Tips to make buyers want your house?

dianah

DKLS wrote: »

If you have a dog and a dopey looking hubbie or teenager at hand get them to clear out the house with the dog for a long walk.

the house we're buying had two dogs on the pic of the garden and a very friendly cat when we went to view. we have pets so it was nice.

a guy i work with is buying a house at the moment as well - his vendors have two cats and they're moving away, one of the cats is really old so they agreed the cat would stay with the house!!!

shane42

Be realistic
dont expect to sell beer for champagne money,
there was a time when any old crap would sell, not now be competitive

brit1234

Lower price than rivals.

[Deleted User]

dianah wrote: »

the house we're buying had two dogs on the pic of the garden and a very friendly cat when we went to view. we have pets so it was nice.

a guy i work with is buying a house at the moment as well - his vendors have two cats and they're moving away, one of the cats is really old so they agreed the cat would stay with the house!!!

Having a dh with asthma, there is no way on earth we would even view a house that has or had a cat

Cannon_Fodder

dianah wrote: »

the house we're buying had two dogs on the pic of the garden and a very friendly cat when we went to view. we have pets so it was nice...

kittie wrote: »

Having a dh with asthma, there is no way on earth we would even view a house that has or had a cat

So, having the animals in the pics would be useful to some buyers...not to help buy it, but to avoid it.

Not so much help to the seller, but at least it wouldn't be a wasted viewing, or even potentially multiple viewings until you discovered the issue and walked away - the good point from that for the seller, is that it lets them concentrate their time and efforts on other buyers.

I think one of the most important things is to be open and honest, give as much information as possible, and if someone still comes to look at the place they must be pretty keen.

If you try to hide issues and they are discovered late on, despite being relatively trivial they may scupper the whole deal, as being an indication of deceit - i.e. "what else is being hidden" syndrome.

What also annoys me are those "partial" Rightmove entries with just 2 photos - Front and garden, or Front and lounge. No floor plan, no measurements.

Either I have to arrange a visit just to find out its pokey etc, or I just ignore it altogether...guess which is most likely.

You do have to wonder at sellers that allow their biggest asset to be displayed publicly in a way that fails to make the most of it.

So, that a "Top Tip" for sellers - make it look so good that you don't remember why you want to move.

(I did that with a car once, hadn't cared for it much for quite a while, decided to sell, wanted to get a good price, so gave it a full valet - when I got it home, I had to ask myself "why are you selling it, it looks great"...then I remembered the gearbox/clutch etc, but that's beside the point!)

dianah

kittie wrote: »

Having a dh with asthma, there is no way on earth we would even view a house that has or had a cat

the cat wasn't on any pictures, it was just there when we turned up... so what happens if you happen to view a house with a cat you weren't aware of?

poppysarah

kittie wrote: »

Having a dh with asthma, there is no way on earth we would even view a house that has or had a cat

A bit extreme if you ask me...

So do you ask EA before booking viewings?

m_curiousity

I dont know about the cats, but my OH wont even view anything with a number 4 in the address! The weird looks I got from the EA's when I told them that...

I've read the first thing you should do when selling your house is buy a new kettle and toaster, makes the place look much nicer for very cheap

dianah

kittie wrote: »

Having a dh with asthma, there is no way on earth we would even view a house that has or had a cat

also, how do you establish whether a house had a cat (unless you're buying a new development)? the house we're buying is about 160 years old and the vendor have only lived there for two years. while you may not be concerned about a cat who lived there 100 years ago, what about two years ago?

i think, especially in the uk, there's plenty of houses that - at some point - had a cat in it.

poppysarah

m_curiousity wrote: »

but my OH wont even view anything with a number 4 in the address! The weird looks I got from the EA's when I told them that...

4 sounds like "not alive" in chinese ... so I've heard of that one before...

Would you live at number 13?