Author Archives: Sam

Home staging, or as it’s sometimes known, house dressing, has been with us now for over a decade. Originating in the States, the formidable Anne Maurice brought the concept over in 1998 with her Channel 5 programme ‘House Doctor’ and whilst the British public was slow to catch on at first, now the Home Stager Network boasts a wide membership of active home stagers, and over 250,000 unique visitors per year to its website.

So what exactly IS home staging, and when does it become refurbishment, or renovation?

Firstly, the objective of home staging isn’t to improve the house itself: the fixtures and fittings; kitchens; bathrooms will all stay the same, even if they are dated – replacing them is not within the remit of a home stager. Instead, think of it as ‘dressing’ a home for sale. Imagine your home is about to be the subject of a four page spread in Country Life, or 25 Beautiful Homes; what would you do to prepare each room so it looks its very best for the photographer? Perhaps you would move furniture around to accentuate a feature, or have a grubby wall repainted; it’s really about looking at your house with a critical and objective eye.

If you’ve lived in your home for more than a decade or two, you may find that you can’t be objective; you’re just too close to it. Or perhaps you don’t have the time, or the necessary skills, to bring the best out of every room. In which case, commissioning a home stager could be a very worthwhile investment.

What will it cost?

There are two costs to consider when using a home stager: the cost of her time, and also the accessories and items she suggests you buy in order to dress your home effectively. As a general rule of thumb, the initial assessment visit plus a short report will set you back up to around £300. Time is usually charged at between £30 and £50 per hour, and this includes a shopping trip, if you feel it necessary. Alternatively, she can provide you with a shopping list, to your agreed budget, with suggested shops and items to buy. I usually recommend my clients invest at least £500, and sometimes up to £1000, though rarely more than this.

What will I need to buy?

The good news is, home staging items are things you can take with you! Therefore it’s important that you like them, wherever possible, whilst at the same time they add value to your home. Home staging accessories often include new bedding, cushions, rugs, artwork, bathroom accessories, and any little knickknacks that help to complete the look.

How can I find a home stager in my area?

A good place to look is the Home Stager Network, or ask your local estate agent as they can usually recommend someone.

A really good home stager can add tens of thousands of pounds to the value of your home; a value that will be reflected not only in your photography, but also in the improved confidence of your estate agent that he can sell your house for the price you want.

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 month we’re focusing around reviewing where you home is at in the selling process. How is your marketing looking? In a sellers’ market, fantastic marketing can mean the difference between sold or sitting on the market one year later. If the marketing on your home is looking less than inspired, it could be missing out on potential buyer’s eager eyes.

As great a portal Rightmove is for showcasing your home advert, if it isn’t being marketed properly – and if nothing else is being done to market your property – you may have to settle for your home being on the market for some time.

A great agent will ensure your home is being marketed to its full potential. What sort of things should you be reviewing? We’ve gathered some ideas below:

Photography – Better photography means that you will stand out from your competition online, showing buyers the lifestyle they could have in your home. How are your photos looking? Do they show your home to its best potential?

Brochure – Does your brochure stand out from the rest and look individual from the other home brochures? Does it show the lifestyle available?

Advertising – Where is your home being marketed? Is it in a prime spot in your agent’s window? Is it on their website, and searchable? Is it on property portal websites such as Rightmove and Zoopla?

By reviewing with your agent where you currently are, you can discuss refreshing current marketing strategies to make them work better and harder to sell your home.

Unsure if the marketing strategy on your home is working hard enough to sell it? Contact us, we can help!

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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 once went to view a property on behalf of a client; a lovely little cottage in Cheshire at £350,000. When I arrived with a colleague, the front door was wide open and the viewing ‘rep’ was standing in the kitchen, reading the paper. At sixty-plus, he looked like a homeless person, or at least someone who was down on his luck. Unshaven and dishevelled, our first impressions were less than favourable.

It got worse. He didn’t even look up when we rang the doorbell, but just called at us to come in. In fact, he didn’t look up from his paper during our whole viewing, but instead left us to look around the cottage by ourselves. Even when we went to the back door and rattled it, looking for the key, he completely ignored us, only muttering “bye” as we left.

Appalled by the lack of care he had displayed with the seller’s cottage, I called the estate agent’s office and told the manageress what had happened. Her response left me stunned, to say the least. She said, and I quote, “He’s not there to sell you the house”.

“So what on earth is he there for?” I asked, genuinely confused.

“His job is just to open the door” came her reply.

I put the phone down. And closed my mouth.

What would their client think?

What would the seller have said if she’d heard our conversation? If she’d known that he couldn’t even be bothered to find the back door key for me? Or the fact that we were left completely unsupervised to roam around this poor lady’s cottage, without a thought for the security of her possessions?

At my agency, AshdownJones, we place viewings at the top of our services, and given them maximum priority. After all, this is where the rubber meets the road – the offers are generated. Which is actually the point of an estate agent.

Phil, my co-director, put a new property on Rightmove this week. Within an hour, a couple called from York, some 2.5 hours’ drive away, asking how soon could they see it? Phil shuffled round his diary, and set off to the house, an hour from our office. It was a two hour viewing. Because we’d sat with the owners for hours discovering all we could about the house, he knew all the answers. In that two hour viewing, those people from York made an asking price offer.

How would other agents have handled that request, do you think? Would they have sent a director out of the office for four hours to do everything he could to ensure the outcome was the best for everyone?

Imagine if he’d been a ‘door opener’, like our friend in Cheshire. What are the chances he could have produced an asking price offer within hours of the property being available?

It’s an estate agent’s job to show your home

Estate agents need to realise their purpose at a viewing – whether it is a director, the manager, or a lowly viewing rep – is to sell the house. They do this by engaging the viewer, answering questions, and helping those buyers come to the right decision for them.

I work with independent estate agents all over the UK, and can probably recommend one in your area. Just tell me a few details about your home here, and if I think I could help you, I’ll be in touch.

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

This week, I received a call from someone who has a beautiful, architect-designed home for sale in Lancashire. A very unusual home, it’s a cross between a Huf House (do Google it if you haven’t come across them) and an individual ‘Grand Design’. It’s all dramatic angles, huge atriums, and an abundance of glass, chrome and natural wood.

The photographs of the external are stunning; cleverly, there are dusk shots – images taken in the early evening – with all the internal lights on so that it looks homely and welcoming. Because, you see, it’s not lived in. The owner, who lives about an hour away and built this property to sell and top up his pension, has put a few pieces of furniture in the key rooms, to give an indication of how it could be used. So the master bedroom has a bed in it, and the main living room contains a sofa and armchair, but there’s nothing really to indicate how a buyer might live there.

Now this is usually enough for a male viewer; men like impressive facades with dramatic angles and grand proportions. They are interested in the bricks and mortar aspect of a house: the number of rooms, the outside space, whether it has a double garage, those kind of things. Give him some gadgets too – a remote controlled fire, automatic gates, integral media system – and you’ll have him hooked from the first click.

Women are different. We rely on instinct far more. We will walk into a house and say ‘no’ before we’ve left the entrance hall, because it doesn’t ‘feel right’. On the other hand, men can end up totally bemused and bewildered by the strength of our conviction when a home does feel right, despite perhaps having none of the attributes from the original jointly-drawn up ‘tick list’. A lady owner may well tell you, even when she’s lived in the house for years, how she felt when she first walked in: “I just knew” she will sigh. And by the way, don’t underestimate the importance of her buying motivation: 80% of buying decisions are made or influenced by a woman. Ignore her needs at your peril……. .

Statistics show that only 5.5% of men pay the full asking price, and only 78% offer 90% or more of the asking price. Women buyers, on the other hand, are more motivated to secure a house, whatever the price, and 17% of them simply offer the full asking price of the property they want. An impressive 90% of female buyers offer 90% or more of the asking price, so determined are they not to lose the home they have set their heart on.

So as a buyer, how on earth do you connect emotionally with a lady buyer to make her “just know” as soon as she walks through the door of your house? As I told the seller of this Grand Design: by making it beautifully homely, and at the same time highly aspirational. All the little touches that make a house a home need putting in place to seduce her: window dressing, luxurious bedding, sumptuous cushions, a kitchen full of gorgeous cookware, candles and towels in the bathroom, and those shiny floors adorned with warm, textured rugs.

I’ve estimated that to add this feminine appeal in a house that is over 7,000 square feet may well cost him between £20,000 and £30,000, but his property is for sale for £1 million. A 2-3% investment is a far better route to securing a buyer than the alternative his agent is recommending – to drop the asking price by £50,000.

If you can identify what a woman wants, and give it to her, she’ll not only fall head over heels in love with the house, she’ll also persuade a less emotionally-driven partner that they absolutely, positively must buy 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.

In my opinion, it should be your agent who accompanies viewings on your house. However, there may be times when this is impossible, for example, weekends and evenings, and you may find yourself showing a prospective buyer around your home. When there’s so much riding on a successful outcome, this can be quite a daunting prospect!

With such an important and complex subject as viewings techniques and strategy, there will be many more blog posts to come; in the meantime, (in the words of Julie Andrews) let’s start at the very beginning: you!

If you answer the door in your slops and slippers, in the middle of cooking dinner, your viewers will immediately feel a) unwelcome and b) unimportant. If instead, you dress smartly, and your house has clearly been prepared for them, they will feel both welcome and important! You don’t have to wear a suit, or to have your hair done specially (!) but you do need to make an effort to look friendly and efficient. If your viewers think that you take as much care of your home as you do over your appearance, they will immediately feel reassured and relaxed, and as a result, the viewing for them will be a very positive experience.

Research shows that we form a very strong opinion of someone in only 8 seconds! First impressions really do count, and presenting the right image at the start of your viewing may just convert your viewers to buyers.

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 a good question. Do you start worrying after a few weeks of marketing without an offer on your house? Or should you be patient and stick with your agent and price for six months or more?

At HomeTruths, we see so many sellers who have been on the market for over a year; our record so far is a couple who had been trying to sell consistently for six years! It’s true that the longer your property is on the market, the less desirable it is to a buyer, and the less confidence your agent will have that he can achieve any figure close to your asking price. It’s therefore really important that your strategy in the first 6-8 weeks is as well thought out, planned and confident.

Here are my 5 golden rules for making sure you don’t get to worrying stage:

Choose the right agent based on marketing skills, enthusiasm and a high fee – he’ll earn it;
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Once you’ve decided on your asking price, stick to it. So long as it’s well-researched and realistic, of course. Make sure it’s a nice round figure, and don’t drop it – be confident;
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Have the best photography and brochure you possibly can. Be pedantic, beg and bully until you get the best. Your house MUST stand out in a pile of also-rans;
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Commission a home stager to give your house a once-over. Even if you and your friends think it’s immaculate, you need independent, professional advice at this crucial time.
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Communication, communication, communication! Call your agent every week. Obtain written feedback from viewings, ask for your Rightmove Property Performance report each week and monitor the activity generated.

Follow my 5 golden rules, and you should sell within 8 – 12 weeks.

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 online advert for your property must paint a flawless picture of your home to generate attention. We’ve touched on imagery and brochures, but what if your advert is a bit of a chatterbox? As in, what if your advert just shares too much detail?

It is a common misconception; surely someone interested in a property, wants to know it all? Well, not always. People simply want to know enough detail about a property to decide whether to rule it out, or to go for a viewing. If they are drenched in a sea of text to rival JK Rowling’s first draft of Harry Potter, it is superfluous, very puzzling and can be quite counterproductive. On the other hand, provide too little information, and people will be trying to work it out for themselves. So where is the fine line between providing too much and too little information?

If potential buyers have to scroll continuously down a property listing, this is too much material. If they are looking for anything in particular, they could get frustrated with the massive clump of black words and move on to another listing. If the rest of the property information is perfect, you might get away with it. If not, you’re running the risk of losing peoples interest.

When too much information is provided, there is always the chance of misinformation being provided too. For example, a window is listed as double glazed when it is actually single glazed. Something like this can be used by a buyer to come back to you as being misleading. However, if it wasn’t in the listing in the first place, they could have simply asked about minor details like this at the viewing. If too much information is provided that is really non-essential until the viewing, don’t include it. Buyers don’t need to know minor details until later.

When it comes to too little information, if buyers have to try and guess what’s going at the property, this is a no go. If they have to try and guess what rooms are in the house based on the images and very limited text, this again could tempt people just to look elsewhere.

When it comes to property text, potential buyers need the details that are important. They want to know what the property is like without delving into the depths of the houses’ cupboards or knowing how many plug sockets are in the kitchen. By providing simple detailed information about the house, its location, its size, condition and price, you’re on to a winning listing. Couple the description with floorplans, brochures and fantastic photography, and you’ll have buyers queuing at the door.

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.

Downsizing isn’t the most seductive word. In a society that values progression and achievement, ‘down’ has a sense of backwardness; it’s a term that’s always blemished with some sort of compromise. And no one really like compromise. But what if downsizing is actually a step forward? Let’s explore what it really means to downsize, and reposition it as a new opportunity, and an enviable new start.
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Listen to the beat

Hear that? It’s a gentle metronome, and if you listen closely, it’ll stop its familiar patter when it’s the right time to switch up the tempo, and get moving. Maybe you’re planning to retire, or maybe you’re ready to wake to the sound of the sea. But when do you take the plunge, and make ‘one day’, today? The truth is, that gentle metronome will keep on ticking in perfect intervals, and only you can alter its rhythm. There probably is no ‘right’ time to move, but you can control the patter, and you can switch up the metronome’s beat.
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A new dance

Okay, maybe dancing isn’t your thing, but this is all about embracing an opportunity. Watching your youngest flee the nest can be hard; you’re proud of their newfound independence, and you’re excited for their adventures ahead. But with the change comes a sense of loss too. Here you have two options: to sit still and watch your child enjoy their next dance, or to get up and jive alongside them too. A change in your life simply means a new start. A next dance. And this time, you take the lead.

Without children in tow, you don’t need to consider school catchments, and you don’t need to sacrifice a peaceful conservatory for a stuffy home office. In short, you don’t need to compromise. For once, you don’t need to consider the needs of a brood. Being selective and indulgent is a luxury, and what if that luxury could make you time too?
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Shake the duster

A smaller home means fewer rooms to maintain. It probably means a smaller garden too. Reduced upkeep frees up time, and allows you to enjoy doing the things you actually want to do. Your home choice no longer needs to be restricted by functional, practical considerations; and those necessary yet clinical box bedrooms can be substituted for idyllic cottage charm. Yes – there might be less rooms, but each beam tells a story, and the character oozing from each sloping ceiling makes you smile. The grandchildren love the whistley kettle and creaky stairs too.
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Money, money, money

An oversized mortgage weighs heavy, and freeing up cash is the fastest way to enjoy your time. Fancy travelling more? Maybe you have family overseas, or maybe you just want to explore a little more. What’s more important: spending time cleaning unused rooms, or spending time with your grandchildren? A smaller house means you’ll have friendlier bills, and any surplus can be enjoyed with family.

Downsizing doesn’t mean less; in fact, it means enjoying more of what makes you happy, and losing anything weighing you down. Scaling down your priorities, and creating an everyday that makes you smile, is uplifting. A comfortable everyday is what brings happiness, and with downsizing comes more choice, time and money. And doesn’t that sound appealing?

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

I was contacted by a gentleman in York, who was selling his house for the first time in over thirty years. In a small 1920s close where most of the houses there had been redeveloped, his home clearly had huge potential and the local agents were falling over themselves to win the instruction. When he called me he had already had visits from six agents, and was thinking of using five of them, on a ‘winner takes all’ basis. He asked me what I thought. I of course, told him.

Firstly, with that amount of competition between agents, he couldn’t hope to get a sensible valuation. He confirmed this by telling me that the variation in valuations had been huge: £1.3million right up to £1.75million. How on earth could he have any confidence at all in any of them? My first piece of advice to him was to get an independent valuation from a local surveyor. This result doesn’t show in any public records; it’s simply a piece of private information between the two of you, so if he didn’t like the valuation, he could just ignore it. It would however give him some idea of the ‘true’ value of the home, albeit with a few thousand added on for marketing and negotiation purposes. Don’t forget that a surveyor is completely independent, I reminded him, with no agenda whatsoever other than to give you an accurate representation of the value of your house. For around £300, you will find his report a useful insight, I told him.

Secondly, it’s really not a good idea to ask five agents to sell your home. Your relationship with the estate agent you select is founded on trust and liking; after all, there will be plenty of obstacles to overcome along the way, and you really need someone on your side throughout this often traumatic process. Select the agent you like most; the one you really believe in, and that you won’t get irritated by over the coming months. Place your loyalty and confidence in him, and let him know you have faith in his ability to sell your house. Trust works both ways, and you need to do all you can to make his job of selling your house as easy as possible. Aim to be the best vendor you can be, and your efforts will pay dividends. If you think his valuation is too low, tell him. Do your own research and show him evidence that supports your viewpoint. He may well agree with you, especially if he is very keen to win your instruction.

The third point is that all that will happen if you instruct more than one agent, is that your property will appear multiple times on the property portals, which just smacks of desperation. And don’t even think about the battle over boards: your local authority will only allow you one, so how would you choose which one? You’d have all five agents sabotaging each other’s boards in the middle of the night!

In the case of selling your home, it really is about putting all your eggs in one basket, then being very careful not to break one!

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.

If you ask your estate agent why you haven’t yet sold your house, he’ll blame either your asking price (too high) or the market (too slow) or both. So what’s his answer? “Drop your price”. This strategy, he assures you, will combat a sluggish market and bring previously hidden buyers out into the open. He is persuasive, after all, there is no other answer. It’s a sale at any cost.

But wait – it’s a sale at your cost! If you drop your asking price by £50,000 (and let’s remember – that’s more than twice the average annual wage in the UK) what is your estate agent going to lose in commission? At 1.5% the company will lose only £750. And what about the sales negotiator? If they are on 3% of sales commission, which is about average, that’s only £22.50 to lose.

So, let’s get this straight: your sales negotiator is putting pressure on you to drop your asking price by £50,000 so you can sell, but his only stake is a loss of commission of £22.50. Is that fair?!

Don’t be the biggest loser – do everything you can to protect that most precious of commodities – your asking price. After all, if you don’t think your house is worth it, how can you expect your buyer to?

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.

What will it cost?

What will I need to buy?

How can I find a home stager in my area?

What would their client think?

It’s an estate agent’s job to show your home

Listen to the beat

A new dance

. Shake the duster

Money, money, money

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Shake the duster