Phil Spencer

Dan-Dan

olly300 wrote: »

You have the issue that as it's a probate house people expect it to be a lower price.

The fact that it's not lived in as well adds to this effect and makes people think you want a quick sale.

I must have mentioned about 5 times that we DO live in it

Kayalana99

AHA I know who phil spencer is now I was just sitting here on my computer and heard what do you think phil? and location location location is on...I really do get sucked into these fourms!!

celyn90

lessonlearned wrote: »

A "project" is an entirely different matter.

People who like projects - and I'm one of them - turn a blind eye to decoration, room layouts, etc We know that we can fix it.

Hideous, filthy flea pits don't worry us;).

I agree People who want a project will not be looking at "tired" they'll be looking at "knackered".

I think I'd rather spend an afternoon with a paintbrush and a £20 tub of paint than have someone try to knock 1K of the price because it needed to be cleaned up.

tuggy12

C_Mababejive wrote: »

I cant stand the man nor his sidekick Ms Allsop.

Harsh!

I quite like the pair of them and find their banter amusing.

Phil was showing a couple a tiny cottage and commented "it's small but interesting"

Kirsty dryly remarked " Yes, I bet you say that to all the girls

olly300

Dan-Dan wrote: »

I must have mentioned about 5 times that we DO live in it

Sorry

Anyway spend a bit of time watching Phil's back episodes and Sarah Beeney's program on 4od.

Then you will probably be able to work out what is missing from your house that's not attracting buyers.

Sarah's programs are better but the properties she gets are in a better state.

C_Mababejive

tuggy12 wrote: »

Harsh!

I quite like the pair of them and find their banter amusing.

Phil was showing a couple a tiny cottage and commented "it's small but interesting"

Kirsty dryly remarked " Yes, I bet you say that to all the girls"

Yes..they do like to cultivate the myth that they might be banging eachother...but of course its untrue. they are both happily married to other people.

Sarah Beeney...Shes my favourite

jmt

Dan-Dan wrote: »

I know , i know , but we think decluttered is better than a full on family living there

Hi Dan-Dan :wave: - I think your updated photos are so much better the floors look lovely although close up the parquet may need work. Pity you have to keep the carpets in the bedrooms. Could you not replace these with some basic cream/beige as the bedroom with the leather bed is awful They don't have to be expensive, but it would make them liveable for a while whilst buyers do the kitchen and bathroom

phoebe1989seb

Ivana_Tinkle wrote: »

The vast majority of people can't see through this stuff. It's not that they're stupid, they just know that the house isn't very nice but can't put their finger on why.

I've moved house a lot, and every property's been a "project". I have one family member who, without fail, on first visiting the new place will be visibly shocked and completely unable to say anything positive about it. He'll visit again a year later and be literally open-mouthed at the difference (and massively resentful that we've been so "lucky" and made a lot of money on it!).

It's the properties that are just generally a bit dated that benefit the most from a bit of tarting up. If it's a compete wreck, people can see the potential a bit more whereas for some reason if it's all just a bit grubby and old then they can't.

Same here - we've only ever bought *projects* that we've then lived in whilst doing the work.......I won't say 'modernising' as that's not what we do - we restore character and renovate sympathetically

Friends have previously been unable to accept we were actually prepared to live in some of these houses whilst the transformation is ongoing, but as it usually takes a few years that's been the best option for us!

It does seem that currently a huge load of people are genuinely unable to see past clutter and out-dated decor - maybe they even expect older houses to be presented as show homes on new estates and for them to have been repaired/maintained to the extent that they at no longer *period* but are in effect *Trigger's broom*

From our own experience we've restored houses that we've been fortunate enough to sell for a great profit (despite there not being a hint of magnolia emulsion or vases of twigs in sight, LOL!) and others where we've lost money big-time - but in the case of the latter our EA assured us that by doing the work we'd increased saleability and to prove their point the house sold in what was a very stagnant market in two weeks.

We've also (on one occasion only) taken the advice of our EA and replaced a Turkish style carpet with a neutral one and repainted a deep red room in a more neutral beige - only to have our buyers inform us they'd have preferred it left as it was

Last year we sold my parents' house where they'd lived for 40-odd years - apart from de-cluttering and a bit of light maintenance we presented the house for sale as they'd left it with *granny style* furnishings in situ, but still managed to achieve a sale (asking price) within a couple of months.

It is definitely different strokes for different folks.........

PS Kirstie & Phil rule in my book

sirmosh

Buying and selling a house isn't always about money, sometimes it's about getting a more suitable property, relocating or even just wanting a change of scenery. Sometimes people sell houses under value just to make sure it's gone quick and that they're in a position to get the house they want to buy. Sometimes people offer more than they'd like for a house just to secure it.

If you said to someone would you pay £2,000 just to find a buyer quickly many people would say yes just to avoid the stress. Spending money to make a house more sell-able is about a lot more than just finance.

Beachview_2

I've heard it said before that you must give a room a purpose, so a spare room should be shown as a bedroom. Are buyers really that unable to visualise a bed in the room?

I have a desk in the room, a cupboard, and no clutter. Its been freshly decorated. But I don't want to have to go to the bother and expense of putting a bed in it.

Surely the lack of a bed shouldn't make any difference as empty houses sell.

So what do you all think?