Doctor, doctor, revive my sale!
House won’t shift? Bring in the expert organisers who know how to tempt buyers
As we approach the peak season for sellers, how do you make sure your property stands out from the crowd? sellers need all the help they can get in an increasingly sticky market: the Land
Registry says some areas have seen an 8 per cent slump in transactions, while prices are struggling to stay level — just a 0.6 per cent rise on average across the UK in the past year. But, as with many problems, you can always call the doctor — in this case, a house doctor. One of the country’s leading experts is Helen silver, a Bathbased house doctor whose work helps improve the appearance of properties either before they go on sale, or if they need a refresh after being stuck on the market for three months or more.
she and others in her field go far beyond simple decluttering — although that’s important, too; they give independent advice to make a home appeal to the widest audience. she’ll tell you what needs to go into storage, how to arrange furniture, where to place lights, how to make the best of an awkward corner and how a tiny garden can look fantastic.
‘I spend two hours looking at a home thoroughly, as if I were a buyer, and judge what can be done to improve its chance of selling,’ she says. ‘It often depends on how long someone’s been living there: after ten years people have accumulated “stuff” and can’t always appreciate that a house may look tired or even smell of pets.
‘The first priority is to judge which rooms are most influential. The living room, kitchen and master bedroom are usually the ones to concentrate on, as they have the biggest influence on buyers — when they’re viewing at first online or later in person. Gardens and outside areas count too; even a postage stamp courtyard is valuable.
Hemphasises that she doesn’t want people to ‘spend big’, but to ‘ spend wisely’ on improving a home before putting it on the market. ‘staging’ a home like this can save money. ‘ Many clients have planned to replace carpets, for example, which I’ve advised against,’ she explains.
Helen says the typical cost of home staging, including a professional’s advice and then buying accessories or redecorating as recommended, is between 1 per cent and 3 per cent of the asking price. so for a home on sale for £500,000 that’s between £5,000 and £15,000.
But the returns are much greater, she insists. First, there’s more interest: Helen says buyers spend an average of two seconds looking at a property website listing with poor photos, but 20 seconds on one with a shot of the interior that grabs the attention.
second, there’s ‘time on the market’, i.e. how long before an offer. ‘staged homes spend half the time on the market than non-staged homes,’ insists Helen.
Finally, there’s the all-important price. ‘Generally, staged homes sell over 8 per cent above the asking price,’ she says, citing statistics from Rightmove.
estate agents agree with her analysis. ‘A house that’s “professionally” prepared increases saleability and in turn, price
achieved,’ says nick warner of Knight Frank. ‘It can be the best looking house, but if there’s an unwanted pet smell, for example, these little things take the edge off something selling.’
edward Thomson, of strutt & Parker, has seen many examples of homes that were stuck on the market because the owner had already moved.
‘A lovely house in Chelsea didn’t feel like a family home, with nothing inside,’ he says. ‘It was then professionally furnished and it sold shortly thereafter. The outlay is small and definitely worth it.’
The need for help is particularly acute at this time of year, when the majority of deals are done during spring and summer, especially with families wanting to be in their new homes ahead of the start of the school year in september.
website Home ( home. co. uk) which monitors almost every housing transaction, says the typical time on the market in england and wales is now 93 days. That’s 15 days longer than in April 2018, it says.
Many house doctors claim it’s most timeefficient and cost-effective for a seller to call them in before a property goes on sale; but even if called in after a home has been on the market, they can make an impact.
Paloma Harrington-Griffin — director of the Home staging Association, a trade body for house doctors — says properties typically sell quickly after ‘ seeing the doctor’.
‘Our scottish Highlands members sienna Interiors and The Property stagers, for example, often come across properties that have been on the market for months — and are sold after a few days of being staged. The latest record is four days.’
with house prices stagnating and buyers being cautious, staging a home could give you an edge over rival sellers — and that’s exactly what the doctor ordered.