Your kitchen probably needs particular attention: it may be looking a bit worse for wear after all the years you’ve been there, and could likely benefit from a fresh coat of paint.  After all, kitchens get a lot of knocks from everyday use by all the family, possibly with children’s craft sessions to contend with, as well as an accumulation of cooking mess.

Any visit by a prospective buyer will take in the kitchen, and, good or bad, yours will make quite an impression.  You want it to say: you will have nice meals here with friends and family.  If it says dingy or grubby or poky, it will put people off.  Money spent in creating the right impression here can pay dividends.

Cast a critical eye over your kitchen, or better yet, ask a professional or an honest friend for advice on what they would change.  You may find it worth your while to put in a new kitchen altogether, if yours is very out of date.  Fashions do change in kitchen design.  More than ever before, people are regarding the kitchen as the heart of the home.  Rather than just a room for food preparation, these days people like to eat there, too.  And the big table means that it will get used for homework, reading the paper and so on.  Often there will be a TV or computer in there as well, even a sofa, and people will expect to spend a lot of their time there.  Accordingly, it tends to have more money spent on it than other areas of the house.

Very often, particularly if the kitchen is in the back of a typical semi, people are extending over an area of garden to make a bigger space with more light.  If you are viewing a house with this aspect, your Conveyancing Solicitor will need to check the essential building permissions have been sought for any extensions or major building alterations.

If you are not up to such a major remodelling job, or if the room is already large, you can still achieve a lot without necessarily spending a great deal.  Rather than install new units, if the ones you have are sensibly located, consider putting new doors and handles on them for a more modern look.  You probably won’t want to buy new appliances in the run up to your move, but maybe they can be disguised or made to look built in.  Replacing the counter top with a more modish design can lend a totally new feel, as can a new floorcovering if your lino is worn or curling up at the edges.  Aim for a neutral look, with light colours and natural materials where possible, to encourage the prospective buyer to imagine him or herself comfortable and at home in the space.

If all of this sounds just too daunting, invite a kitchen company or two into your home to give you a quote on a replacement kitchen.  They will usually contain some attractive visualisations of the ‘new’ kitchen within your home.  Leave this on hand as it will help you potential buyer to envisage what might be possible with the space you have on offer and the price involved.

If you get property magazines through your letterbox, take a look.  As well as price information for your area, these will provide you with pictures of the sorts of things people are doing to their kitchens – attractive ones are likely to be showcased in estate agents details so why not steal some of their ideas?

A word of warning though!  Don’t go overboard: if properties in your area are selling for £100,000, you can’t put in a £30,000 kitchen and expect to get your money back.

Ambro / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Giving your home’s exterior a bit of extra attention can help to entice more potential buyers to look inside. Read on for our 9 top tips for great kerb appeal.

Where to begin?

When you have become used to the place you live, you may find that you don’t notice the small details that potential buyers will look out for when inspecting your home. It is this attention to detail that will really count when you are trying to attract a buyer.

When selling your home, you need to demonstrate that your property is well looked after. A good way to find out what improvements your home needs is to take a few steps back, and try to imagine your property through the eyes of someone who has never seen it before. Look at your home from across the street. Are you pleased by what you see or are there any areas that need attention? Make notes of your findings and spend some time deciding how you will address these issues.

If you notice any flaws that may be down to structural problems, it is worth getting the advice of a chartered surveyor, who will be able to recommend the best way of dealing with them.

Spruce up your front door

The very first thing you should do is make sure your front door is up to scratch. If you have a doorbell, make sure that it is in working order. Your front door can tempt a potential buyer inside your home to see more, or it can make them want to run a mile. If their grand tour begins in a grim and dusty porch in front of a peeling front doorway, that uneasy feeling can be difficult to shake, even if your interior is immaculate. Adding a coat of paint and some shiny new fittings doesn’t cost a lot and will be well worth the effort.  Try polishing your door knocker and letterbox - you may have lovely original brass hidden underneath the tarnish!

Repaint

A fresh coat of paint can provide a complete face-lift for your property.  It is important to choose a colour that suits both your property and its setting. If you need inspiration, refer to the colours your neighbours have used for their homes.

You will also need to make sure that all your exterior woodwork looks neat and tidy, so check whether your windowsills need repainting, too.

Check outdoor lighting

When was the last time you made sure that your outdoor lighting was all working correctly? Walk around your property after dark and make a note of any bulbs that need replacing.

Have your windows cleaned

Cleaning your windows can make a big difference to your property’s facade. It will also let more light into your rooms and brighten up the inside of your property, too.

Neaten up the garden

Trim hedges, mow the lawn regularly and sweep all the pathways. The garden is an important part of a property for many people, so the way you set it up can really help sell your house.

If you have a garden, try to set it up so it appeals to the type of person you are marketing your property to. If your home would suit a first time buyer, setting up an area with some garden furniture will emphasise the potential for entertaining. If you are selling to parents, make the most of any open space as a great play area for children.

Install tubs and containers

If your garden needs brightening up, some well-placed colourful pots can work wonders to enhance your outside space, especially if your garden is small. The great thing about container gardens is that you can take the tubs and pots with you when you move. Plant brightly coloured flowers in summer; in winter, various textured grasses should do the trick nicely.

Scatter wildflower seeds

Try scattering some wildflower seeds in early springtime if your flowerbeds are a bit bare; this can give just the splash of colour that they need. Wildflowers tend to be quite hardy and are quite low-maintenance if you are a lazy gardener! The seeds don’t cost much from garden centres, and the flowers are also great for wildlife, attracting beautiful butterflies and bees to your garden.

Conceal your dustbins

Put your dustbins and recycling bins out of sight, if you can, when you have a viewing arranged. It’s unlikely that having them on display will seriously deter buyers, but clearing them away will improve the general presentation of your home and make it more appealing.

You may find that just by making a few simple changes like this, your property will seem far more attractive to buyers, and you can then begin to look for a property solicitor to help you sell your home.

Photo: Tom Curtis / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

However, there will always be people who for one reason or another need to move, and you can do a lot to help yourself to attract those serious buyers to your property. So if you are selling, you might have to work that little bit harder these days, to close a deal and here are 6 tips to help you get on your way.

1. Choose your estate agent carefully

In tough times it is more important than ever to have someone on your side who has good local knowledge (the wider reach of a network as well is a bonus) and is a skilled negotiator on your behalf.  Personal recommendation is always a good way of identifying a good agent, but even more critical is feeling reassured that this is a team that will represent your interests well, and with whom you can work during what could prove to be quite a stressful time.  See our blog on Tips for Choosing your Estate Agent

2.  Price Realistically from the start

This will save you time in the long run: if you are too aggressive to start with, you’ll only have to bring the price down later on.  By that time your details will be looking tired to serious prospective buyers in your area.  Your property may also be listed on some property websites that monitor every sale price as it changes, such as www.home.co.uk.  It is not always healthy for buyers to see how you have lowered the price.  Check what similar properties in your area have fetched on mouseprice.co.uk, and be realistic about how yours compares.

3.  Make a good first impression

It’s more important than ever in a poor market to make the property as attractive as possible.  Dealing with an unruly front garden, cleaning the windows and their woodwork, keeping the place very tidy and so on cost little or nothing and make a big difference.  (If necessary, the cost of a coat of paint can pay for itself.)  Not only will the place look nicer, it will look as though it is loved by you, which will increase its ‘curbside’ appeal.

4.  Be flexible

Prepare to negotiate and to offer extras such as legal costs, repairs and renovations (or a discount to cover them) as well as fixtures and fittings such as appliances and curtains.  Make sure your estate agent listens carefully to any concerns the prospective buyer has and feeds back to you.  Then you can react immediately to counter wherever possible.

  5.  Embrace technology

Make sure your estate agent has the main property sites covered, and make creative use yourself of the tools at your disposal.  Sellers are increasingly making YouTube videos to showcase their property.  Tell all your Facebook friends that you are looking to sell – you never know, one of their friends might be looking!

6.  Help with viewings

If you are on hand to answer any questions about the fabric of the property and the local area, then as long as you can be enthusiastic and come across as trustworthy and accommodating, you could be an excellent spokesperson.   Print out any local planning applications that may or may not affect the property as these will arise in the solicitor’s searches anyway. See more in our article Information To Reveal to your Buyer. This way you can chat about their likely or unlikely impact informally.  The personal touch might just tip the balance.

Look on the bright side: in today’s market you’ll have fewer prospective buyers but they are less likely to waste your time, and some effort on your part can really pay dividends.

image:  ddpavumba / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Make it easy to view your property

When someone is trying to arrange a viewing of your property, make sure you are as accommodating as possible. Each viewing is an opportunity to sell your home so it’s important to try not to miss any.

Don’t be too sensitive

Remember that potential buyers want to like your home; otherwise they wouldn’t bother to come and look at it. The chances are that they have a wish-list of features that they are looking for, which may have been written before they saw your house on the market. When you show potential buyers round your home, be prepared that they might point out any flaws your home has and ask probing questions. Don’t be offended if your house doesn’t turn out to be the one they are looking for.

Stay optimistic

It is easy to start feeling despondent if your property doesn’t attract offers as quickly as you’d hoped. Don’t be disheartened; if you are having difficulty, it may be worth rethinking your marketing strategy. Assess whether the property is competitively priced, whether your advertising reach is broad enough and don’t be afraid to discuss this with your estate agent. Having excellent marketing photos will also help to attract more viewers. You can read how to take great shots of your property in our moving advice section.

Be nice to your estate agent

Remember that in your property transaction, there is a lot that depends upon you having a good relationship with your estate agent. He or she will be more enthusiastic about contacting you if you communicate positively with them than if you moan at them. Trying to sell your home can be frustrating at times but try to encourage them rather than complain to them.

Keep things moving

A good solicitor will always keep you updated about your situation. It is reasonable to expect a transaction period of between 6 and 8 weeks to sell your property, although there are various complications that can slow down the process. A lack of communication can result in the transaction becoming stale, so keep in contact with your solicitor to make sure everything is proceeding as it should. Always update your estate agent with important news so they can pass the message on to your buyers.

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Communicate via your estate agent

Exchanging contact details with your buyer could be a big mistake. Your estate agent is there for a reason, and although sometimes they can drive you crazy, it is good to have somebody there who can be diplomatic if the situation gets stressful. Also, if your buyer wants to negotiate or has any difficult enquiries, having your estate agent to act as an intermediary will give you time to mull things over before you go back to them with your answer.

The most helpful thing you can do for yourself is try to approach everything with a positive attitude. If you give people your best, you are more likely to get the best back.

Image: Ambro / FreeDigitalPhotos.

Check all smoke alarms

It doesn’t take long to check that your smoke alarm is working. If you don’t have a smoke alarm in your house, it should be top priority to fit one. The best present you can give your family is safety.

Take care with open fires

A log fire is wonderfully cosy and charming, but to enjoy your open fire safely, you must make sure that your chimney is in proper working order. If you haven’t already, get it checked by a building surveyor to make sure it is structurally sound before lighting a fire. Always make sure that flammable items such as cards and decorations are kept well away from any open flame.

Prevent freezing pipes

If you go away over Christmas, turning your heating right off could prove to be a false economy, because the damage that can be done by a burst pipe will be far more expensive to repair than any money you saved on gas bills. Make sure that your pipes don’t freeze by keeping your central heating on at a low level while you are away. This also means that your home will warm up more quickly when you return.

Another trick to guard against frozen pipes is to install lagging and insulation around them, and also around your water tank. This will increase the energy efficiency of your heating system giving you better value for money for your heating bills as well.

Have your boiler serviced

Ensure your boiler doesn’t break down this winter by getting it serviced regularly by a gas safe engineer. Not only will the engineer make sure the boiler operates as efficiently as possible, they will also check for signs of dangerous carbon monoxide gas.

Keep your home secure

If you are leaving your home unattended at Christmas, guard against break-ins by making sure that you don’t leave any valuable items on view. Double-check that all doors and windows are secure and tell your neighbours that you are going away. You may wish to invest in a timer switch to turn a light on and off at various times so that your house doesn’t look empty when it gets dark.

Best wishes from reallymoving.com for a happy and safe Christmas!

Image: Suat Eman / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Easy Access

A sprinkling of snow looks pretty, but do make sure that there is a clear path to your door so that your viewer doesn’t go away with the memory of wading through freezing snowdrifts. Grit the paths if it is icy to avoid any slippery accidents!

It would be a nice gesture to remove your own car from the driveway so that your viewer can park nearer to your door and doesn’t get too cold on the way to your house.

Because it gets dark so early, try to make sure that your outside space is well-lit, so that people can see where they are walking. You can buy solar-powered garden lights very cheaply that you can stick in the ground at various points around the outside of your house to light the way.

Shed some light on the subject

Winter light, or lack thereof, can make buildings and rooms look tired and dingy, so make sure you turn the lights on for your house viewings to brighten up the place. Make the most of what little natural light there is by cleaning your windows and opening your curtains wide.

Make sure it’s warm

Make sure that the heating is on in every room about half an hour before your viewers arrive so that it’s nice and warm when they get there. Don’t go over the top with heating, though, as buyers probably won’t take their coats off when they enter your home and if your house is too hot it might make them want to leave.

If you are lucky enough to have a working fireplace and are going to be around when the viewing takes place, lighting the fire is a nice touch. If you don’t have a fire, lighting a few candles here and there will also create a sense of warmth. Never leave them unattended, though.

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How energy efficient is your home? Get an Energy Performance Certificate to find out.

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Make it smell nice

Avoid cooking smelly food before your viewings. It’s also best to avoid using strong air fresheners or room perfumes as not only can they be overpowering but they can make your potential buyer wonder what odours you are trying to mask. Although it’s a bit cliché, a tried and tested aroma is a fresh pot of coffee which should do the trick nicely.

Set the scene

Your best bet to sell your home in winter is to create a warm, cosy atmosphere, away from the wind and cold. The worse the weather is, the more appealing a nice cosy house will seem.

Drape warm, snuggly blankets or throws over your chairs, and place an open box of posh chocolates and some stylish magazines on the coffee table to make your living room really lavish and inviting.

Feeling festive?

It’s a jolly time of year when the Christmas decorations go up, and having your halls decked for your house viewings can be really charming. Just keep the decorations tasteful and make sure that the twinkly lights compliment, not detract from, your home’s best features. Why not keep a plate of mince pies handy to offer to any house-hunting guests that drop by?

It will be more difficult to make your home look less personal while all your decorations are up, but there are still some things that you can do to depersonalise your space. Your viewers need to be able to imagine themselves living in the house, so remove personal ornaments and family portraits. It is also a good idea to put gifts out of view.

Make sure your home doesn’t look cluttered as this can be off-putting to buyers. Instead of adding extra adornments, just substitute some of your usual ornaments for Christmas ones and then switch them back once Christmas is over.

Don’t forget your garden

Even though it’s cold outside, potential buyers are still likely to want to see any outside space you have, too. So, put on your wellies and sweep up those fallen leaves, give your lawn the last mow of the season and prune any overgrowing shrubs. If you can see the garden from your property,

We hope these tips will help you attract a buyer this winter, and you will soon be ready to find a property solicitor and get started selling your property. 

Simon Howden / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

You’ve moved house, unpacked and are finally ready to settle into your new home.

However, there is just one more thing that needs to be done, and that is to notify all your contacts that you have moved house. This might seem like a mammoth task but, to be helpful, we’ve put together a handy checklist that you can print out and tick the box next to each contact that you have informed.

It’s still a big job, but at least you won’t need to worry that you’ve forgotten anyone!  Just print out our checklist, stick it on your fridge and work your way through it! 

Download the checklist here. 

Now all you’ve got left to do is plan your housewarming party!

Here are some points to consider if you are thinking about renting out your extra space.

The extra income

The Government’s Rent a Room Scheme allows you to earn up to £4,250 a year tax-free by letting out your extra room, however you will need to pay income tax if the amount you receive exceeds this figure.

Think about who you’d like to live with

•        The professional

Many people who rent rooms are professional types working away from home during the week and returning home at weekends. There are a number of websites that pair up weekday tenants with landlords, like fivenights.com. They allow you to advertise your space on the website so that potential lodgers can find your room more easily. The advantage is that you will get your room back at the weekend and enjoy having your own space. Depending on the requirements, you may choose to provide towels and linens during the week.

•        The newcomer

Some people who decide to rent a room are people who are moving to a new area and are choosing to live with other people because they want company, rather than living all alone in an unfamiliar town. People who fall into this category are likely to be looking for an opportunity to make new friends, so if you are a sociable person who loves meeting new people, this could be just the option for you.

•        The student

Some students also decide to become lodgers. It is important not to pre-judge students as party animals. Many are mature students studying for postgraduate qualifications and others are students who have decided that living in halls or a student house is not the best option for them.

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Are you looking for a place to rent? Read our top tips for first time tenants

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Devise your term and conditions

Before you advertise your spare room, you need to decide what your house rules will be, what kind of person you would prefer to live alongside (smoker/non-smoker, professional/student etc), and also which areas will be communal and which you would like to keep private. You don’t legally need a formal contract to take in a lodger, but it would be wise to have one and you will need to think about these factors if you do decide to draw up your terms of agreement.

Get to know each other

It is also important to spend some time with your prospective tenant before you decide they can move in. It is a big risk to take to invite a stranger to live with you, so arrange a meeting where you can both discuss your general habits, schedules and likes and dislikes. This meeting is as much for their benefit as it is for yours. You will save yourselves from an awkward situation if you can both work out sooner rather than later that your lifestyles will not be compatible.

On the other hand, you may find that your lifestyles fit seamlessly alongside one another, in which case you could find a new friend who could become just like part of the family.

Extra things to consider

Another advantage of having a lodger is that they can house-sit for you if you go away. It’s likely that they will appreciate the extra space, and you will have peace of mind knowing someone is watching over your home.

One thing to look out for if you are living in a rented property: you must make sure that your landlord agrees to you subletting part of the property or you could risk breaking your tenancy agreement so check carefully first.

For more detailed information and advice, visit Direct.gov’s page on renting out rooms in your home

photostock / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Due to the current uncertainty of the property market, many buyers and sellers seem to be finding more new ways to play the game and turn situations to their advantage. Unfortunately, when this happens, someone else in the chain can very easily lose out.

To put a name to some of these strategies, property experts have coined the terms gazumping and gazundering. ‘Gazanging’ was the next addition, and now we welcome a new member to the family of ‘gaz‘ words (drum roll please)... Gazinding.

This new term seems fairly similar to gazundering, and refers to a buyer reducing their offer in the final stages of the transaction just before the exchange of contracts.  This leaves the seller with a tricky decision to make;  accept the last minute lower offer, or put the property back on the market.

The reasons buyers do this will vary from person to person – some people will genuinely have a valid reason to pull out, whereas others simply have a change of heart or their nerves get the better of them. Whatever the reason, the outcome seldom differs, and occasionally people are prepared to pull some rather ruthless moves to try to get a better deal.

If you are selling your home, it is impossible to prevent this from happening, but you can at least reduce the likelihood by following these suggestions.

Choose your buyer carefully

If you are lucky enough to have more than one offer on your property, remember that a higher offer isn’t guaranteed to be better in the long run. Do a bit of research on your buyer and choose carefully. You may encounter fewer problems if your buyer is not part of a chain and already has a mortgage agreed in principle. 

Keep things moving

If you can complete the transaction as quickly as possible, there is less chance of things becoming stale and falling through. Try to aim for a timescale between 6 and 8 weeks to complete.

Keep communication open

If you can cultivate a good rapport with your buyer, it may help to deter them from letting you down when it matters most. Stay in contact with your estate agent to give them regular updates to reassure the buyers that things are moving steadily on and make sure that they are notified of any new developments.

It’s best to be upfront

Any sensible buyer will arrange to have a property survey carried out before going ahead with a transaction. Therefore, if you know that a surveyor will find an issue with your property, it’s probably best to be upfront about it rather than risk the sale falling through if the buyer suddenly wants to renegotiate on the sale price.

Sometimes renegotiation can save the day, if you can stick with the buyer you have you will avoid having to restart the process of marketing your home and so forth.

If you are a buyer, negotiating a better deal is one thing, but demanding too large a reduction in price could lead to feelings of resentment in your seller which will not help matters if a ‘gazumper’ comes along, or if the transaction does go through, they may decide to remove everything they legally can from the property, including the light bulbs. Read our top tips to prevent gazumping.

Have a ‘plan B’ ready

Remember that no property transaction can truly be guaranteed until you exchange contracts. Because of this, you might be well advised to keep your house on the market even though you think you have a definite buyer. That way, you won’t have to go right back to square one if things don’t turn out as planned.

You can read more helpful suggestions for buying or selling your home in our moving advice section.

Photo: graur codrin / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

You may be familiar with the Blue Plaque scheme, which recognizes the homes of famous people (mostly in London).  The first such initiative, it was started in 1866 by the Royal Society of Arts and is now run by English Heritage. 

There are around 850 of these plaques in existence, from Winston Churchill to Vincent Van Gogh, and from Charles Darwin to George Formby.  Jimi Hendrix and Georg Handel are commemorated in neighbouring plaques on nos 23 and 25 Brook Street, W1. Door Plaques

Where are they?

A few of the plaques installed as part of this scheme are outside London: for a few years it was extended to include, for example, John Lennon’s house in Liverpool, and the home of Lawrence of Arabia in Oxford, but it is now administered only in London again   And a few of them are not blue, because there was some experimentation in design and colour before they settled on the present incarnation.

Do they add value to a property?

There is no concrete evidence that they do, although it stands to reason that they are likely to increase interest.  And they might give the owner a nice warm feeling that they own something a little bit special!

How do I get a plaque for my home?

The scheme has always been driven by public suggestion (not necessarily the owners of the home in question!) so if you have an idea, you can make a proposal to English Heritage.

Blue plaque criteria

-        the person to be commemorated should have been dead for at least 20 years, or have passed the centenary of their birth, whichever is the earlier

-        a building associated with the person must survive (largely unaltered) in London

-        rather than a person, the spot can mark the site of an event of historical interest and national importance

-        if a similar proposal has already been rejected, ten years must pass before it can be reconsidered

Don’t qualify? Don’t worry!

There’s a proliferation of similar schemes being run across the UK and around the world.  Many councils in Britain have erected plaques bearing the names of their local heroes.  Karl Marx’ plaque was installed by Camden, while both Westminster and Southwark lay claim - with separate plaques - to Charles Babbage, inventor of the computer.  (JRR Tolkein has no fewer than four plaques to his name in Birmingham!)  In addition, organizations such as The Dead Comics Society have put up plaques to the likes of Peter Sellers and Tony Hancock (both in London), and the Royal Music Association has commemorated Mozart on his one time residence in Frith Street.

Purple plaques

And now there is yet another scheme on offer – property search company Zoopla have introduced new purple plaques specifically for places where celebrities have lived, who are still alive. 

Only launched in November this year, and covering the whole country, they already have an impressive number of plaques awarded.  The As alone include Alan Sugar, Amanda Holden, Andrew Flintoff, Andy Murray and Ashley Cole (yes, they are organized by first name!), and there are three Davids so far: Beckham, Bowie and Cameron.  So if anyone famous has ever lived in your house, you could very well be able to adorn it with a purple plaque soon!

 Photo; Kevin Gordon [CC-BY-SA-2.0]