How to sell a house

10 things I learnt the hard way!

Photo by Tierra Mallorca on Unsplash

You’d think I’d know how to sell a house wouldn't you. But it’s been at least 15 years since I sold my first flat and I couldn't remember a single thing from then. This time around, I got as far as making a schedule which went something along the lines of… Move to Kent. Market house. Sell house. Buy new house. All in neat three month intervals. Oh how foolish. But perhaps it might have been possible had I known the below, so I share my learnings so that you might have a smoother ride.

And if you know all this already, then it’s a sobering tale of my naiveté!

1 All Estate Agents are not created equal.

This is probably the most important one. In the beginning, I figured they were all much of a muchness and I instructed one whose branding I liked. Big mistake. Everything was good to start off with, very speedy to get the house photographed, listing done, straight up online. But then a cupboard got broken, and I wasn't told. Toilets were used and left unflushed. Mud up the stairs. And the house was repeatedly left unlocked, and even at one point the front door not closed! Plus, the agent assigned to show people around didn't seem to have even the basic grasp of the finer details of the house, despite me providing them. In six months, not one single offer, apart from being told that there was someone who “really really wants your house, but they’ve yet to get their own home on the market”.

2 Interview interview interview

Continuing on from above, not only do you need to find someone you can trust with the keys to your greatest asset, but you also need to be sure they ‘get’ your home. Can they be constructive and problem solve (Where to put a board if you’re in a conservation area)? Can they spell ( I’m sorry, but receiving emails from my first agent gave me hives). How do you feel when they talk pricing, do you get the sense they know what they’re talking about (I had one agent who valued my house almost 200K less than anyone else.) Bottom line, can they sell it. Plus what connections does the agency have that might be advantageous to you (ie big network or independent?). Second time around I invited at least ten(!) different agents to look around, give me a valuation, tell me what they thought and so on. It was really interesting to note who’d prepared for the meeting (ie checked out neighbouring properties, brought examples of their marketing material), what the follow up was like (automated and corporate or individual with all the salient details like their fees and whether photography was included), and who I simply felt I could trust.

3 Staging really makes a difference.

Again, major rooky error on my part, albeit I asked the aforementioned estate agents if it made a difference that the house was empty, and they said “Not at all!”. However, apparently, unto 95% of people cannot imagine an empty home furnished. Which means they can’t place themselves in the home and visualise living there. For me, I can see past anything, move walls, and re-paint in my mind, so it simply hadn't occurred to me that this would be a big deal. I moved back half my furniture, even did some re-painting, and the house was under offer less than a fortnight later.

4 But don’t paint everything white

My walls are beautifully textured with embossed paper, and panelling, so the colours of them are part of its beauty. Upstairs (and in the study) there’s some very statement wallpaper that a buyer will either love, or hate. But I wasn’t going to strip my home of all its personality just in case. However, I did paint over some of the more quirky colour moves that I’d done when testing out my Graphenstone Paint Collection. The terracotta columns in the living room went turquoise to match the panelling up the stairs (love this turquoise!). And other walls went to my favourite Easy Green. In truth, I loved it so much again, I didn’t want to sell. Then again, that’s exactly the vibe you need to generate.