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Is anyone else preparing to put their house on the market?

418 replies

Clettercletterthatsbetter · 17/01/2021 18:20

I know, I know...we should have done it last year when the market was crazy busy but finances, family circumstances and whatnot meant that wasn’t possible and so we’re looking to sell our house and move this year.

Is there anyone else in the same boat who fancies a support thread to get us through?

We’ve had our place valued by 4 agents, have chosen one to go with and are currently doing a few minor bits to the house to get it in tip-top condition (filling old screw holes, a bit of touch-up painting and a good declutter) before we have photos taken.

Who else is looking to move in 2021?

OP posts:
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6
Starseeking · 22/04/2021 11:21

*rather than in a false or misleading way, meaning potential buyers aren't disappointed when they visit in person.

Paulina23 · 22/04/2021 11:56

One would hope that a pro photographers is part of the huge fees estate agents are charging? Most ads from established/chain EA have good pictures, there is the odd one man shop agency that clearly didn’t pay for pro photo work, but I guess his fees reflect that.

Starseeking · 22/04/2021 13:01

I wouldn't be so sure about that Paulina23. All 3 of the agents I saw before putting ours on the market take the pictures themselves, with varying degrees of success. Two were chains, one was a local agent. We went with the local agent (whose website pictures of homes are actually the worst of the 3), as they sold the house to us in the first place, and are well established in the local area.

We did make sure to agree beforehand that the agent would deduct the cost of professional pictures from our final fee, so it makes no difference financially, just cost me a bit of time making the phone call to arrange it. It cost much less than I thought it would, in any case. I expect top end properties (over £1m) would use professional photographers as standard, though it's worth checking.

KleineDracheKokosnuss · 23/04/2021 15:07

Our photos were done yesterday and the for sale sign went up today!

Isittimenow · 23/04/2021 20:36

Hi new to the thread!

We are getting ready to sell but houses are just going for so much over the asking price.

Is anyone else planning to ride it out and wait and see what happens?

We don’t have a healthy enough deposit to sacrifice £20/25k of it Sad

I just don’t know what to do. Anyone else feeling the same?

Isittimenow · 24/04/2021 07:52

@Starseeking can you talk to me about your staging please? In case we do sell soon!

readytosell · 24/04/2021 09:57

Contracts being signed this week, then photos and listing week after to give me time to get things prepared over the wank holiday weekend.

Isittimenow · 24/04/2021 10:16

Ha!

LaurieSchafferIsAllBitterNow · 24/04/2021 10:48

I am jumping in...been decluttering and redecorating since end of january

we are downsizing from an Edwardian End Terrace 4 large double beds (smallest is 11x13), high ceilings, plenty original features, lovely staircase, original doors that sort of thing. Large middle landing which is where I have a desk set up so ideal for a home office.
Bathroom with bath plus shower cubicle, two sitting rooms, dining kitchen, porch front and back, downstairs toilet and a wash house/utility in the courtyard garden. Plus massive paved drive area and front gardens, and gorgeous views of sea from all rooms!

We have been browsing rightmove like demons and have a short list and have managed to see a couple
tbh if we don't get the right place I am not sure we will actually move just yet.

Have agents coming out next week to value....what do we ask them?? We've been here over 20 years so am well out of practice!

Starseeking · 24/04/2021 10:56

@Isittimenow sure. I read loads and loads on the internet and Pinterest about it, and it really does work! There's a poster on this thread called @Handsoffstrikesagain who does staging for a living who also gave me some really good tips and introduced me to the picture site Desenio. I spent £300 on framed prints as my walls were so so bare, and now they look stylish, and I can take the pictures with me to the new place.

Depersonalise your house by taking down any personal pictures, and replace with the neutral framed prints mentioned before.

I ruthlessly decluttered the whole house, so that anything which didn't belong on a particular surface was binned or went to the charity shop.

In the front room, my bookshelf only has books on, and my shelves now have candles, stylish vases and indoor plants spaced evenly out, instead of junk from all over the place.

I staged the dining room with pictures, a reading corner complete with statement armchair, 2 feature cushions, a throw and lamp. For the professional pictures I also put plates and wine glasses on the table to "sell the lifestyle".

I got a new bookcase for the DC's room (IKEA £50) and cleared out all the toys for the pictures and the viewings. Luckily my parents live nearby, so anything we couldn't fit in the house went to them for "temporary" storage.

In the bedrooms I bought some extra cushions (inserts from IKEA are £10 each) plus covers to set on the beds, plus some cheap throws to put at the end of the beds.

In the bathroom I cleared everything away (shower gels, toothpaste, sponges, shampoo etc) and then cleaned it until it sparkled, as no-one wants to think about using someone else's bathroom.

Two weeks beforehand, I threw some seeds on the garden to plump up the grass and look more green. I also bought a rattan garden set from Wayfair for £130 so people could imagine themselves sitting out there having a drink.

Every mirror, window and glass surface I cleaned with Windowlene to make them shine.

Come back and let us know how it goes!

KleineDracheKokosnuss · 29/04/2021 11:55

House appeared on rightmove on Wednesday morning. It’s Thursday lunchtime and we’ve viewings booked in every half an hour on Saturday from 9am to 5:30pm! The agent is starting to line up visits for Sunday now.

I’m doing the showing, so if anyone has tips, do let me know!

spaghettiwest · 05/05/2021 07:14

That's all brilliant advice @Starseeking!

From my own experience, I would recommend taking photos yourself before the professional photographer does; you'll notice some little things which may clutter the shot. (I wish I had unplugged the TV and hidden the cords!)

HappyThursdays · 05/05/2021 08:23

we are about to move and I'm trying not to think about it! We have 2 v small places in different areas to sell and are hoping to move to 1 bigger house (I daren't look for anywhere till we've sold 1 of our places)

the first one goes on the market this weekend but dp is going there Thursday night to sort it out. I have tried to explain the concept of decluttering to him but I'm not sure he gets it! We had the cleaner come and do a big clean but there isn't a surface without crap on it so he has a lot of things to shove in cupboards! We are hoping the garden sells it - it is absolutely beautiful and it's looking good at the moment.

second one - we will need to hire a storage unit to move as much crap out as we can. I have 2 dc at university who didn't declutter before they left - I opened one of the cupboards in the room, and everything fell on top of me! The properties here tend to sell fast but I don't want to sell ourselves short. I think it's going to take us a few weeks to get this one primed and out there.

for number 1,' we're using the agent who sold it to us and he was v good. He has arranged 9 viewings for saturday and thinks we might get an offer then. I'm concerned at leaving it on for too long as it's completed isolated and rural that property so I think it won't have as many people through the door as no.2 which is by a high street/train/bus.

I don't want to ever go through this again! good luck with all your viewings!

spaghettiwest · 05/05/2021 17:20

I'm a bit dismayed that our house has only had four viewings (and has been available for viewings since Saturday). Am I being unnecessarily concerned? Confused

MrsRLynde · 05/05/2021 21:36

Laurie - how about:

  • Who is going to buy this house (target market)?
  • How many of these sorts of people do you have on your books currently, how would you market it to them?
  • How many viewings would you expect to achieve in the first three weeks?
  • Do you negotiate on commission?
readytosell · 07/05/2021 09:57

Should be going live on Rightmove today, already got a couple of viewings booked for next week (agent is so busy earliest they could do!).

Hope I never have to declutter again in my life... the photos do look really good though so I'm keeping cautiously optimistic. Just don't open the cupboards Grin

KleineDracheKokosnuss · 07/05/2021 13:43

Woohoo! We’ve agreed a sale. It went over the asking too, which helps since we’re going into rental for a year.

MotherOfAllZipFiles · 17/08/2021 17:50

Im not sure if this is abit of a zombie thread
We go on the market Friday, EA coming on thursday to take pics

I am a nervous wreck! Any advice on how to deal with this whole process would be greatly appreciated Wine

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