Rules when selling a property

[Memu]

I'm interested to know what rules or tricks you all have when selling a property?

Mine are:

1. Never sign with an agent who wants a sole agency agreement for more than 6-8 weeks. One agent wanted a tie-in period of 16 weeks with a month's notice period - bonkers!

1. Don't overprice because it means fewer interested parties = less viewings = less offers = less chance for competing buyers to bid.

1. Conversely, price it right and get more prospective buyers into view.

1. Take amazing photos to attract aforementioned prospective viewers / buyers. This means decluttering. Creating surfaces free of clutter and removing items from each room just for photos.

1. Being contract ready: get everything in motion by instructing a conveyancer, which might result in an agent lowering their fee. Also, don't think cheaper means better when it comes to conveyancers..

Can anyone think of anything else?

When we bought this house the vendors sat us in the garden and plied us with gin and tonic. It was very pleasant 😁.
We'd have offered on the house anyway, but I think the "entertainment" helped us to imagine how lovely it would be if the house were ours.
We nearly didn't bother to look at it, the photographs in the estate agents details were so unflattering!

No EA is going to reduce their fees because you have already instructed a conveyancer/solicitor - just saying!

It’s perfectly fine to instruct a conveyancer/solicitor once you have a buyer. It only takes a few hours to phone around, get different quotes and decide which one you want to instruct. Of course you shouldn’t necessarily just go with the cheapest one & that goes for EAs too.

My rule would be don’t start spending much money before you have a Buyer.

So don’t instruct a solicitor if they are going to charge you anything (some will just open a file for you but not charge anything). You don’t want to run up any legal costs before you know whether you are even going to get a buyer at this particular time.

Don’t do expensive jobs on your house but do lots of little inexpensive ones to make the house look better cosmetically. Like decluttering, painting and tidying the garden.

We are going on the market this spring. Our list is -

1. Colossal de clutter as in we hired a 6 cubic yard chambers skip and got rid of 10 years worth of accumulated junk we didn't even realise was there taking a Marie kondo approach. Donated lots.

1. Following (painful!) feedback on Mumsnet to photos taken BEFORE estate agents get here - moved furniture around to improve rooms layouts in ways our tired eyes hadn't even spotted but strangers' eyes could.

1. Re painted grubby parts of walls, sorted drippy taps, re did scuffed woodwork.

1. NOT shelled out on huge things like kitchens or bathrooms

1. Spent money on things we will take to our new home anyway but things which also add life and spirit to this place like rugs, throws, pictures, bedspreads, new bookcases, wardrobes (to replace open rails) etc. our sole criteria for these spends were "is this something we can take with us/has long term value for us as a family?" And secondarily "does it add a pop of colour/method/appeal to this place anyway?" So not spending money "on the house" but rather on our possessions.

1. Thorough weeding, pressure washing of outdoors and window cleaners just before photos taken.

1. Aiming to be in a process able position early in the spring.

When i'm buying its flow, proportions, light which makes a difference to me. A plant & some artwork is not going to make me buy a house.

I know right! Yet the overwhelming feedback on Mumsnet to people's house photos is very often cosmetic!!

I look at the floor plan (and orientation) first, then outside photos (including streetview), location and then interior photos. As long as a room is reasonably clutter-free, the decor and position of furniture doesn't matter. IMHO!

@Movinghomes does my head in. Im not going to be persuaded to borrow thousands of pounds for years based on a headboard or lack of.

One thing i have learned is that photos are often very deceptive so I never discount based on those if other boxes are ticked. I've seen houses that I thought I would love but upon visiting have been disappointed & then others I thought I wouldn't like but then did really like in person.

Funnily enough my estate agent disagreed heartily with the "take great photos" one. He said they never use the fish-eye lens because if the pictures are too good, the viewers are disappointed when they see the place in person. His theory you want the pictures to be good enough to get people in but for the house to be better than the pictures. He sold mine to the first people through the door the first week I was on the market, so I can't say he was wrong!

I’m incredibly relieved to read this. I’ve been quite stressed after reading threads on here where people say they wouldn’t buy a house with crumpled duvets, pictures on the walls or (one especially batshit example) tape on a cat flap.

It seems so depressing to be spending money on things we have never had while living here, like new doors and light fittings, just to sell the place and the new person immediately throw away everything I’ve sunk my savings into.

Until I saw the comments on this thread I genuinely thought nobody could look past decor any more, which I find utterly weird.

@WingsofRain there are quite a few MNs quirks that I don't see in real life!

I can and do look past decor but some buyers truly cannot. I would not spend much time or money doing the house up but tidy bedspreads, neat bookshelves and something colourful in the garden can make a big difference.

I think it’s worth cluttering especially if the house isn’t massive and in particular emptying kitchen worktops because potential buyers want to think they can fit into the space. I also think it’s worth doing all those annoying little jobs and touching up the paintwork because you want to give the impression that you have cared and maintained the house but beyond that nothing more although an uncared for garden is a lot of work potentially. Some people can be logical and ignore decor and furnishings but some might be distracted.

Of course tidying up & looking presentable is important but a Dunelm print or monstera plant isn't going to make me buy a house. Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner and stuff like that just isn't a deal breaker.

This is exactly me. I'm all about the floorplan and location. I often only look at the photos after I've reviewed the square footage and layout. I have quite a logical approach and am not swayed much by the decor as paint and new carpet are small expenses and very taste-specific. I wouldn't necessarily want to have to do all bathrooms and the kitchen immediately but I'd be happy to take on one or the other.

I think knowing your own needs is probably the most important - we couldn’t choose between two local estate agents, both v well recommended and popular. One gave us a really good spiel, seemed better in person, the location of their offices better for passing footfall, but their USP is price to sell and be done quickly. We weren’t in a rush, and went with the others even though, on paper (and in person, to be honest) they were the less good choice. We sold with them for £40K over what the other estate agents wanted us to list at. But I’m aware that lots of people don’t have that luxury, and it probably was the less sensible decision.

Our stair carpet was awful, and DH had all but ripped it up when I checked with the EA - both said not to bother, and fresh carpet wouldn’t make a difference to a buyer. We did repaint the downstairs walls and woodwork (all a repeat of the boring white which they were before) so that they looked brighter in photos. No idea if it helped or not, but made me feel better.

Good photos (that do the house justice) are so important. We moved last year, and I'd scrolled past the house we eventually bought so many times on Rightmove and discounted it because it just looked tired and sad. Everything was very grey except the mismatched curtains and carpets, nothing that made it look like a home. The garden looked tiny because they'd only photographed half of it.
We eventually went to look at it because there was literally nothing else left to see. At that point it had been on the market for nearly 2 months with minimal viewings and no offers. We got it for 45k under asking. Good photos really are how you entice buyers through the door and part of that is staging - bright, fresh, uncluttered rooms make the house look loved and taken care of.

lots of good advice that im trying to take on board. im currently in the tidying & freshening up paint stage. i also need to power wash the garden.

conversely, if the photos are too good then it is disappointing when you get there in person. ww viewed a Georgian house that looked classy and beautiful in the photos, in reality it is almost a renovation project with rotten windows, damp everywhere, ancient 80s kitchen that has had grey paint splashed all over it so it looks good from a distance. it requires a lot of money spending on it but the photos show a "show home" type stylised house.

Yes manage expectations

I think the thing about messy bedspreads etc is that subconsciously, buyers see them and think the owner hasn't taken care of the house. If it is spotless, and smells fresh, the linen is ironed etc, it implies a previous owner who has maintained it in good order. Since ironing duvet covers is a pretty easy job (that I never do when not selling a house!) I'd add that sort of thing to the list.

Furniture layout is similar. If all the furniture is pushed against the walls, a place looks unloved and like a HMO. If it is laid out well, to create an impression of enjoying life, then buyers will picture themselves relaxing in the home.

Based on my own approach to buying, I've never seen the point of "dressing" a house to sell it.

Location, room sizes, floorplan (is there scope for redesign if needed?), and off-road parking matter. Untidiness, decor, and pet smells don't bother me, although it's nice if sanitary areas and kitchen are clean.

What does give me pause for thought is the smell of smoke and stained ceilings.