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

[frogs]

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.

we foudn ours from the internet - never bothered with boards. We also didn't have a board, as we didn't want the neighbours knowing our business...

as a buyer, no board always made me think: do these people really want to sell?

Always made me worry they'd be the type who won't accept a penny below the asking price and then string the chain out for ages while they find the perfect place for themselves.

I seem to be one of those rare people (if you'll believe the House Doctor) that can actually see the potential or lack thereof in a house whether it's messy and poorly decorated or not. Seems ridiculous that people might not buy their perfect house because of something they can easily change themselves.

But do declutter your bathroom as it's never nice for anyone to enter a very personal bathroom.

some ideas in this article re 'staging' the house.

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We refused a board and then sold it to the first person who viewed it following a board going up.People do drive around the streets they like in the evening looking for boards

agree with noddy re board - people often know what roads they are interested in and drive round looking for boards. I do this even though I've only just moved - mind you, said road is on the way to school!

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i am ex directory and sell my houses with no boards

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and proud of it

I did actually do quite a few of those, and had a buyer within a couple of weeks, after being on the market for 6 months . Not no.10 though - who has time for that?

Tbh, the thing that really helped us was when the agents came back to take more photos - the first lot were done in the winter, and the second lot on a gorgeously sunny day with the sunlight streaming in the windows. Made all the difference.

Go for the board, it can only help - you can always tell your neighbours to piss off since you're moving.

tbh I don't get the no board thing , after all if they are that nosey they'll see it in the local paper adn keep watch for any price changes etc.

I'd do the board thing. Our house has just gone on the market today and when we eventually get a buyer I'm going to drive round the area we are thinking about looking to check out what's for sale. I'm completely knackered after a solid week of painting, cleaning, tiling, gardening etc but the house looks presentable for the first time since we bought it, hope someone else thinks so !

Kitty - start driving around now, then you can get a limited idea of how long they've been on the market.

Our house sold within a week on the basis of the board outside. Our buyer was literally driving around the neighbourhood every few days and contacting estate agents about any new ones, and he saw ours before any of the details had gone in the paper or on the net. So I'd deffo go with having the board up.