First impression - last impression

We all know that you only get one chance to make a first impression, but when it comes to showing a viewer around your house, the last impression counts almost as much.  
The advice I always give to my clients is, "start with something great, and end with something great".  For example, if your kitchen has the real 'wow' factor, take your prospective buyers in there first.  Then show the rest of the reception rooms, followed by the bedrooms in reverse order - the smallest first, ending with the master bedroom.  In this way your viewers start their viewing with impact and end on a high point.
Now you just have to wait for their offer.

Why a Woman Will Offer More for Your Property and How to Hook Her!

Women are three times as likely to pay the asking price for a property as men – at least according to Propertyfinder.com – does this mean that all sellers should be targeting the women in the hope of getting the best price?
Men and women view properties in different ways; in the main, the average British male when looking at property focuses on the structure and location.  How many bedrooms, how much space, how big the garden is, and where the property is in relation to shops, transport etc.  in other words, the bare facts of the property.  As a consequence, he will often keep looking until he finds exactly what it is he’s looking for on his checklist, viewing as many properties as is necessary until he finds the right one.In contrast, the average British female does her homework first, and relies far more on her gut instinct.  She’s generally more interested in the ‘feel’ of a place, and trusts that she’ll know the right house when she steps inside, regardless of how many ticks it gets on the checklist.  In addition, the way in which men and women offer on property differs strongly;  men often see the art of negotiation as a fight, and they’re up for it.  Wielding their offer like a sword, they’re brutal and determined not to give an inch.  Statistics show that only 5.5% of men pay the full asking price, and 22% offer less than 90% of the asking price.Women buyers, on the other hand, are much softer and 17% of them just offer the full asking price of the property they want.  90% of female buyers offer 10% or less below the asking price, seemingly anxious not to lose their chosen property.
With this in mind then, how can you make your property more appealing to that lucrative female market?Well, start off by making sure it looks and smells clean and fresh.  Women are much more sensitive than men to nasty smells, so make sure your house doesn’t pong!  Clean clean and clean some more, until every nook and cranny of your house is gleaming:  she’ll notice.  Appeal to her feminine side with flowers and bowls of fresh fruit.  A man wouldn’t be seduced by such blatant ploys but a woman will.In the bedroom, keep bedding absolutely fresh, and if possible, new.  In the bathroom, appeal to her sense of luxury with lovely fluffy towels, scented candles and special toiletries.If she loves your house when she walks through the door, you’ve hooked her.  And if she offers too low for you, hold out for the best price, chances are you’ll get it.

Using Light to Make Your House Shine

“It’s all in the lighting”, as house doctor Ann Maurice says.  The lighting you choose can make or break a colour scheme or a design idea, and lift the ordinary into the extraordinary.

Natural light

In a climate where natural light can be short-lived and weak, it’s important to let as much as possible of this precious commodity into our homes.  Pull back curtains and blinds, position mirrors adjacent to windows, and make sure they are spotlessly clean to really make the most of the light available.  Any shiny surface, such as glass ornaments or chrome accessories will really shine near a window, and bounce light around the room.

Remember that the direction in which a window faces will alter the quality of the light; the light through north-facing windows, for example, will have a bluish tinge, and careful choice of décor will either enhance or combat this.  So if you want a very cool-feeling room, painting walls bathed in this cold light in pale blues, or cool greens, will emphasise this fresh, calm atmosphere.  A warm palette of terracottas, corals and caramels on the other hand, will combat this blue light, and give the room a warm, cosy feeling.

The right lighting for the right room.

The lighting you choose for each individual room needs to reflect not only the desired atmosphere, but also the practical use of the room.  Here are some tips to help you make the right lighting choices:

Living room: 

• This is usually a well-used room, so make sure the general level of lighting is suitable for a variety of different tasks
• Picking out a feature wall, or else an architectural feature such as cornicing, beams or stonework, with directional spotlight helps to create interest and drama
• Any ‘hidden’ lighting, for example, under pelmets or behind cabinets, will diffuse the light and create soft uniform lighting
• Use dimmers to change lighting moods
• Highlight artwork and plants with individual lighting arrangements
• Shades on floor, table and hanging fixtures will help soften the glare, and create pools of light
• Display lighting can draw attention to collections or unusual objects

Dining room:

The lighting you choose for this area depends on your use of the room. An intimate space for entertaining small numbers of friends and family will have different needs to a more open-plan arrangement, perhaps off the kitchen:

• The lighting in a family dining area should be kept relaxed and easy, with a good level of light, and many sources to create a consistent level.
• To create a more intimate atmosphere, try hanging a large fitting, such as a chandelier, low over the table, so that a pool of light is created in the centre of the table, whilst the guests are in the dimmer light.  This creates a very cosy atmosphere; just right for a small party of dinner guests.
• Candles are another way of creating a special feel to the room; their light is very flattering to skin tones, so your female guests will thank you!  Candles placed near mirrors or by other reflective surfaces will make for really interesting light plays and shadows, and enhance the intimate mood.

Kitchens:

Kitchens need to be really well-lit, with both overhead and directional lighting, for maximum functionality.

§  Overhead lighting is best served by spotlights, either ceiling sunk, or else on a bracket.  This way the lighting is well-distributed, uniform and as free from shadows as possible

§  Under-pelmet lighting will light the worksurfaces and sinks so that the chef doesn’t cast a shadow over the food preparation

§  Special features, such as Agas or feature tiling, can be specially lit with directional lighting to enhance them and create interest

§  Shiny kitchen accessories, such as chrome kettle and toaster, will add to the lighting level by sparkling and maximising the existing light

Bedrooms:

• Keep bedroom lighting low-level to preserve intimacy.  Overhead lighting is best controlled by a dimmer switch, and lamps will make bedroom reading easy without raising the overall lighting level too much
• Keep any wall lighting directed downwards to help create a calm, intimate atmosphere
• Touch lamps are ideal for bedrooms, as they are so easy to turn on and off when you’re half asleep.

Bolder Lighting Ideas:

• Lighting isn’t just for the interior – don’t forget the garden!  At night, lights can help your garden become a whole new world of shadows and interesting shapes.
• Lights these days are often pieces of art in themselves: try over-sized stone lamps in your living room, or huge, ornate multi-stranded light fittings over your dining table.  Steer away from the traditional shapes and use lamps and light fixtures to really make a design statement.
• Try replacing floor tiles with underlit glass for real impact in your kitchen or bathroom

Creative and thoughtful lighting can really transform the dullest darkest house: just think carefully about the mood you’re trying to create and the use for the room and plan accordingly.  

How to get into your buyer’s mindset

Proceedable buyers generally have mixed emotions about their impending purchase right now.  On the one hand, they may be feeling a little invincible, being one of the highly sought-after minority that currently make up less than 25% of active viewers.  As a consequence, they may well be looking at properties which were previously out of their price range, anticipating a hard-ball negotiation with the seller.

The other emotion they are probably experiencing is fear, or at the very least, nervousness.  Has the market reached its depths? Is it going to fall further?  Will they be trapped in negative equity?

Sellers – you need to appreciate your buyer’s motivations and issues in order to be better placed to negotiate with them successfully, and end up with a committed buyer and a good deal.

Here are my suggestions for a mutually beneficial outcome:

1. Don’t rush them – buyers are understandably a little jittery at the moment and they may need longer than usual to make up their minds.

2. Compete well – investigate your competition – buyers are now looking at one average, 15 – 20 properties before deciding to offer on one, so you need to be the best in your category. If you offer the best deal in the area, you can be more confident about your asking price.

3. Give a little away – house buying and selling is a very fraught time, with many obstacles to be overcome before completion.  If you have the foundations of a good relationship with your buyers, they will feel more willing to make compromises and be flexible over say, included fixtures and fittings or completion dates.

4. Communication - if things start getting a little tense, ask your agent to facilitate a ‘round table meeting’  if you discuss matters face-to-face with your buyers, there is less chance of misunderstanding occurring and third party corruptions of conversations.

5. Expect the unexpected – in this market, there is every chance that your buyer may get cold feet, may lose their buyer, have their mortgage offer withdrawn or may try to gazunder you.  The latter is when a buyer deliberately waits until you are ready to exchange contracts then drops their offer, often significantly.  Decide on an action plan for each and all of these eventualities, and don’t start packing until it’s signed.

By following these 5 rules, you will keep your buyer ‘on side’ and the obstacles and challenges you meet along the way won’t seem so insurmountable.   

Your Rightmove Property Performance Report

Hands up who knows what this is?  

Well done those of you who do; give yourselves a pat on the back.  Those of you who think it sounds like an investor report, you may want to read on.  Particularly if you're trying to sell your house, and you've never been shown one.

The Rightmove Property Performance Report is available to all those estate agents who use Rightmove.co.uk to advertise their properties.  What  this report can show is:

• How well your property is 'performing' in terms of the number of times it appears in a buyer's search on Rightmove.co.uk
• How that compares with the performance of that agent's other properties
• Available to display the last week, fortnight or four weeks

In addition, the report displays your 'click-through rate'.   This represents the percentage of viewers who click on your property advert to look at further details.  The national average  click-through rate is currently around 6%, which you can take as a bench mark, against which you can measure your property, and indeed your agent.

Statistically, there is a direct correlation between the click-through rate of a property, and the viewings generated on it.  So it is of paramount importance that activity remains as high as possible.

So what can you do if your property is performing below par?  Well, the first place to start is with your agent: share your thoughts and concerns with them, and ask them for their advice.  They could suggest changing the front photograph, re-writing the introduction on the front page, or even give your property advert a rest for a week or two.  After each change, ask your agent to produce a new report and analyse it to assess the impact it makes. In addition, ask your agent to compare your property with the ones that are performing best with the branch, and see if you can replicate any features of their advert.

Tricks that I've used to improve the Click-through Rate include:

• Keeping the front page introduction to one snappy headline;
• Changing the main photograph for one which doesn't show the property at all, but instead just the front door, or name plate.
• Including some unusual information in the front page introduction, eg 'The only property in Surrey with a well in the downstairs toilet' (probably best you make your statement truthful)
• A question is always eye-catching: eg "wouldn't you love to watch the sun go down sitting on this balcony?"

So, if you haven't seen a Rightmove Property Performance Report before, call your agent right away and ask for one; if he's in the dark, ask him to call me and I'll explain.  Then you might want to think about finding a new agent.  After all, this is the digital age, and informed sellers will always have the edge.

Clever pricing

Property pricing is of paramount important these days.  I don't mean the question of 'value' - but instead the art of setting the right price so that the portal searches are optimised.  For example: you have a house to sell worth approximately £1 million. The agent suggests an asking price of £999,999.  "It's a psychological price point" they tell you.  I don't agree.  At all.  I say - market at £1,000,000, and here's why:

1. £999,999 is a cheap ploy - an 'Asda' price.  Your buyers aren't stupid - don't treat them as if they are.  Give them some respect and a 'Harrods' price.  Make it £1 million straight;
2. £1 million is actually an aspirational price point - your buyers WANT to spend one million pounds on a house, and tell their friends and family that they have done;
3. £1 million is a very confident price - it says "my house is worth a million pounds"  £999,999 is apologetic, humble: it says "make me an offer";
4. £1 million gets your property shown in more searches.  At £999,999 on Rightmove, your property will only appear in searches up to £1 million.  At £1,000,000 straight, it appears not only in searches up to £1 million, but also those over: potentially doubling traffic to your property advert.

Forget the £999's - go for the £000's - you'll be glad you did.

Pounds and feet

I have a dream.. that one day in this country, property will be marketed with the cost per square foot clearly indicated.  These are my arguments:

1. It's much more common in the US and in Europe
2. It's easier to see how much house you're getting for your money
3. It will help stop massive over-valuing or 'buying boards' (the practice of over-valuing to win instructions)
4. It allows direct comparisons of properties
5. We even buy our loo rolls like this - 21p per sheet for example, so why not our houses?

I ALWAYS present my clients with a Price Per Square Foot Analysis, and whilst the critics out there will argue that there's much more to property valuing than this, it's a very good starting point.

50 Ways to Market Your House

It's still a tough market, no question. Things are picking up, slowly, but give yourself the best possible chance to attract interest and beat the competition, with my action list:

1. If you have an unusual feature, design or story about your house, you can generate free PR by getting onto local radio or in the press.

2. Use the classified ads.

3. On 2nd viewings, offer a ‘Try before you buy’ afternoon with a meal.

4. Develop a Viewing Plan to make sure the house is being shown in the best way possible.

5. Offer a financial referral incentive to all on your email contact list, and ask them all to

pass it on.

6. Have a video made of your house, and offer it as a download and/or a dvd.

7. Leave your brochure between the pages of some of your used magazines, and then take them to doctors’ and dentists’ surgeries for their waiting rooms.

8. Create an index size advert including photographs, and put it in your local newsagent’s window.

9. Attend networking groups and leave your brochures on their contacts table.

10. Supermarkets often have noticeboards where you can leave an advert.

11. Attach a lidded, waterproof brochure box to your sign so people can help themselves to your brochures.

12. Open days can help generate interest but they need advertising extensively.

13. Organise a direct marketing campaign – send a mailout to every property on the market within a 5 mile+ radius of your house.

14. Your largest employers in the area will probably have noticeboards where you can pin a brochure.

15. Try Ebay – whilst bidders aren’t committing to buy, it might help reach a wider audience.

16. Some of the online agencies are very cheap to list your property, and quite a few are free.

17. Make sure your asking price maximises the search parameters on Rightmove, the largest property portal. Ie, round off your figure to ensure it turns up in more searches. For example, a £499,999 property won’t show up if a buyer has £500,000 as their minimum price, but at £500,000 exactly, it will show up in both searches.

18. Put your asking price on the for sale board. This particularly works well on a busy road, or on the rear fence of a house which backs on to a playing field or park.

19. Make sure the text on your brochure really sells not just your house – but the lifestyle it offers.

20. Stage your house before each viewing, eg light the fire, have new towels out and fill the house with flowers.

21. Re-photograph your house often so that the photographs are always current.

22. Have some small postcards printed with your property details and contact information; wherever you go, make sure you have some with you and can leave them in appropriate places.

23. Calculate the price per square foot of your house, and compare it to your competition; if it is favourable, print a table showing how you rank and give it out to buyers.

24. If you have a house over fifty years old, investigate the history of the property. Compile as much information as you can including photographs, census data and memories from local neighbours. Have this information bound nicely and give it out to interested buyers.

25. Visit the competition – anonymously if possible. See how your presentation and price compares with them, and whether you can use any of their styling ideas.

26. Create a local information folder including schools, amenities, transport, supermarkets, clubs etc.

27. Visit showhomes in the area for presentation ideas and to make sure you’re competing well.

28. When you have a viewing, find out as much as you possibly can about the buyer. Not only will they feel special with all the attention, it will help you sell the features of the house which appeal to them directly.

29. If you have a family house, make sure any children are well catered for, and encourage them to play on swings, slides, trampolines etc, leaving their parents free to look around in peace, and hopefully making sure that pester power will work.

30. Men buy with their heads, whilst women buy with their hearts, so make sure your house appeals to both. It has to be competitively priced and be as practical as possible for

the male buyer, but the woman needs to be seduced and tempted by the emotional and sensory pull of your home, so make sure you sell the lifestyle, not just the bricks and mortar.

31. Have music playing low throughout the house during viewings; make sure it’s of a type that will appeal to your particular type of buyer, though contemporary easy listening such as Norah Jones or David White will be appreciated by most.

32. Take photographs of your house in all weather and seasons; if you have a nice picture of it in the snow it will intrigue a buyer, as will a summer photograph shown to a buyer viewing it in the winter.

33. Ask your estate agent to supply you with your Rightmove Property Performance Report at least once a fortnight. This will indicate your ‘click-through’ rate, (buyers who click on your particular property to get further details) which should be at least 7%. If it is less than this, try changing your front shot and your description.

34. Make sure your house smells appealing, with scented candles (much nicer and more subtle than air fresheners), and ‘clean’ smells in the bathroom and toilet. If you have a real fire you may need to have your soft furnishings cleaned to get rid of the smoke smells, and try burning fruit tree wood, which has a nice scent. For a very subtle baking smell in the kitchen, try gently warming a vanilla pod in the oven just before a viewing.

35. Find your wow factor – every house has something special – then make sure it really stands out.

36. Keep your sale board clean and straight so as not to indicate how long you’ve been on the market.

37. Follow the developers’ leads, and place some signs around the house detailing appliances and any other features, such as pull-down loft ladders and garage door remote switches.

38. Employ a professional photographer and instruct him to get creative – interesting angles and stylistic shots will help your brochure and online presence.

39. An elevated or high-lift shot will help to show your buyer the extent of your garden, the prettiness of its surroundings and its proximity to greenery or countryside. Expect to pay around £150 – £200 for a really good shot.

40. Write a description of your garden detailing all the plants and flowers you have planted. Photographs and a plan, as well as a description of how your garden looks in the different seasons, can all be compiled into a booklet and given out to your more green-fingered viewers.

41. Ask your agent to arrange ‘executive’ viewings; these are when the agent either collects the viewers from their home or meets them at the office, and then chauffeurs them from property to property. In this way, the agent retains control of each viewing, and the time spent in the properties.

42. Keep a visitors’ book for your viewers to write their comments in. Make sure each comment is on a separate page so that you can tear out any less than favourable remarks!

43. Leave a tea and coffee tray with homemade cookies set up ready for your viewers, to recognise them for the special guests they are.

44. Make sure you have some spare brochures in the house in case your viewer doesn’t have their own.

45. Ask your friends and neighbours to write some nice testimonials about the house, the neighbours and the village or town. Leave these printed out on the table for them to take with them.

46. If you have any interesting local stories and/or famous or celebrity residents, make sure you detail these in a handout.

47. Make sure the car in your drive is a good one, clean and shiny and reverse-parked to look its best. If it's not worth showing off, park it out of sight!

48. Name your house – pick a good locally influenced name and have a nice name plate made up and fitted. Research shows that houses with names sell for more money than those with just a number.

49. Arrange a preview day for friends and neighbours. Make them afternoon tea with all the trimmings, or have a cheese and wine evening. Ask them for their feedback – good and bad – and give out vouchers detailing incentives if they find a buyer for you. Be generous – your incentive needs to have four figures to really motivate them!

50. Facbook sites are really easy to create – make one to showcase your house complete with local information, photographs, details about local stories and famous neighbours etc.

The message here is, don't leave it all to your estate agent - there's so much you can do. At the very least, you'll feel that you have taken back some control of the marketing of your property - and at the most, you might just find yourself a buyer!

The Mythical 'London Connection'

I'm often told by clients that one of the reasons they originally chose their current agent, was that they purport to have a 'London Office'. Whether or not having a London presence is any use is a question for another day, but let's just look at a couple of examples:

John D Wood is a Countrywide agent, that is to say, a member of a national chain comprising 1104 offices. Their office in Notting Hill, described as the 'London Country Association', supports rural Countrywide offices by advertising and promoting their properties to the London market. That's the claim at least. From the teeniest tiniest office there, they currently 'market' 791 properties! I decided to put this claim to the test. Calling as a potential buyer, I asked about a property they were advertising - a beautiful period cottage in East Sussex. Despite my having the full address, the (very) young lady I spoke to had trouble locating it. When she finally found it (I'd been on hold for several minutes) she advised me to call the local agent as she couldn't really tell me anything about it! She failed to take my name, telephone number or address, or to ask me anything about my property requirements. Is this what they call 'promoting properties'?

They aren't the only culprit to make the mighty claim of a 'London office'; let's look at The Mayfair Office. Hundreds of agents promise to promote your property through this office, resulting in a portfolio of over 10,000 properties! With only a handful of staff, they're going to be kept pretty busy..... For the still-sceptical, check out their wobbly video on You Tube for a look around their shoebox of an office in Paddington.

So, don't be taken in by promises of a holy London Connection - you'd be better off handing out flyers in Trafalgar Square.

Double or quits?

It's official - we're all twice as wealthy as we were in the year 2000. The Halifax has looked at house price performance over the last decade and despite a few blips, house prices actually increased more in real terms (adjusted for inflation) than in any other decade over the last half-century.

House prices are now up by 105% from 2000 to the end of last year, bringing the average house price from a modest £81,596 to £167,020. Wow!

Maybe we should all stop moaning about the so-called property recession and pat ourselves on the back instead for an investment well made.