Reasons to declutter
There are lots of reasons you should declutter your house.
One of the most important is that it’ll make your house look bigger and more spacious.
By decluttering you take away many of the rather personal items that make your home your home. This is essential when you’re selling as sadly many viewers will see your items and not be able to imagine fitting their own items in next to them. It doesn’t matter than when you move you take your stuff with you, as some people just can not see beyond simple things like photos and ornaments.
You neutralise your space which makes it more of a blank canvas for your prospective buyers to visualise themselves in.
If you remove coats from the coat rack then it will give the impression that your house has plenty of room for coats. If you leave one coat out make sure it’s a good quality clean coat that evokes some sense of lifestyle. If you live in a town then a posh coat would be nice, if you live in the country an outdoor jacket would be nice.
Hide away your shoes from the halls and floors of rooms. It makes it look like there’s no where to put them! There might not be room for a shoe rack but they are better hidden away so that the buyers don’t realise!
If your rooms look empty after you’ve decluttered then consider allowing one or two good quality items in each room. This can be a vase of fresh flowers which adds to the lifestyle feel. Remember to check them and throw them out when they start to wilt.
Decluttering the outside of your house is essential too. Where are you rubbish bins right now? Put them away in the shed or garage, or neatly in a corner where they don’t spoil the view. Bins stuck at the front of the house make it look like there’s no room for them anywhere!
Check doormats are clean too and that there’s no milk bottles left by the front door for the milkman! Line up the doormat straight! Make sure your doorbell works too if you have one!
Declutter any signs on your front door too. A sign saying no cold callers gives the impression the area is constantly full of cold callers! This might put some people off!
Month: February 2011
Free check at Homecheck
The ultimate guide to environmental, flood and planning risks and neighbourhood information.
They offer a free check service – just enter your postcode.
The results give you a high, medium or low assessment of risk for different factors – if there are any high risk factors then it’s worth doing additional checks.
You get one free search before you need to register.
Nominate a house for a blue plaque
Ever wondered how you go about nominating a property to have a blue plaque? English Hertitage only do London blue plaques (apart from a brief nationwide trial) – They have a guide about it here at the English Heritage Website
* a figure must have been dead for twenty years, or have passed the centenary of their birth, whichever is the earlier.
* a building associated with the figure must survive in London.
* proposals will be considered for the commemoration of sites of special historical interest (for instance, where a key event took place), but these should be shown to be of national significance.
If you’ve nominated and failed in the past you have to wiat 10 years before you can have another attempt at that one!
You then have to fund the plaque yourself!
There are many other local schemes for other parts of the country.
Wiki has a list of blue plaques
Societies like the Tiverton Civic Society has done blue plaques!
Buying at auction
This is a bit risky if you’ve got to get finance as you have to complete to a deadline and if the bank refuses to lend you the money then you’d lose your deposit.
For most auctions you need to put down a deposit of 10%. You pay 10% of your maximum bid (with a minimum of £2000). Completion takes place usually within 28 days from the exchange which is deemed to be when the hammer falls. You need to check what the company accepts as some won’t take cheques, and others have a surcharge for using a credit card.
You should view the property and arrange any surveyors visit before hand. Use a solicitor who is used to doing auction propertys and ask them to look at the legal pack before you bid!
If you don’t have a survey, and the property turns out to have problems then you have no comeback once the hammer falls!
Blue plaque houses
We’ve all seen them – blue plaques stuck on the front of houses – but how many have you seen for sale?
This one was home to Annunzio Paolo Mantovani – 5 bedroom chalet for sale and they want offers in Region of
£1,695,000 for this property on Burton Road, Branksome Park, Poole, BH13.
Do you think you’d be more musical if you lived there?
If you know of other blue plaque properties for sale then please get in touch.
Same house on rightmove twice
This can happen because it’s on with different agents. Sometimes they’ll have different prices and this might be because land is being separated off from one of them. It’s always worth reading both sets of details and working out what the differences are.
The more agents a property is on with though, the more desperate they are to sell in my opinion. It might be they don’t want to lower the price to get viewings and so believe another agent will get them a sale without them dropping their price.
Types of non traditional build houses
If you’ve heard the phrase “Non traditional build” then you’ll find this guide useful. It’s got information and pictures on lots of types.
List includes::
Airey
Arrowhead
Boot
British Iron and Steel Federation Housing (BISF)
Cornish Unit
Dorlonco
Dorran
Dyke
Gregory
Hawthorne Leslie
Howard
Laing Easi-Form
Lowton Cubit
Mowlem
Myton
Newland
Orlit
Parkinson
Reema Hollow Panel
Schindler & Hawksley SGS
Stent
Stonecrete
Tarran
Thorncliffe
Trusteel
Underdown
Unity & Butterly
Waller
Wates
Wessex
Wimpey No-Fines
Winget
Woolaway
Taunton 10 bedroom house
Wilton House in Taunton – This lovely house is only £850,000! It’s a 10 bedroom house in Taunton!
It’s not got a huge garden compared to the size of the house, but it’s location near the higih street, and close to a park and golf course make it a fantastic property.
• A Grade II Listed Queen Anne House
• 10 En Suite Bedrooms, 2 Bedroom Annexe
• Prominent Location In The Town
• Over 8,000 Sq/Ft – In All 0.5 Acre
Brookside close for sale
If you ever watched Brookside back in the dim distant past you might be interested to know its for sale!
It’s being sold off and they want in the region of £2 million for it.
The catalogue (pdf file) is available
Want to rent a place at Brookside instead?
Now available are three places!
Barratts to change tack
Barratts the well known house builder is going to hedge it’s bets and become a rental arm. They built 11000 homes last year – and maybe the downturn in the mortgage market means they can’t sell them, and would rather rent than keep trying to sell them.
What this means for home buyers? They’re expecting a drop in prices yet further and for the mortgage market to be difficult.
It will be interesting to see how they get on as landlords though.
Sources include assetz