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Original poster

Everyone who has bought or sold a house recently, can I pick your brains?

42 replies

frogs · 19/09/2006 14:19

Okay, so we've decided to sell and have one of those 'open house' viewings booked for next Sunday. We're working our way through the long list of obvious things to do -- tidying, de-cluttering, cleaning, touching up paintwork. Any other suggestions for things we might have forgotten? Anything you saw in houses that really put you off/encouraged you to make an offer?

Also, how do you feel about estate agents' boards? We've said no boards, as I really don't want to be discussing every stage of our potential house move with half the neighbourhood. The estate agent said, "Oh, but 40% of our enquiries come via boards.", but I'd hazard a guess that most of those are just being nosy. Are we being stupid by refusing to have a board? Has anyone really bought or sold a house purely on the basis of the board outside?

Oh, and we need lots of good vibes too, please, if you have some spare.

OP posts:
bundle · 19/09/2006 14:21

our new front door colour (pale bluish green) attracted a lot of people (we had a closed bids thing at the end, accepted offer above the asking price )

board shmoard, I say...

Twilighter · 19/09/2006 14:22

We saw the board being put up outside what is now our home, we called the agents straight away, viewed an hour later, put in an offer accepted the next day.

Also, people do drive around looking for houses, Unless you live in a really quiet road or a cul-de-sac I think a board is a good idea.

themoon66 · 19/09/2006 14:22

Our board outside invited loads of interest. I would definitely say yes to a board.

ginmummy · 19/09/2006 14:23

Good vibes coming your way - I know how tedious it is selling a house!

I can see what you mean about a board as it is a major topic of conversation with the neighbours, but personally I find them useful as I've driven round streets with a notebook and pen and noted down houses for sale and the estate agent's number to phone when the office is open.

ComeOVeneer · 19/09/2006 14:25

I wouldn't bother with the board tbh. We didn't have a single viewing from having a board so in the end had it taken down. Don't try too hard. By that I mean don't attempt a minimalist, show home style house. I know the idea is to present a clean tidy house but you need to find ythe right balance so people see it as a home they would like to live in rather than either a mess (so clearly not enough space for all their stuff) or sparce and uninviting (again making them wonder wether they could get all their stuff in) IYSWIM.

katierocket · 19/09/2006 14:27

We found our last house by just driving past it but when we sell the house we're in now we won't bother with a board, mainly because we live on cul-de-sac so no passing traffic. Depends where you live I guess.

PrettyCandles · 19/09/2006 14:28

We had a flat, and the lease only allowed for one For Sale board to be put, so when we went from single-agency to multiple-agency we had to say 'no board'. But estate agents rarely pay any attention to what you say, and a hilarious board-war ran for months, with each agency putting up their board and tearing down a different agency's board.

TBH we couldn't give a damn!

I'd be very sceptical about that 40% claim. I think that agencies get most house-specific queries from potential buyers seeing a particular house on one of the internet sites.

Original poster
frogs · 19/09/2006 14:32

I wouldn't mind the board if we were in a flat as people don't know which one's for sale, but our is a house directly on the road loads of people walk down to get to school, so I'll have to run the gauntlet of nosy school-gate mums going, "Oh, are you selling, where are you moving to, how's it going, blah blah" for however long it takes to sell the ruddy place. Aaaargh.

OP posts:
YellowFeathers · 19/09/2006 14:33

I would say go with a board.
We were lucky as we didn't have very talkative neighbours but where we did live was quite a desirable location and people actually drove round looking for sale boards and we had 2 viewings because of it one of which we actually sold to.

Good luck with it!

bundle · 19/09/2006 14:33

where are you heading to frogs?

fruitful · 19/09/2006 14:34

Our agent said 90% of their enquiries come from people seeing the house on the internet.

The only thing that has really put me off was the woman who showed us round a house while puffing cigarette smoke at me & ds, who I was holding. She left the telly blaring out, too. And actually, it didn't really put me off the house, just the seller!

Tinker · 19/09/2006 14:34

We asked for no board, stopped the first "board man" in his tracks whilst putting it up. Came home a week late and one was up!

People do drive around looking though - board up before in teh papers and on RightMove sometimes. And agents never ring about new instructions, you have to badger them.

We just cleaned, tidied, touched up paintwork, tidied (tidied looks wrong???) the garden and got a lot of comments about that. Open windows and doors, open blinds and curtain sto let in as much light.

Dingy houses were the ones I didn't feel good about when looking. Dark decor is off-putting as well but would see past it if teh "right house." If a maybe house, would put me off.

Twiglett · 19/09/2006 14:38

what does it look like from outside .. plants and clean and paintwork

clean windows

put lights on

set table

bundle · 19/09/2006 14:42

kerb appeal etc

Original poster
frogs · 19/09/2006 14:44

I can't see that Ann Maurice woman without wanting to stab her. And me being done for murder isn't going to help our sale prospects, is it?

OP posts:
dinny · 19/09/2006 14:51

we sold our last place (last year) to someone who saw the board and called the agent. so, I'd definitely say yes to one - who cares what neighbours think?

sunnydelight · 19/09/2006 14:51

We drove round looking for boards, then tried to find the houses on the estate agents' websites so I would say yes to a board (know what you mean about nosy neighbours though!). I would also recommend that you let the agent show your property - I hated looking round houses with the owner a couple of feet behind me and felt obliged to make polite conversation rather than concentrating on the house. I fell in love with the house we bought partly because it looked like you could move straight in without lifting a finger (after years of half finished DIY). Good luck!

bundle · 19/09/2006 14:55

frogs the blood would show up, as everywhere she is seems to be awash with beige

LIZS · 19/09/2006 15:12

I'd say have a board if there is any way your house could be confused with others or may be hard to find. There are 3 for sale in our close atm each with a different agent, similar style but all different in design so should be distinguishable from the pics but possibly not easily to a lay eye casually driving round. We've been told the vast majority foi viewings come from Right Move but often the actaul address and specific house number is left off the details there so a board helps identify it.

Unrealistic decluttering, especially a minimalist child's room puts me off. Also black walls and porn on view ! Don't forget the garden - show how you use it with a table set up and bbq in place but put away some of the bulkier kids toys. Tidy back the bushes and shrubs and mow the grass.

3andnomore · 19/09/2006 15:41

Hi frogs...we bought our house last year and as we were not quite sure where we wanted to settle I generally only used the Rightmove website....so, you might want to see if your Estate agent uses that website

StrawberryMoon · 19/09/2006 15:52

boards are personal thing had 5 houses sold three with three without, depends on market at thatt time, cos most people go on tinternet or call intoagent so persoanlly id say not mega important but def personal pref.

make sure outside of house is tiday clean and presented nice..couple of small fir trees in pots either side of front door..door clean and not tatty(we spent the first few minutes waiting for you to answer looking at your door and front of house)
nice new/clean door mat outside and make sure bell working if you have one.
nice airfreshner by front door so you get nice smell or 10 mins before they come spray glade fresh linen aroun, smells like clean washing
nice spacious tiday hall(hide all coats shoes in boot of car..this gos for big toys/excersize bikes ironing boards etc)

clean and fresh smelling bathroom(not too much bleach but i always think this is best smell in there)will coloured 'blu' in bowl(looks 'fresher' and hides and limescale)
shiny tiles and suite, new soap out and soap dish cleaned(just mine really!)not too many towles on back of door so as it wont open!

bedrooms aired before hand and spritzed lightly with nice perfume or fresh linen air fresh and all beds made, no piles of stuff on top of wardrobes, makes em think you have no space.
curtains open wide so as to let lots of light in.

kitchen surfaces spotless, put as much aways as poss barring essentials like kettle, tea/coffe/ sugar jars) toaster,microwave.
nice full bowl of fruit or small vase of flowers near light from window.

flowers in living room make a room feel looked after so long as also clean and relativly tidy..
phewww..this was me last year, dont envy you

MrsSpoon · 19/09/2006 15:56

I'm on the fence as usual!

Our last move, we could have sold without the board, had an offer before the board had even been put up but the house that we bought the board was what caught our eye. TBH I would cover all bases and put a board up too.

Original poster
frogs · 19/09/2006 16:20

Oh foo, looks like the consensus is we should go for the board. Rats. Guess I'll just have to resign myself to fielding endless questions along the lines of 'how's your house sale going/where are you moving to/have you had lots of people round' blah blah.

LIZS -- grass? Mowing? Shrubs, bushes? I'm guessing you're not in London. It's a bit more low maintenance round here, plantwise. But actually our garden, such as it is, looks quite good atm, tho I do say so myself.

OP posts:
CarolinaMoon · 19/09/2006 17:20

yes to the board - we had a few viewings from people spotting our board on the way to another viewing.

haven't read the rest of the thread yet, but the usual flowers and 'aspirational' accessories always help - a decorative bowl I got from sainsbo's conran range really perked up our dining table, and the obligatory molton brown toiletries instead of our radox stuff created the right impression.

I also bought a nice silk throw and a couple of silk cushions for our bed in john lewis's sale, and put clean sheets on it for viewings and clean towels in the bathroom.

mythumbelinas · 19/09/2006 17:25

we bought our house because we saw the board .. we were the first to view it, and put in an offer when we left