Advice on selling

Doozergirl

Good stuff RufusFrog! 5 pages in and there's still some little gems

Pink_butterfly_3

Hi

I had a look at your pictures and the flat looks lovely. Thinking as a buyer though, i would say that the bedroom would put me off. It looks small and a bit bare.

The first thing i would recommend is different curtains. The ones that are up don't do justice to the room. They are to dark. Something nice, light and floaty would look much better.

Now, this is my own personal preference so tell me to get lost if you want!! Would the bed go with the headboard against the window? I had a little look at the measurements and (assuming you have a standard double bed) it would fit with about half a metres space on either side. I think that walking into a room and seeing the side of a bed can make a room feel smaller than it is as you can't see the space on the other side if you know what i mean??

Having you bed up against the window will enable you to see the whole space without having to climb round the bed.

Also, some nice cushions on your bed!! My DH hates the cushions on our bed but i think it looks good. He has no taste, lol!!

vodkagirl001

RufusFrog wrote:

There have been lots of constructive comments, particularly about the decor which I don't feel I have anything to add to, but few suggestions as to HOW to improve the description.

You need to bring out the selling points, some of which to you are clearly 'cleaners, window cleaners, maintenance, secured gated parking etc.' (expand on that etc.!), NONE of which are on the Rightmove entry.

There's no mention of the canal and 'waterside' is attractive - (you might think it's implied in the word 'Wharf' but it needs spelling out and bigging up!). If possible get the external picture taken from the opposite side of the canal, a glint of water in the foreground shows that'waterside' is not an idle boast.

What about the views, they clearly made a difference to you, surely they're worth a line.

Also, on the floorplan, your hall cupboard looks almost as big as the bathroom. That may be due to an inaccurate drawing, if not, make more of it - a good sized cupboard is a huge advantage in a small flat.

The advantages of the location could be made more of too, you're practically sitting on a long-distance cycle path for instance.

You need to almost dictate to the estate agent what goes in the details. They may refuse certain things (adjectives that are matters of opinion for instance) but they should listen to you, you live there, you know why you bought it, and what floated your boat is likely to appeal to someone else.

WOW thats a great help, thanks fella, certainly things there that we thought should have been in the description. However with us never selling before, we thought, ''Estate Agents know best'' kind of thing and just went with what they did! I will certainly be checking and amending the description with your advice for the new EA's rather than just going ''ok thanks''!!

Pink_Butterfly, the bed will not go headboard against the window as the headboard is just to big and will go well over the bottom of the window sill covering the bottom 3rd of the window, and personally when I see that in a house, I do not like it, however we have moved it to the other side of the room and kinda up toward the window so there are just a few feet between the bed now and the wall the window is on, it does look a little better once you open the door.

I'm going to have to try and find some curtains but the factor is £££ tbh. This month i've had to buy Moses Basket, Baby Monitors and various other baby bits and bats and find the £170 for the service charge this quater, so to say this month has left us 'a bit skint' is to say the least lol, curtains seem to be about £50 and new bed sheets about £30-£40 and new lamp and lamp shade about £25 and cushions again £25 so unless I find 3 £50 notes on the floor in succession unfortunately there is nothing I can do about it this month (which Im not please about) Then again, Mum does love shopping so much........and really is trying to help us move (my old bedroom currently looks like a store cupboard at theirs as she helped us clear our apt down to minimal so it looked uncluttered lol) so perhaps a sweet sweet smile, some well placed compliments and a bottle of wine might go a long way to some new curtains & bedding :rotfl:

Thanks for all your opinions.

Apart from the bloody scaffolding at the moment, if it is down by next Friday (this is from the builders so I don't hold much hope) then we can crack on with the sale, until its down I cant instruct a new Agent as we cant get any pics! We do however have a valuation from one agent on monday and another on tuesday, I presume the will overlook the scaffolding? Is it worth trying to get them to go multi agent?


(Oh and I have noticed how there getting investors / buyers interested in the Mill over the road as I saw the ad in the paper - They are advertising it with parking, although there is no car park yet and once there is it is a charge of £8k on top of the house price for a space (currently if you drive past on an evening all cars are mounted on the curbs and blocked in by then others coming and parking on the road as its all industrial over there and there is just no where else to go!). There are selling it with Tennis Courts, Pool, Gym, cafe even though this lot has not even been started and wont be done till about 2012 and even then they are not saying there will be a charge to use each of these items, they are saying free net access, however its a £30 fee on your service charge per month - wether you have a computer or not, they are selling the service charge of £100 per month - ommiting that once finished in 2012 it will be increased to approx £700 per quater and ommiting the ground rent of £800 a year !!!)

Kaminari_2

It might be worth finding out if the facilities accross the road at the Mill can be used by people who do not live there. This may be an added selling point because people living in your building will have a choice about paying to use the facilities while those living in the Mill will need to pay a certain amount in their service charge to pay for the upkeep.

vodkagirl001

Apparently they can not be used by people not living there. This is stated at present though and they have not even built it yet - Im thinking that once its all opened in 2012, if they don't get much extra revenue out of it by the residents they may open it up to the public who live in the nearby developments for a monthly fee perhaps but this is all me guessing, as I say, they have not even started to build it all yet but are selling it as a plus lol.

Anyway look at my nice view at the moment! (sorry about the quality it was 6.30am this morning and I couldnt be bothered messing with my camera settings plus I was late for work lol)

EXTERNAL :


FROM INSIDE WITH THE DOOR OPEN :




MIND YOUR HEAD :eek: :


Are you all sure it isn't attractive enough for someone to buy it :rotfl:

Doozergirl

That's nice. I like the fact they painted some of the scaffolding in bright colours for you

Don't go multi agent, it does make you look desperate unless there's a real benefit like using agents in different towns if you live between, iyswim and you often end up paying a higher commission.

vodkagirl001

Doozergirl wrote:

That's nice. I like the fact they painted some of the scaffolding in bright colours for you

Yeah I know it was nice of them wasn't it, I was thinking of having some yellow & peach splashes of colour in the living area to match it - that way people may think its all part and parcel of the sale and offer a bit more for this ''amazing art structure'' I just hope the pole sticking out does not go a shade of red when my partner smacks his head on it (trust me it will happen at some point) lol

Thanks for the info re multi agency - I shall give that a miss!

vodkagirl001

Got a viewing on Sat

Not holding out any hope as I think the scaffolding 'may' still be there

I spoke to one of the building lads today as he was sweeping and they seemed to be 'cleaning up' and he said they had a little bit to do, but were going to be finished but Thursday Afternoon (remains to be seen) which would indicate the scafolders would be back on Friday to remove the scaffolding - however the amount of time it took them to erect, I'm not holding out much hope lol.

If you were going to view an apt and it had the scaffolding outside, would it completely put you off of, or if you liked it inside would you come back and view it at a later date - I'm not sure myself?

TTMCMschine

Have you dropped the price yet?

Better get a move on.

vodkagirl001

TTMCMschine wrote:

Have you dropped the price yet?

Better get a move on.

No, our current contract end on 5th march with the EA's so when we change and instruct the new EA's we will be dropping the price with them. We are going to have to instruct the New EA's though with no pictures untill the scaffolding is removed (unless it does come down on friday )

We had a few valuations done and 1 of them said £116000 (I did try not to laugh in their face at trying to get the business but over valuing), another stated between 113000 & 115000 and the 3rd suggested £112500 but if we really really want a quick sale whack it on at £109500 so we have gone with them (well we will be doing) Dacre son & hartley as they seemed to give the most honest valuation. He also explained that in the area at the moment there are so many apts going up and being converted that is why its hard to sell as there is more appts than demand for them.

Anyway so yeah price will be being dropped with the new EA's when they start acting on our behalf.