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How to make your home sell

December 13, 2011 By

Selling your house can be an exhausting process, especially in today’s market where there are so many properties for buyers to choose from.  A lot of whether your house sells is down to luck, of course. You need the right person to come and see it at the right time.

But there’s plenty of stuff that you can do yourself to make sure that when a viewer comes to see your house it stands out in their mind as a beautiful home, somewhere they could imagine themselves living.

Be manically tidy

A house can be totally transformed by having everything neatly tidied away and just a few ornaments left out on display. Viewers will be able to imagine their own possessions in a house that looks clean, clear and spacious. If you have piles of paperwork everywhere and piles of ironing on the spare bed, it doesn’t create a good look. You’ll find that it’s a much nicer place for you to be in until you sell as well!

Spring clean

Have a really good clean up around your home.  Do the things that sometimes get neglected –skirting boards and woodwork around windows and doors.  A bowl of hot soapy water will get most sticky marks off, and if necessary, you can paint over anything really stubborn.

Be an illusionist

If your sofa has seen better days, it could drag the look of the living room down enough to put buyers off.  While it might not be sensible to rush down to a sofas sale for a new one – that might not fit in your new home – you can put a throw or cover on it to ‘lift’ the room’s appearance.

You might think about getting new furniture if it makes a significant difference to a room. For instance, you can easily pick up a cheap dining table and chairs – and they come in standard sizes, so you can pretty much guarantee these will fit in your new house when you make that sale!

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Your home is not capital

December 6, 2011 By

You’ll often hear people talking about having a lot of their capital tied up in their home.

Now you know what they mean, but the terminology is incorrect. Let me explain; your home is not capital in the economic sense of the word.

In economics, capital refers to existing and durable goods that are used in the production of other goods and/or services; a hammer, for instance, used by a carpenter is capital.

Capital goods in themselves aren’t “consumed” – but they can wear out and depreciate in the production process. So a greengrocer buying apples isn’t investing in capital, but his/her new fruit stand is a capital investment.

When extrapolated for housing, the situation is clear. Your own home is not your capital, but a home bought specifically to rent out (presumably at a profit) is capital – as is any investment you make in the structure.

Going to the sofas sale, for example, isn’t a capital investment for your own home, but is if you’re buying the furniture for a fully-furnished flat you’re renting out.

Now all this may seem obvious and unimportant, but it’s very important for your own finances to understand the difference. Anyone under the age of around 35 could be forgiven for thinking that a house was an investment in capital – up until 2007 anyway. That’s because houses were seen as investments because they generally rose in value. But that still doesn’t make them capital.

A house you rent rooms out in is partially capital, a hotel or guest house is an investment in capital, but your own house isn’t. And as we buy and sell in the same market, it’s best to ignore the value of the house you’ve bought to live in, and to simply enjoy it – unless you plan to turn it into capital by letting it out of course. And in that case it’s the return on the investment you should focus on; namely, the rent rather than the house’s vale (though the latter may be important in borrowing more to invest in further capital). 

Filed Under: Renting Property Tagged With: , , ,

How does your flat beat the others?

December 5, 2011 By

The property boom that lasted roughly a decade from 1997-2007 saw thousands of purpose-built apartment blocks thrown up all around the western world. Some areas have since become synonymous with wasted pointless building resulting from the property boom’s giddy zenith. In parts of Ireland and Florida, whole new developments stand idle, whilst in the UK city centres like Manchester and Leeds, for example, have a huge surfeit of trendy city centre apartments where supply exceeds demand.

If you’re one of the unlucky landlords who find themselves trapped with such an apartment sitting in negative equity with a competitive rental market to make matters worse – then fear not; help is at hand!

First off, work out how much income you’re actually going to need to make it through the financial mess with your rental property. If the rental income matches up to this figure, then at least it’s realistic. If not, you may have to sell at any price.

On the presumption that you can hold your head above water if the apartment rents out for a reasonable income, then here’s what to do: Put yourself in the position of the renter. There are sometimes hundreds of similar apartments for renters to choose from. So you have to make sure yours stands out from the crowd in terms of:

  1. Quality, and,
  2. Price

That’s basically it. The only other real variable is communication; how the renters get to learn about the availability of your apartment in the first place.

So try and avoid going through a property agency (unless the agency can derive an income of around 12% or more than you can get directly with tenants). This will help you be as competitive as possible on price (for which you may have to do a little hands-on research; posing as a potential tenant may even be necessary).

Then it’s down to quality. So decorate and clean the place from top to bottom and if it’s going as fully furnished, make yours better than the rest. The sofas sale ads seem to run round the clock these days – so buy a decent one.

And get down to the nearest furniture sale and decide what a prospective tenant is really after – cleanliness and comfort.

It’s not rocket science – you just have to beat the rest on quality and price.

Filed Under: Renting Property Tagged With: , , ,

Renting out a property

November 22, 2011 By

Many couples find that they have one property too many when they get start living together. While you can both sell up and buy a bigger place, it can also be a very sensible financial decision to keep one for your joint home and let the other one out.

How you go about managing the tenants can depend on what time you have available. If you live nearby you could decide to save the agency fee and deal with your tenants directly.

Handing the management over to an agency can be a lot less hassle, if you’re prepared to pay the fees. But by managing the property yourself, you will save an average of 12-15 per cent on agency fees.

You also have the chance to visit the property more regularly and keep a closer eye on it, although of course you must make sure you don’t overstep your boundaries and start bothering your tenants, otherwise they won’t want to stay long and you’ll have to start the whole process again.

Take a leaf out of the professional property developers’ books.  In an interview with David Lichtenstein – a US real estate professional whose company Lightstone has a plethora of different rental properties – he states that Lightstone’s asset management team takes a hands-on approach in all aspects of asset management. This includes overseeing the day-to-day property management and leasing functions.

Now, in a company the size of Lightstone, it’s definitely not Mr Lichtenstein or any of his executive team who are going out to revamp the apartment buildings between lets, of course. But, in your case, why pay a decorator to go in and freshen up your rental property when all it takes is a weekend of your time to go through the place with a tub of Magnolia white paint and a few bottles of Cif to get it shiny clean for the new tenant?  Pay the decorator and you’ll lose out on at least a month’s rent.

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Improve your property’s value

November 10, 2011 By

When looking to sell your property, make sure it looks its very best to ensure a quick and speedy sale. As well as making sure it is of course structurally sound and in good condition on the outside, ensuring that your property‘s interior is looking its best will make a huge difference to the all-important first impressions of potential buyers.
One of the most obvious steps you can take to make sure your property looks fantastic inside as well as out, is getting the décor right. Shabby wallpaper, damp stained walls and chipped paint are all big no-nos if you’re looking to create a great first impression for potential buyers.
Take the time to give those walls a good lick of paint or replace that old wallpaper, and you’ll soon have your money and efforts paid back to you tenfold.
You should also not underestimate the important of furnishings when it comes to selling any home. A shabby old sofa that looks like it’s seen one too many dog hairs in its time can be all it takes to ruin the look of a room and put a prospective buyer off. Invest in a new sofa and you can take it with you to your new home.
The same can be said of dining furniture. Scratched and tired-looking chairs or tables with years of crayon marks all over them don’t create the best impression, so spruce up your dining furniture to show your house in its best light.
As well as furniture, consider those small but effective gestures when looking to sell a home, such as brewing a fresh pot of coffee to give a welcoming smell, and placing fresh flowers around the home to brighten the place up.
You will soon find that these small tweaks give your home a quick and easy lift and make it more attractive to the prospective buyer.

Filed Under: Selling Property Tagged With: , , ,
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