Phil Spencer

Dan-Dan

taxiphil wrote: »

You could always spot the armchair property experts by the kind of guff they came out with; one young woman asked "has the house been rewired yet?". The house was built in 2002. When I said "No, not yet", she said "oh, well that's something I'll have to get costed."

Ha ha , that`s brilliant :D

olly300

Dan-Dan wrote: »

Thanks for your post

What does frustrate me , is that i kind of agree with this , but location is everything with this , and it only takes the `right` buyer to come along and we will get waht we `need` , which is £315 or as near to....we think....BUT , i am aware there is a real good chance we could sit on the market for weeks at 325....

We have had 9 viewers and 3 second viewers , all feedback so far ranges from `too much work` or `loved it but cant proceed` which is annoying , as we did specify proceedable people to view but then i guess people would just say yes , if asked that by the EA so not much we can do about that..

Its very habitable but you WOULD spend 8-10k on a good kitchen , open up the space , then concentrate on the bathroom and toilet being seperate

You want the people who are saying "it's too much work" to be able to live there while they are doing it up over time.


You watched Phil's program yesterday. You can see that replacing fussy flooring, removing carpet from kitchens, painting every room neutral, moving furniture and dressing it appropriately goes a long way from people saying "it's too much work" to "ok it needs some work but I can live with it."

You don't seem to have a shower in your bathroom. Even older people expect a shower. So one trick you can do if the piping isn't knackered is change the bathroom taps to one that has a shower head on it. Even if you can't use it people will think they can have a shower.

RevolvingDoor

OffGridLiving wrote: »

My parents had their bungalow up for sale for months with no luck. My wife and I ended up blitzing their house over three weekends and painted all of the ceilings, walls and woodwork to freshen the house up. We de-cluttered the place and put up a few cheap paintings. It sold within three weeks.

Most people can't see around old fashioned or tired decorating to see the potential. Others just don't want to have to move into a new home and start decorating immediately. Especially in our case as our sales market was older, retired people who really didn't want the hassle of redecorating.

It cost us a couple of hundred quid in paint, and fixtures but it more than paid for itself with a quick sale. Its also harder for buyers to push for a reduction in price if they don't have anything to moan about.

I think this must happen a lot with potential homebuyers.:) When we first bought our house we liked it as it was a blank canvas without furniture. We saw some very old-fashioned houses with swirly wallpaper and carpets and it really put us off.

Now that we are older and wiser I wouldn't disregard a house for bad decor as I can see past it.:p

lessonlearned

Agree some people just lack vision, or confidence.

My poor old late MIL, bless her heart, hadn't a clue. She was buying some curtains and asked me for my advice. She was going to chose green, to match the carpet, sofas, cushions, and the green in the wallpaper. I tentatively suggested that it might be a tad too much green......

She confessed she was scared of colour and didn't know what went with what so she thought she was safe in sticking to the same colour for everything. :rotfl:

I have a dear friend who has always slightly bemused me with her choice of decorating. I've always been far too polite to say anything of course.

Anyway we were chatting recently and she confessed that she is, in fact, colour blind. I never knew. However, it does now explain some of her - er hem - unusual colour schemes.

Re Phil & Kirsty and their ilk.

They are just property professionals doing their job. They get paid for delivering results and they just so happen to be "good on TV".

I really don't get the animosity towards them. Jealousy perhaps???

So Kirsty has a rich father - so what - not her fault is it.

I think Phil & Kirsty are engaging and make a delightful double act.

Sarah Beeny really knows her stuff and delivers straight talking no nonsense wisdom with just the right dash of humour.

They are all unfailing polite and diplomatic to their "clients".

There used to be a guy called Andrew something or other on TV and he was good too. He was a little less diplomatic but he definitely knew what he was talking about.

My all time favourite though was a guy called Gary McCausland - a real wag but by jiminey he knows his stuff. The eldest of seven children and a self made man he knows property like the back of his hand. He has built up a good business and is now a serious developer.

All of these TV property experts are from different backgrounds, some born with a silver spoon, some middle class and one at least is poor working class.

However, they all are share the same traits - a real passion for property, a joy in what they do and a propensity for damn hard work.

Not one of them expects something for nothing. They all know that to sell a property for the best possible price you need to put some effort into it - especially in these recessionary times.

The days of sticking up a sign to sell any old tat and naming your price are long gone.

Often it is the greedy or deluded clients who need the reality check not the agent who is trying to flog a dead horse.

Fire_Fox

Dan-Dan wrote: »

Hi Sugar

we live in the bungalow.....

Its priced `to sell` (or so we thought) its only been 4 weeks though

It`s defintly either a `builders` purchase , as there is only 8 properties in the culdesac and all have been modified in some way ,wether its dormas or extransions etc) ours is the only one left in its original build state
Or its for the middle aged/retired couples market , and its this market we want due to the price because if they have the contacts and means , they can live there and do each room to suit as they occupy the property

obviously a builder wants to make as much as possible so could well not peak there interest until the price drops

Dan-Dan wrote: »

Thanks LL

We do live in the house as well but yes a probate sale , it is very clean , very decluttered , we carried out that sad task over many weeks , so there is no junk or old furniture to remove

The fronts and backs are well kept and we keep it as tidy as possible

Reluctant to spend money as we are not sure , in this case , it will reap any benefit , so at the moment have stuck with keeping clean and tidy , in good state of repair and hope the right buyer comes along

Weed front garden around drive and edges of walls, and prune bushes
Scrub down or repaint the garage door
Photo of back garden is terrible, it's a photo of a random selection of pots not any actual useable space!
Get a gardener in to sort out the trees/ shrubs in the back, you are losing a ton of space and some of those trees may be too close to the house
Kitchen flooring is horrific, ditto bedroom carpet, what is underneath?
Lose the carp from the kitchen walls and shelves, kids scribbles and general junk make it look scruffier
Consider losing some of the curtains, haunt eBay and charity shops for second hand curtains, those are seventies/eighties hell

Basically I would say shrubbery, carpets and curtains are distracting from the overall space, which is actually very good. You might also consider getting outline planning consent/ basic plans drawn up/ costing up extending into the loft space OR garage space depending what the neighbours have done. Don't actually do the work, just get everything in place, it can add value or interest from families.

Dan-Dan wrote: »

well yesterdays had to reduce by 15/20k

Have you looked at land registry sold prices for the street? What are the sizes and condition of these others in comparison? Because it looks to me as if you are marketing to 2006/7 prices!
http://www.zoopla.co.uk/house-prices/heath-and-reach/carlton-grove/?q=carlton%20grove%20lu7&search_source=house-prices

Dan-Dan

Thanks all , will go through your posts with my wife later when have more time

all advice is 100% appreciated

olly300

RevolvingDoor wrote: »

I think this must happen a lot with potential homebuyers.:) When we first bought our house we liked it as it was a blank canvas without furniture. We saw some very old-fashioned houses with swirly wallpaper and carpets and it really put us off.

Now that we are older and wiser I wouldn't disregard a house for bad decor as I can see past it.:p

Yes but it has to be priced appropriately.

If you want people to pay a premium price for your property then have it decorated and fitted out appropriately.

If not then take 5-15K of it for things like the kitchen, bathroom and other decoration needing to be updated.

olly300

Dan-Dan wrote: »

Thanks all , will go through your posts with my wife later when have more time

all advice is 100% appreciated

Get your wife to watch some of the 4od property programs by Phil or Sarah as well if she hasn't.

It's easier if you are both onboard.

Dan-Dan

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Have you looked at land registry sold prices for the street? What are the sizes and condition of these others in comparison? Because it looks to me as if you are marketing to 2006/7 prices!
http://www.zoopla.co.uk/house-prices/heath-and-reach/carlton-grove/?q=carlton%20grove%20lu7&search_source=house-prices

8 bungalows in the cul de sac

all but ours and next door have been extended in some way , as in going upstairs (which kind of restricts resale to pensioners down the line?) or by bringing the front room to the level of the house (you will know what i mean going by the picture of the front?)

all bungalows have roughly the same size footprint tho ours has the largest garden.....

Next door was redone , lovely it is , two dorma rooms , decorated etc , the builder who did it got 450k for it!!

Then over the road , number 4 , he literally took the bungalow apart , other than external walls and rebuil it , then replaced the roof , he tried to sell it for 500k with no takers

Dan-Dan

olly300 wrote: »

Get your wife to watch some of the 4od property programs by Phil or Sarah as well if she hasn't.

It's easier if you are both onboard.

Its difficult , i want to paint the doors and skirtings with fresh white gloss , but she disagrees and thinks its not needed and that whoevere buys it will do that

She doesnt think we should spend any more than we already have (we bought a new flat roof for the garage and had the inside nicley boarded up etc) which cost us just shy of 2k

I am trying to get across if there are two propertys neck and neck ,w hat we do to ours , might just make the difference