I know it’s minefield and there’s a lot to know, but any general advice from the massive? I’ve never had to do either – my Mrs had bought her flat before we met.

I’m currently undergoing a massive de-cluttering and tidy-up to make the flat appear bigger although we’re not going to do any decorating (it makes me grumpy when I view a house with new paint/carpets… that I wouldn’t want anyway).

Any advice for buying (we’re in Newcastle and looking to stay around Gosforth). Some stuff moves quickly, some stuff we’ve looked at has been up for months.

So any random tips, anecdotes or advice?

Try and sell for the highest price you can get – you’re welcome 👍🏼

Try and buy for the lowest price you can pay – you’re welcome. 😉

we’re not going to do any decorating (it makes me grumpy when I view a house with new paint/carpets… that I wouldn’t want anyway).

Be aware that what might make you grumpy, might not also apply to the average housebuyer.

Conventional wisdom is to redecorate in neutral colours as much as possible so that any prospective buyers  see a fresh, blank canvas that they can personalise rather than a mountain of hard graft that needs doing as soon as they move in.

Don’t accept bs from agents etc and call their blaugh. As most times they will be lying to you.

guzundering and guzumping sucks.

oh and if in doubt,- avoid buying and selling at all costs imo. Especially nowadays.

Why have you enjoyed living there and what will you really miss? Chances are your buyer will be looking for similar.

Fr’instance – My old house had a bridleway up the side of the house and carrying on over the road, leading to endless woods and trails in both directions. It was great for riding but even better for dog walking. Straight over the road and off they go! Leading two terriers up a very busy semi-suburban/country  road wouldn’t have been fun.  I suggested the first agent included this in the details but they demurred. The second agent included this and found a dog loving buyer within a week.

Have the estate agent do the viewings. As a buyer, I hate it when the vendor does the viewing, I want to take a cold objective view of the place and have honest, possibly critical, conversations about it with my other half and the agent, and that’s hard to do with the owner being there as I’m very polite and British and likely to say “ooh, it’s lovely”, even if it isn’t.

And make sure it’s really tidy, really uncluttered and really clean (inside and out)

Location, location, location.

Then, buy the cheapest house in the road you want to live in.

View everything in your price range in the area you want to live, even stuff that’s not immediately appealing on Rightmove or whatever. You’ll probably surprise yourself in the types of things you dislike that you thought you were after, and the kind of places you like that you thought wouldn’t appeal.

Case in point, we absolutely definitely wanted a period/older property, not anything on an estate. We absolutely definitely bought a house built in 1980 at the end of a close, because as soon as we walked we though it was the right place.

We’re in the same boat Jon. Not too far from you as well (in fact if you fancy a nice period 3 bed terrace in Wylam, complete with brick-built bike sheds, then PM me 😃)

We’re doing the massive declutter at the moment. Rented a self-storage container (just over £100 a month for 20ft x 8ft) and I’m in the process of shifting everything I can to it.

Use an online like HouseSimple. Last one we sold cost was £500 vs £1.8k quoted via estate agent.

If the house is in good condition, tidy, clean and accurately priced in a reasonable area then there really is no need to use an estate agent any more. The key is getting it onto Rightmove which is where 90% of people first “view” their houses, and putting some proper effort into “dressing” the house so it looks nice- not just good enough- but nice.

If its dirty, cluttered and overpriced then you’ll struggle to sell it anyway.

In the same boat as well. We are boxing up stuff we don’t need and storing it in parent’s lofts.

I have pretty much painted the whole interior of the house, all the same colour but it does make everything look cleaner/fresher (bloody boring though).

Hopefully getting valuations done next week

 (it makes me grumpy when I view a house with new paint/carpets… that I wouldn’t want anyway).

Mistake number one.

Mistake number two.

Mistake number three.

It’s not you buying.

If its dirty, cluttered and overpriced then you’ll struggle to sell it anyway.

I’m not sure why you’ve bracket those qualities together. If it’s clean, uncluttered and overpriced you’ll struggle to sell it. I agree that cleaning makes sense at little cost, but decluttering can be difficult if you don’t want to spend money on storage.

As it happens I had an estate agent round yesterday for a valuation and he suggested any refurbishment was better left to the buyer. I had thought I might have to do some work. Hard to know if he’s right but he wasn’t some Foxtons youth in his first suit.

Don’t be the lunatic we had to endure  buying off, who

-expected 20% more than house was worth, –

– delayed it all by 6-weeks while unsuccessfully trying to play new house developer off against us and agents

– booking a removal’s truck and week off work, and announcing we *had* to move at 7 days notice,

– then turned up on our doorstep the night before she had *told* us we were moving to accuse us of being a pair of time-wasting, work-shy liars who had no intention of buying her house.

– tore out some fixtures and fittings, while filling the garden shed they had ‘lost the key for’ with all the things they should have taken to the tip.

Summary: don’t be a dick.

You must have really wanted the house, I’d have told her to do one.

Or is this Scotland, where once you’ve said you’re buying it. you’re buying it?

@IHN

Long story, but basically we could only afford two houses in Dunblane through 8 months of looking.

Also, in the background, there were off the record conversations with the new home builder they were buying off. It was not in my family or the developers interest to loose the sales/purchases agreed. A deal was struck, without the nutters in the middle knowing about it. It did involve a ‘gifted deposit’. It was legal. Just.

Gosforth…17A Ashburton Road and the stairway to heaven. Happy days…