return to soaring house prices under this Labour government. During this period, the average house price in the UK has doubled on six occasions, and came very close to doubling on two more. Over this eighteen year period, these figures show that property prices grew by an average of 7.9% a year.

The Nationwide House Price Index covers a much longer period spanning 55 years. This period includes modest house-price growth in the Fifties and the boom of the Seventies. During this time, house prices doubled on 22 occasions. They actually fell on two different occasions and even so, rose at an average annual rate of 8.7%.

3. The HomeTruths’ Approach – even in a difficult market, some houses do sell! Our job is to make sure that our clients’ houses stand out in every way they can, to attract those very precious buyers that are prepared to buy. By ensuring their marketing campaigns are well-structured, attractive and confident, and the houses are well-presented and appealing to the identified target market, we place our clients in the best possible position to gain market share of viewings and a successful offer.

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 you first engage an estate agent, you may find that you get a flurry of viewings, that your agent calls often, you get full feedback of each and every viewings, and your house is profiled in the office window. You feel that you’ve chosen the right agent, and are busy between viewings patting yourself on the back.

Six months later, it may be a different story. You didn’t receive any feedback from the last viewer, and in fact you haven’t had a viewing in weeks. You can’t remember the last time you heard from your agent, and he seems to have stopped returning your calls. When he does eventually call you back, it’s only to suggest a price drop.

It’s all going wrong – what can you do about it?

One strategy is to reinvigorate your agent by incentivising him. This will only work if he’s going to actually benefit personally from this, but my advice is to get the branch manager involved and offer an extra commission if they sell your house within a certain time period.

Have a strategy meeting with your agent. Thoroughly examine all the marketing and advertising – online advert, photography, brochure, print advertising – and look at ways it can be refreshed and made more efficient.

If none of the above works, take your house off the market for a short break, then put it back on with a new estate agent. That way, you can recreate that initial burst of enthusiasm and activity, and this time, it might just work.

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.