helinuk

We've spent this weekend sorting the house and garden out again!

I was wondering if anyone has used a 'House Doctor' to sell or rent their house before emigrating.

Waying up the cost of a HD v doing the HD bit yourself and the agony of waiting around to sell or rent the house?

Ian12

Hi

Yes we used a house Doctor. We had our central London on the market for sale between April and October 2004. Between April and June we had lots of lookers but no takers - not event an offer. We decided to widen our options by offering to rent the property or buy. But by July / August the London market was so quiet as to resemble a grave yard. By September we got desperate. I got onto the internet, found a house doctor and we meet. It was not cheap....we were advised to put in new carpets. Luckily we had decorated throughout. We were also advised to moved as much of our stuff into storage only leaving the basics to may it look "like a show home" or hotel rooms. By following the instructions that cut the cost of the consultation down. More jobs had to be completed - bathroom and kitchen spruced up (Minus cost) and then the house had to be "staged" It cost in all a Few hundred pounds. We left the UK in mid October 2004 and by late October a large multinational secured it for a corporate let. I have just agreed to another
years lease. So all in all I would say that using the house doctor was money well spent.

helinuk

thanks for your reply.
Did you agree to do all the things the HD suggested?
After the HD refit did you get the estate agents back in to value your house/flat? Had it added to the value?

Did you get anyone put in an offer to buy after the HD?


cheers

floss

Have you tried taking your estate agent around your house, talking through the various things you are thinking of doing/could do, to see whether they think it would be worth it???? I'm obviously talking senior estate agent not young flibbertyjibbet who would not really have a clue... I have a friend who is an estate agent and she has advised us not to bother with some things, and to go ahead with others.... I guess it depends how dead the housing market in your area is - we are in the south east and while it is limp and slow here, there is SOME movement... I know that in other areas it takes a Millennium-style firework display just to get people to notice that you are on the market!

Good luck - hope whatever you decide to do works for you... and keep us posted.... there are lots of us yet to go on the market who are watching these things with bated breath

Centurion

Im glad he HD thing worked for you but I think there is a running theme here that most people can follow. Basically redecorate, move all (and I mean all) the crap out and sort out the home to be completely unliveable in day to day but utimately appealing for buyers. I dont think there is a secret forumlua out there, just hard work and effort.

Loopy

I didn't get a house doctor as such in, but we decorated throughout, in very boring neutral colours, put in a new kitchen and carpets. Then my M-I-L and S-I-L both came for a day with cars laden down with all their spare furnishings, curtains etc. & gave the house a make over. We had a fun day, M-I-L brought chintzy stuff for the lounge/dining room whilst S-I-L brought modern and they battled it out, vases at twenty paces. I felt sure we'd go with M-I-L's stuff but after experimenting the more modern look was fab. The same estate agent came to do a before & after valuation & couldn't believe his eyes. Not only did the valuation rise considerably but also the salability (sp??).

We did still have trouble selling - not ours or the houses fault, further down the chain. It was worth doing though.

Loopy

floss

I do find it hard to believe that buyers are as thick as they seem to be - I will never forget one of those House Doctor programmes where this couple refused to even consider buying a house because when they looked around there was an ironing board up in the lounge room!!!!! WTF??!

Having said that, when we sold last time, I always went around the house when viewers were expected, collected everything that looked untidy/too personal/in the way etc, dumped it in the car and drove it down the road!

Hubby used to take the dogs for a long walk too, although one time the viewing couple got very nervous about this strange man with 2 dogs who kept walking past and peering in the windows!!!

Looking around our house it would need a bulldozer and army of skips to make it look like a show house!!!

helinuk

OMG yes we tried that 3 yrs ago. They kept saying "no there's nothing you need to do!" Their reasoning was that it was valued appropriately.
We did have one agent who actually had a HD he used to help his clients!
Since then we've put in new bathrooms, redecorated everyroom in neutral colours, new internal doors, new front door.

The kitchen is still from 10yrs ago and looks 'ok'- needs new flooring, the agents keep telling us not to change it because a buyer might not like it and it will give the buyer a chance to put his stamp on the house.

bridiej

I wouldnt bother hiring an actual HD, I just watched endlessly programmes like House Doctor and Selling Houses, and bought the Selling Houses book from ebay which has lots of tips, although to be honest it is all common sense as someone else has said - make sure the place is tidy with no clutter or too much personal stuff, neutral colours, new carpet, sparkling kitchen / bathroom etc.

nightnurse2

[QUOTE=floss] flibbertyjibbet


PMSL! WTF is a flippertyjibbet? Can't type for laughing!

Tracey

Ian12

We did carry out all of the suggestions that the HD made and those which we ourselves could not do, she had workmen to do it for us. We were both working full-time with two small children and a diabetic cat to get to Oz so we just could not have done all of the things ourselves. Also some of the jobs were best left until we had vacated. We did not get a valuation after - I think we were so relieved to get a decent corporate let. We are happy to have the income. We would have been equally happy to have sold the place and had the money in the bank. As it stands, the property and the rental income enabled us to get a mortgage in Oz. Good luck. (I would not want to go through it all again - very stressful)

spalen

All the agents we spoke with said not to bother doing the extra work, we ignored them and house doctored the house ourselves and sold it to the first buyer within a week..it all pays off in the end.

Mrs S