We have spent rather a lot of money, TLC and attention on the inside and the
outside of the house. We receive, as no doubt most other people receive, a
leaflet shoved through the door from one of the local Estate Agents saying
'We are short of houses in your area and we have clients/customers queuing
for your type of property......... ' etc etc etc.

Now whilst we have no intention of selling because we have wonderful
neighbours, wonderful facilities and all of the local amenities are very
close to hand, we thought that we might take advantage of 'the latest
situation and the lay of the land' and see what the place is worth.

We knew approximately what the house was worth, but it was the Agents
comments on 'The Kitchen', (just spent £9K on that), and 'The Garden', spent
a fortune on that over 15 years,
..
..
..
BUT

his comments were that the Kitchen and the Garden would sell the house :-))
yes we have a garage and additional parking which were a plus, but he went
ape over the kitchen and garden :-))

He said our house has 'Kerb Appeal' (ought to, we have just had it painted).

Soooooooooooooo

if you are thinking of selling, a garden 'well cared for' is a plus
++++++++++

Mike
The non Gardener but her outdoors is.
--
H.M.S.Newfoundland Association Reunion Hayling Island April 23rd - 26th
Royal Naval Reunion Eastbourne May 7th - 10th
H.M.S.Collingwood Association Reunion Bracklesham Bay May 21st - 24th
Nat.Service (RAF) Assoc. Cosford Parade / Social Weekend 25th - 28th June


--
H.M.S.Newfoundland Association Reunion Hayling Island April 23rd - 26th
Royal Naval Reunion Eastbourne May 7th - 10th
H.M.S.Collingwood Association Reunion Bracklesham Bay May 21st - 24th
Nat.Service (RAF) Assoc. Cosford Parade / Social Weekend 25th - 28th June

Mike wrote:
.
BUT

his comments were that the Kitchen and the Garden would sell the
house :-)) yes we have a garage and additional parking which were a
plus, but he went ape over the kitchen and garden :-))

He said our house has 'Kerb Appeal' (ought to, we have just had it
painted).

Soooooooooooooo

if you are thinking of selling, a garden 'well cared for' is a plus


Rule of thumb that some people use is 5-10% of house value spent on a
designer garden will add more than that to the house value.

I'm not sure it can be applied across the board - most london houses (500k)
would not support 25-50k spent on the garden. but the same house at £150k in
more sensibly priced areas would probably support 7.5-15k, and upper end
properties anywhere do support the 5-10% rule. I'd aslo be very wary of
spending much on the garden of a house that is already "the best house on
the street", as the price limit is set by location.

If you doubt this imagine two otherwise identical houses. One with a
crumbling concrete patio and weedy lawn. One with well designed and
construcetd terrace, well tended lawn, waster feature and beds full of
character plants. Most people here (including me!) would go for the first
one as we'd be buying great potential to do our own thing at a discout, Mr
general public on the other hand goes for the one with the fancy garden and
the shine of the garden rubs off on the house which is itself perceived as
"better".

pk

pk

PK9/4/04 6:35
Mike wrote:
.
BUT

his comments were that the Kitchen and the Garden would sell the
house :-)) yes we have a garage and additional parking which were a
plus, but he went ape over the kitchen and garden :-))

He said our house has 'Kerb Appeal' (ought to, we have just had it
painted).

Soooooooooooooo

if you are thinking of selling, a garden 'well cared for' is a plus


Rule of thumb that some people use is 5-10% of house value spent on a
designer garden will add more than that to the house value.

I'm not sure it can be applied across the board - most london houses (500k)
would not support 25-50k spent on the garden. but the same house at £150k in
more sensibly priced areas would probably support 7.5-15k, and upper end
properties anywhere do support the 5-10% rule. I'd aslo be very wary of
spending much on the garden of a house that is already "the best house on
the street", as the price limit is set by location.

snip

'Tidy' is what sells most gardens to most people. They can alter, add,
re-plant etc. to their heart's content after that. A swimming pool won't
add a great deal of value and to some, it's a positive disadvantage within a
certain price range. The prospective buyer doesn't want the bother.
Big houses in big grounds with big pools tend to have nannies watching
children, man to maintain the pool, smaller houses etc. etc. probably don't.
Years ago, I was told by an estate agent in Jersey, where properties go for
a true fortune, that pools and conservatories add little value to a house,
'good' looking gardens help a lot and, providing it's not actually growing
mould, don't worry much about re-decorating, as most people will do what
they want, anyway.
Things that *do* help to sell a house to most people (because they don't
always look beyond what they can change *easily*) are clean and tidy, fresh
flowers, lights on, fire lit in grate (in chilly weather) total lack of
'clutter' and no pet smells e.g. dog on sofa, cat litter etc.
Purely for myself, I've bought and sold a few houses, re-decorated them etc.
and am both able and prepared to look past the incredible muck some people
leave for others to see. I've been shown houses where dirty laundry was
piled onto the floors of rooms with unmade beds, where corridors were
festooned with cobwebs to the point where at first glance I truly thought it
was part of the decor (!) and where kitchen sinks were piled with dirty
dishes and living room tables and sofas bore all the signs of a beer
drinker's dream party. All that can be cured easily.
But a seriously and horribly brambled garden would certainly make me think -
lots of labour for many years, perhaps. Re-painting a house? Matter of
months.
So - if selling a house, keep the garden tidy, have a bit of colour around;
*clean~* the house from top to bottom and using large bin liners or boxes
chuck out or at least, hide, absolutely every bit of tat you possess. At
the very, very least, have your dirty washing OFF the floor and into a linen
basket. There's something very unappealing about someone else's greyish
underwear on the floor of a room you might consider sleeping in one day.....
--

Sacha
(remove the weeds to email me)

If you doubt this imagine two otherwise identical houses. One with a
crumbling concrete patio and weedy lawn. One with well designed and
construcetd terrace, well tended lawn, waster feature and beds full of
character plants. Most people here (including me!) would go for the first
one as we'd be buying great potential to do our own thing at a discout,
Mr
general public on the other hand goes for the one with the fancy garden
and
the shine of the garden rubs off on the house which is itself perceived as
"better".

Go along with you on that. You can 'price yourself/house out of the market'.
In our last house, the next improvement would have been a Swimming Pool, but
for the expense and what we 'conceived' the value to be with that addition,
I for one would have looked elsewhere for 'that sum of money'. Consequently
we didn't put a pool in, but a recent owner has!!

My daughter and son-in-law have a Hotel business with a super private house
with an indoor pool. The hotel has indoor and an outdoor pool. He has turned
down £2M and when you get to that sort of money, the odd £50K means
nothing!!

One of our neighbours has priced his house out of the area. In the right
place, worth £250,000 or even more, but not where it is.

Mike

--
H.M.S.Newfoundland Association Reunion Hayling Island April 23rd - 26th
Royal Naval Reunion Eastbourne May 7th - 10th
H.M.S.Collingwood Association Reunion Bracklesham Bay May 21st - 24th
Nat.Service (RAF) Assoc. Cosford Parade / Social Weekend 25th - 28th June

3 emails, all on the same/similar subject.

No we were not charged a valuation fee because we are looking to buy other
property and as we explained to the Agent, we 'may' put this on the market
to buy something bigger.

No we were not asked to put the house on their books 'To test the market
reaction', possibly because we were quite firm in our instructions.

and 2 emails on 'selling part off as a building plot'. Yes we could because
of how the land goes through to the next road at the back, BUT, by the time
Planning has been applied for, (I know I would get it), the cost of the
separation, the loss in value on this house AND the loss of a garage, we
would be no better off.

Mike


--
H.M.S.Newfoundland Association Reunion Hayling Island April 23rd - 26th
Royal Naval Reunion Eastbourne May 7th - 10th
H.M.S.Collingwood Association Reunion Bracklesham Bay May 21st - 24th
Nat.Service (RAF) Assoc. Cosford Parade / Social Weekend 25th - 28th June

What I can't understand is, why estate agents think nice kitchens and
(extra)well kept gardens will sell a home better.
I thought it is well known that nearly everyone who moves into a property
wants to put their identity on it as soon as possible. I know of one persson
who had the kitchen all remodelled etc and then upon completion didn't like
the colour and started again ! I have to confess that my small kitchen was
last painted 40 years ago (although its been washed since) and all the
fitments are pre 1963 !

Also I notice people are moving into the suburbs that have nice gardens but
then they lay shingle down and grass etc because thety are out at work all
day and don't have the time to work in the garden.

Having lived in my area for sometime it is sad to look in alot of the
gardens to see what they have become.

Mike.

In article , Sacha
writes
I've been shown houses where dirty laundry was
piled onto the floors of rooms with unmade beds, where corridors were
festooned with cobwebs to the point where at first glance I truly thought it
was part of the decor (!) and where kitchen sinks were piled with dirty
dishes and living room tables and sofas bore all the signs of a beer
drinker's dream party.

When we were looking for our current house we went to see one which was
the subject of a dispute between a divorcing couple. Wife (in residence)
clearly didn't want it to be sold, and celebrated our visit by repotting
her entire container collection ... on the living room carpet ;-)

The next house we went to see had also been occupied by a couple who
were no longer together. This time it was the husband who was doing his
best to prevent the sale - he had been around the house and smashed off
every single cupboard door handle. While we were looking around, the
estate agents' people were trying to hide the paintpots and all the
other signs of a recent cover-up ... but one thing they couldn't hide
was the rude word etched by means of weedkiller across the lawn.
--
Kay Easton

Edward's earthworm page:
http://www.scarboro.demon.co.uk/edward/index.htm

The message
from Kay Easton contains these words:


When we were looking for our current house we went to see one which was
the subject of a dispute between a divorcing couple. Wife (in residence)
clearly didn't want it to be sold, and celebrated our visit by repotting
her entire container collection ... on the living room carpet ;-)

The next house we went to see had also been occupied by a couple who
were no longer together. This time it was the husband who was doing his
best to prevent the sale -

We once viewed a house in similar conditions.

As soon as my lawyer heard about our viewing experience he made some
enquiries with the vendor's divorce lawyer and advised us not to waste
our time or money. The husband had no intention of selling the house;
the wife wanted her share of the value. Apparently it's quite common for
a divorcing partner who wants to keep the house, to put it on the market
in such a poor state that it only attracts very low offers.Then he can
buy-out the partner's share cheaper.

Janet.

In article , Mike
writes

if you are thinking of selling, a garden 'well cared for' is a plus



Does that mean tidy and immaculate 'well cared for' or packed with pots
and plants and compost and stuff because you spend too long in it?
What I mean is, does a garden with rare plants or interesting ones sell
as well as one that has very easy plants and shrubs. Does rarity
frighten people?

I know when we had our house valued the agents did say that some people
would be put off by 200 foot of garden even though we had 4 bedrooms and
presumably could accommodate a family.
--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk

In article , Sacha
writes
hide, absolutely every bit of tat you possess.

My wardrobes will be EMPTY she wails ...............................

--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk

Janet Tweedy12/4/04 10:34

In article , Sacha
writes
hide, absolutely every bit of tat you possess.

My wardrobes will be EMPTY she wails ...............................

I'm quite sure your wardrobes are immaculately filled with elegant and
becoming garments. ;-) I'm also certain that your 'wardrobe' isn't the
bedroom floor!!
--

Sacha
(remove the weeds to email me)

In article , Sacha
writes

............................

I'm quite sure your wardrobes are immaculately filled with elegant and
becoming garments. ;-)


Becoming what, she asks ................

actually I have more of a selection o gardening clothes than going out
ones!

Janet
--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk

The message
from Janet Tweedy contains these words:

Does that mean tidy and immaculate 'well cared for' or packed with pots
and plants and compost and stuff because you spend too long in it?
What I mean is, does a garden with rare plants or interesting ones sell
as well as one that has very easy plants and shrubs. Does rarity
frighten people?

The kind of person who recognises rare plants is highly likely to be a
keen gardener, and will therefore view them with delight. Those who
don't recognise rare plants won't be intimidated by their rarity, will
they? :-) The trick is to pick up FAST as many clues as you can from
each viewer about what their particular interests are, and play to them.
If they exclaim "wow, what a big parrotia over there", you say "Ah, if
you like my parrotia,wait till you see the stewartia". If the viewers
are as weird as hell and have out-of-control twins aged 4, mention the
total privacy and secure boundaries instead.

I know when we had our house valued the agents did say that some people
would be put off by 200 foot of garden even though we had 4 bedrooms and
presumably could accommodate a family.

Sounds like a bum agent to me. One worth their salt would say "I shall
market this house to buyers who actively seek a big garden". There are
zillions in that category, for lots of reasons.. keen
gardeners/naturists/naturalists/hen-keepers/parents of active
children/owners of large dogs/ aviaries/people who like peace and
privacy/want space for a pool/hobby-room etc.

When we put our last place on the market (small 3 bed house, just
under 4 acres) an excellent agent, doing just that, produced a
record-breaking, utterly exhausting 170 viewers in a fortnight and sold
it in three weeks. (The Scottish system moves fast). What astonished me
was that all the 13 serious bidders were moving either from a gardenless
town flat, or a much larger, grander suburban house with a very tiny
garden.

Janet

In article , Janet Baraclough.
.. writes
The message
from Janet Tweedy contains these words:

The kind of person who recognises rare plants is highly likely to be a
keen gardener, and will therefore view them with delight. Those who
don't recognise rare plants won't be intimidated by their rarity, will
they? :-) The trick is to pick up FAST as many clues as you can from
each viewer about what their particular interests are, and play to them.
If they exclaim "wow, what a big parrotia over there", you say "Ah, if
you like my parrotia,wait till you see the stewartia". If the viewers
are as weird as hell and have out-of-control twins aged 4, mention the
total privacy and secure boundaries instead.

What to you do with the keen gardener with out of control 4 year old
twins? Or do you think the two cannot coexist?

And aren't all keen gardeners weird as hell? Or do we only seem like
that to non-gardeners?


--
Kay Easton

Edward's earthworm page:
http://www.scarboro.demon.co.uk/edward/index.htm

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Janet Tweedy12/4/04 8:32

In article , Sacha
writes

............................

I'm quite sure your wardrobes are immaculately filled with elegant and
becoming garments. ;-)


Becoming what, she asks ................

actually I have more of a selection o gardening clothes than going out
ones!

Janet

Ah! But I said 'becoming', not 'going out'........ ;-)
--

Sacha
(remove the weeds to email me)