Author: Diane

Top secret house for sale

One estate agent has recently come to my attention as one that likes to keep buyers guessing.
This house is for sale – it’s not got a photo or a map – just a vague general description!

I can understand that some people want to keep their house sale private from nosey neighbours, but a good estate agent would vet people before allowing viewings, especially on such an expensive house – so I don’t see the point in hiding the house or location.

For many people buying a house is about falling in love with a building or a location – and to remove these key aspects from the internet listings strikes me as a little odd.

Do you have a bad estate agent?

How can you tell that your estate agent is rubbish?

The first clue is that your house still hasn’t sold. If your sale board
rots through before your house sells, then the chances are your estate agent
isn’t doing a very good job.

Another clue to watch out for is a lack of viewings. If you had a viewing within
the first week but suspect that was the estate agent’s elderly mother
doing him a favour, and have had nothing since, then he’s a rubbish estate
agent.

If your estate agent put up photos of your house that make it look dark and
dreary then you won’t inspire anyone to view. Insist they change the photos
– and get some more taken on a nice sunny day.

Estate agents that don’t ask for feedback after you have a viewing aren’t
doing particularly well either. You need to know why someone didn’t like
your house and if they come out with “it didn’t have enough bedrooms”,
then you can also blame your estate agent for that too. Why would he send someone
to see a two bedroom property if they want to buy a three bedroom one?

Another thing to watch out for is how good they are at answering the phones.
In these high tech days we have mobile phones we carry with us everywhere, they
do our email too and unless you live in some really remote area you should always
have coverage! So why are some estate agents almost impossible to get hold of
on the phone?

Do estate agents make a conscious decision to avoid picking up the phone from
people selling their house? If you worry this is the case then do a number withheld
or ask a friend to ring them. If they don’t answer the phone to anyone
that will include prospective viewers too!

Avoiding bad estate agents can be tricky. There are some who would sell their
souls to the devil to get you to sign their 12 month binding contract, and it
would appear from some of their behaviour that not only did they sell their
soul to the devil, but they also timeshared with him their brain!

Test out local estate agents. Do a chart of how well they deal with your enquiries.
Ask everyone you know which ones they have used and which ones have been helpful.
The list might get smaller the more people you ask.

Research – who is actually selling houses – which estate agent
has the most sale signs turn to sold signs? Always check on houseprices.co.uk
to make sure the house has actually sold. It’s also good to have a good
mooch through the properties for sale. There are one or two who keep properties
on their books for years after they have actually sold them to make it look
like they are more busy than they are.

Read the contract carefully before signing anything. This should be the case
in all aspects of your life. People are often too quick to sign without taking
the time and trouble to read through all the details.
You can negotiate on contracts too and a good estate agent will allow you to
do this.

Read the section about terminating the contract carefully. Also ask the estate
agent how many people they have looking for your sort of house. The ones who
say “dozens” might well be lying.
Make sure the estate agent you pick is a member of a nationally recognised organisation.
This means they have rules to stick to and someone to complain about them too.

Don’t forget it’s not always the estate agent to blame if your house
doesn’t sell. If they have told you that they think the market has dropped
in your area and you should reduce the price, and you ignore their advice, then
you almost certainly won’t get a sale. It’ll be harder for people
to be persuaded to view your house if they know you don’t want to lower
the price too – as they’ll be aware of mortgage approvals and the
valuations done by mortgage companies. If you are given advice by an estate
agent then you should consider it carefully.

Another reason why your house might not be selling is if you’ve got some
problem areas you’ve not sorted out such as a very messy house, unfinished
DIY work, or a really grotty garden. Again you need to listen to advice from
the estate agent about this sort of thing too.

Sometimes the estate agent might be terrible, but sometimes they’re selling
terrible houses – it’s up to you to decide which is the case with
your property!

Really lovely house in Lulsley, Knightwick

Lulsley Court This house is beautiful. It’s a grade 2* listed property and it’s rear aspect is utterly stunning. I don’t think the first photo does it justice.

Lulsley Court is a 7 bedroom house for sale with a Guide Price of £845,000 and it’s in Lulsley, Knightwick, Worcester
It’s a few miles from Worcester giving you access to shopping and great schools.
The sofas in front of the fire in picture 5 with the bookcase packed with books make it a really lovely appealing house to me – and the kitchen looks really nice too.
The greenhouse looks impressive too as does the entire house!

It’s listed status says it’s – Lulsley Court Farmhouse. C16 with C17 additions and C19 alterations

Viewings – some basic information

If you’re going to do your own viewings then there are a few rules to bear in mind. Assuming the house is spotless and looks and smells fantastic then you should turn your attention to other matters.


What are you going to wear? Clearly being in pyjamas is not acceptable. Having your hair in curlers is probably also a no-no!


What about the rest of the family. Get them out of the house. Send them to the shop for a paper or to the park. Get the dog out of the house too. Some people don’t like dogs and almost no one enjoys having a dog jump up at them or barking.

Having someone asleep in bed is a huge problem – if someone works nights then they will have to have disturbed sleep if you have a viewing lined up. Try to arrange viewings for when they will be awake anyway.


Don’t have anyone using the shower or loo either. I’ve read horror stories about people being in the bath during viewings.

Greet your viewers with a smile too! Even if they are late you should greet them with a smile. Should you offer them a drink? I’ve only ever been offered a drink once when I’ve been viewing houses, and to be honest it was a bit weird.


Lock up your valuables – make sure your handbag isn’t where anyone could rifle through it. Don’t leave money out anywhere and don’t leave them alone in rooms for any length of time.

Ignore any comments about your decoration that they come out with. Pretend you didn’t hear them slating your lovely wallpaper or choice of paint for the lounge door. If they want to pay the asking price then they can be as rude as they want.


Show them round and then ask if they want to look at any rooms again. You can let them wander round on their own if you like and in most houses they won’t get lost. If you have a huge house then you might want to give them the guided tour. But in a normal size house this can be a bit repetitive pointing out the obvious function of each room.

Answer their questions – perhaps have copies of utility bills out – or have totals for the last winter’s bill – as this is something that people are interested in. Write down when the boiler was last serviced and by whom. If you have chimneys then write down when they were last swept as well. If you have cavity wall insulation then tell them!

If you’re not sure of an answer say you don’t know – but offer to research the information for them and pass it on via the estate agent.


Always ensure viewings are booked through the estate agent and consider keeping someone else in the house with you.

Ask them questions – are they ready to move, are they new to the area, what other properties have they looked at in the area?


Some people will be tyre kickers – that is, people who like viewing houses. Some people will be first time buyers and may have little experience of viewing a house. Some will be professional landlords looking to extend their portfolio. All these people need dealing with in a polite, professional manner. You may be able to tell whether someone is a landlord by the lack of questions they ask. First time buyers might ask many questions.


They may ask if you have found somewhere else to buy yet. If you haven’t then be honest – and they ask if you would consider moving into rented if they want to buy quickly, then be honest – and that might mean saying you don’t know!


After your viewing you should expect your estate agent to contact them with feedback about the viewing and whether they liked it. This feedback can be useful for you to know about as it can help future viewings.

Reasons not to buy New Builds

Reasons not to buy a new build house or flat

  • They’re like new cars – lose money as soon as someone lives in it!
  • They’re often overpriced compared to older property
  • If you buy off-plan you might be surprised in a bad way when you get your
    keys if they haven’t fitted the kitchen you expected
  • They can be smaller than they look – some sneaky developers use 3/4 size
    furniture to make them look bigger.
  • The layout can change if you buy off-plan. We’ve heard of horrid cases where
    people found great structural pillars in the middle of their open plan lounge.
  • You’d not buy anything else without seeing it first – so why do people expect
    buying off-plan to go well?
  • You have to do the snagging
  • You might be living on a building site
  • The house might never get built if the builder can ‘t sell enough houses
    on the estate
  • Roads are often unfiinished some time
  • They often have very little space between the houses
  • They may be mixed in with social housing – affordable housing is often a
    condition of building a new estate – this can devalue your home.
  • Large parts of estates have been sold off for social housing when they have
    failed to sell as inflated prices.
  • The gardens seem to lack top soil and have more rubble than soil!

Earliest Neighbour nuisance?

neighbour nuisance in the 14th centuryOK, there were probably some cave men fighting about who had parking rights on their shared access drives once they invented the wheel, but this amazing document shows a 14th century neighbour nuisance! It revolves around a toilet too!


It’s to promote Dan Snow’s Filthy Cities which starts on Tuesday 5 April at 2100 BST on BBC Two.