Tag Archives: Home Staging

My second blog post on the Henley Regatta is on the subject of ‘vignettes’. What exactly are these and how do they relate to selling houses? Well the dictionary describes a vignette as “A short story that presents a scene or paints a picture.” The key word here is ‘story’. What’s your home’s story? Where has it come from, and where is it now? What is your home’s personality? Kindly, warm and cosy, or else sophisticated, elegant and poised?

Let’s look at the Regatta. The vignettes below all tell a story. The man with the chirpy boater and the characterful beard; I bet he’s a really interesting person, full of wisdom and twinkly eyes. If he were a house, he’d be a thatched cottage with big chunky beams and a flagstone floor. Or the couple with the ice-creams. If they were a home, it would be a good solid village house, extended several times over the years and full of family laughter and memories.

What’s your story? What is your home’s personality? I once helped sell a house in the Cotswolds that had been on the market for over two years. Its owners had come from London, and the house ‘felt London’ with dark coloured hallway, large bold abstract prints, and ethnic ornaments and rugs. This kind of styling was completely alien for the Cotswold buyer, who was looking for a life that would include village fetes, long dog walks and longer pub lunches, and a large glass of Merlot in front of a roaring log fire. Not exactly a London life. I helped them understand their buyers, and give them the clues that they were looking for. Out went the prints, rugs and ornaments, and in came the muddy Hunters, vases of hand-picked flowers and big soft throws. The comfortable Cotswold life was snapped up immediately at the asking price for the first buyers that walked through the door.

And where had these buyers come from? London of course!

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.

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.

“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.