putting home on the market

What may be a compromise (if you can be bothered to compromise, and I'm not saying you necessarily should ) you could get a respray of your kitchen units relatively cheaply. A company will come in and take off the doors and trims - you don't even need to empty your cupboards!) and refit them in a new colour. That would be a quick fix and if it makes a quick sale more likely you might think it's worth it.

I painted my kitchen walls before putting the house on the market. It looked so fresh and cared for. I wish I'd done it sooner and had the benefit of it.

Doodledog

What may be a compromise (if you can be bothered to compromise, and I'm not saying you necessarily should ) you could get a respray of your kitchen units relatively cheaply. A company will come in and take off the doors and trims - you don't even need to empty your cupboards!) and refit them in a new colour. That would be a quick fix and if it makes a quick sale more likely you might think it's worth it.

It wasn’t for moving - they’d recently bought the house, but dd and SiL painted some really horrible old dark brown melamine kitchen cupboards in a soft white. The transformation was unbelievable. I don’t know how long it’d have lasted - the kitchen was ripped out a couple of years later when it was extended, but it was certainly a lot more attractive to live with.

Back in my house (before I moved to my present flat), I had a long galley kitchen in that dark wood colour. It always looked dark in there.

So, a few years back I got in one of those firms mentioned above. They came , took off all the cupboard doors and drawer fronts and took them away. During the week they were not there, I did sort out, clean and tidy up all the cupboards. Then they brought those all back, now a lovely soft white, even put on new knobs I had for them and re-fitted them. Wonderful job.
The change to that kitchen was unbielvable. It was now such a bright room. Cost a tiny amount compared with having a new kitchen, and even a great deal less than having new (not so solid) doors, etc.

When I moved house, some four years later they were still nearly as good as when they were first done.

My late MILs house had new bathrooms, kitchen, paint and carpets before it was sold. It sold quickly for a good price. The skip arrived and everything went in. Still, financially, it was a good investment.

The new people liked the area and schools. They had everything painted white, the original floors stripped and sanded, their own choice of bathrooms and kitchen (ultra modern, minimalistic) before they even moved in.

Oh goodness!
Someone would have been glad of new carpets etc if only people took the trouble to contact an upcycling centre, which would collect it all.

We have new neighbours, the house had been modernised a few years ago and so far we haven't seen a skip 🙂

We're people who are always renovating. However for we add for usefulness not most up to date style, seems styles come and go.

That agent is daft, or cunning. Push hard, call often, get sold.

No, you are being quite reasonable.

We usually buy houses in need of renovation because we know that we are going to change things and what we throw out - is only fit for that. Although in our current house, I loved one of the baths so much, large room with a comfortable sloping back, that I kept it. It isnow 60 years old and still looks great and, of course, remains as comfortable as ever.

Unless you have a kitchen from the 1800s, as we do.

This really would not work, even as it is all solid. Nobody wants this any longer - perhaps not even long ago.

I am a retired EA/New Build Sales Negotiators, with over 30 years experience in selling properties, both in the UK and Spain. I am also a serial renovator, buying fixer uppers and transforming them into lovely comfortable and stylish homes. Every property I have sold has sold within a week of being put in the market.

My best advice is.

1. Change your EA, she is rude and obnoxious but even worse she knows nothing.

2. Do not rip out your kitchen or bathroom, or indeed any expensive fixtures and fittings. Just make your house look as clean and presentable as you can, so declutter and a deep clean, including the garden,

3. Price it right.

That's always the best advice for a stable or rising market, however, unfortunately for you we are now in a falling market so you are going to have to be very pro active and work extra hard to get your sale.

I would strongly advise you to find an older and more experienced EA, one who has at least 20 years experience under their belt and who survived the housing market "crash" of 2008. Crash is a misnomer as I will explain later. They will have a better understanding of what's coming and hiw to deal with it.

Forget the Johnny Come Latelies, they will be unlikely to have experienced difficult selling conditions and won't be much help.

Most importantly ensure that your house is priced extremely competitively from the beginning. Opportunistic pricing is doomed to fail in a falling market. You will only end up having to repeatedly drop your price to chase down the market.

In a falling market it is better to underprice to gather interest from several parties, in essence you need to engineer a bidding war. That way you stand a better chance of getting nearer to your required price.

Now what do I mean about house price crashes being a misnomer.

Well, house prices do not crash in the same way that the stock market crashes. House price falls take the form of a steady slide and it can take two to three years to reach the bottom. The current slide has only just started and I'm afraid we've a long way to go yet. I can't give you exact figures because there are just too many variables but we could be looking at a decline in prices of anywhere between 10% to 40% depending on the type of property, the area and the overall state of the economy.

I am sorry to paint such a gloomy picture but I'm afraid it's most definitely no longer a sellers market. If you want to sell you and your agent are going to have to work very hard.

If you do decide to proceed the best tip I can give you is to ensure that you have all your paperwork in order, for example certificates and guarantees for work you have had done, that kind of thing.

At the best of times 1 in 3 sales fail so the trick is to have everything ready to go to minimise delays. The longer it takes to reach exchange of contract the more chances of the sale slipping through your fingers. This is crucial if your buyer needs a mortgage because most mortgage offers are time sensitive. Right now banks and mortgage lenders are being very picky and the number of mortgage products on offer are significantly reduced. We are heading for something of a credit crunch and lending criteria will tighten up even more. Add rising interest rates into the mix and you can see that money is going to get very tight indeed.

I hope I haven't depressed you too much but I want you to go into the process with your eyes wide open. Forewarned is forearmed.

Best of luck.





3. Just make it clean and

Thanks for sharing your wisdom and experience Derbyshirelass
Well done for selling your own properties so quickly.

DMiLs house has had to go back on the market after the sale fell through but there have been several recent viewings and 2 notes of interest so we are still hopeful that it will sell soon.

Not everyone can wait for prices to drop any further, can they, they need to live somewhere!

Most of us here can remember the last long slump from 1988- 1995. And slumps like that bring tragedy to some but opportuntities to others.

Both our AC got on the housing ladder as a result of the house price fall. DD bought a an ex-council flat that halved from its nominal value that the tenant had accepted in 1990 to when she bought it in 1993. As a sitting council tenant, her seller only paid a third of the price, so was not out of pocket on the deal. Our DS just benefitted from collapsing prices.

So lower prices will make getting on the housing ladder much easier for first time buyers. Not everyone under 40 works in the gig economy, many of them have good jobs and good salaries, but cannot afford to buy homes anywhere near where they work as they are so expensive. A downwards price adjustment is probably long overdue.

Agree with DerbyshireLass do declutter, just pack away all your nice bits and piece and leave the kitchen and bathroom you will be hard out to choose something every prospective buyer will like. Don’t forget if you have a real struggle to sell you can always put the house to auction with a reserve price. Good luck

That's true LuluAugust I am hopeful that DD and DSiL will be able to afford to buy their first house, before they are 40!. They are not in highly paid jobs but I see this as an opportunity except that the interest rates could rise even more.

I remember the 1988-95 slide only too well. A lot of repossessions.

Spoke to an insider the other day and he tells me that the market is unlikely to pick up until April 2026. He was unable to reveal his sources but he hinted it was from the "high ups".

Your guess is as good as mine, but I suggest it is to do with fiscal policy decisions due to an expected global recession over the next few years. What we are experiencing is not confined to the U.K., it is global. The housing markets in the USA and China are already in total disarray. At any rate most "housing experts" are suggesting that an upturn is unlikely much before Spring 2025 so his timescale may well be right.

The thing to remember is that whilst corrections are necessary from time to time long deep slides are never good news. The human cost is high, repossessions, bankruptcies, divorces and failed relationships, loss of opportunities to move house for jobs, schools etc.

It's not just housing that's affected but many of the ancillary jobs, shops and trades that are linked to house moves. A lot of failed businesses and redundancies are on the horizon. The knock on effect to local economies where prices might drop as much as 40% will be catastrophic.

The people most likely to benefit from falling prices are cash buyers and the "big boys" - Banks and financial instructions, corporate landlords and the like who invest in property because with interest rate rises the "affordability" factor comes into play.

If mortgage rates are three times higher than they were a couple of years ago then mortgage payments will also rise accordingly affecting what is termed as "affordability". This means that banks will cut back on how much they will lend, thus the FTBs purchasing power will be so much less because they won't be able to borrow as much as they could a couple of years ago when mortgage rates were around 2 to 3% rather than the current 6 to 7%. So, even with lower prices, many FTBs will still struggle. It's a vicious circle really.

I'm guessing I am coming over all doom and gloom. Sorry, but I'm just being realistic.

Yes some houses will still sell, but the volume of transactions will be heavily impacted. The houses that do sell will be the ones which are deemed to be the best value for money, irrespective of their condition or whether or not they have been "modernised". My best guess is that actually it is the non modernised ones that will be snapped up by cash buyers who are happy to take on a project. So I would advise most sellers not to spend too much money to get their house "market ready", certainly not any major works such as new kitchens etc. A lick of paint where required, and a few nice plants in the front garden for colour and kerb appeal and leave it at that.

My advice to anyone who wants/needs to sell is get your house on the market sooner rather than later. The longer you wait the worse the slide will get. Also, as I said before, be very competitive with your pricing to try and stay ahead of the curve, otherwise a £10k drop every couple of months or so won't even keep pace with the downturn.

As I said I am sorry to be the bearer of such grim tidings but I have lived and worked through several property slides so I know the devastation they can cause. There will be winners and losers, the trick is to be on the winning side.

Btw. If you or any of the your loved ones are worried about your current mortgage payments, please contact your lenders before you get in trouble. They are likely to be more helpful and come up with a rescue package if they are contacted before the arrears start mounting up.

Good luck everyone.

I don't think of EAs as 'professionals' at all (or the other examples given) as anyone can just set themselves up as one - without any training or qualifications.

People believe that they will help get the best price for a property. They won't, necessarily, as, being paid commission, they're far more interested in turnover.

It is true that In the U.K. one doesn't need specific qualifications in either construction techniques, valuing or legal procedures. These services are not normally in house but rather outsourced, eg. conveyancers, structural engineers, surveyors etc.

However, one can be highly professional and effective without qualifications. It is one of those jobs that is best learned by doing the job. Yes there rogue agents but there are rogues in all professions,

Personally I see most high street EAs fulfilling the role of "introducers". Some also act as go between, helping to progress the sale. The best EAs are the ones with the strongest progress departments.

A house sale is not safe until exchange of contracts, 1 in 3 sales fail due to poor progressing.

The best way of achieving your best price and finalising the sale is do work with your agent. Don't rely on the EA for everything, especially with progressing the sale.

I personally prefer to do all viewings myself rather than allowing an EA to do them. I believe than the vendor knows more about the property than any EA can possibly know. They're is nothing more frustrating for a purchaser than being shown round a property by an EA who knows nothing about the property. A complete waste of

With regards to pricing, it is not an exact science. Prices are very much subject to wider market forces......as we seeing at the moment.

However, one can be highly professional and effective without qualifications. It is one of those jobs that is best learned by doing the job. Yes there rogue agents but there are rogues in all professions

Well yes. That was a really rude comment, and you responded with remarkably good grace.

I thought so too.

When I was in my teens my parents spent a lot of money on a brand new kitchen. Months later they had to sell up to move for my father's job. The new owners immediately ripped out the brand new kitchen. Unless you can absolutely guarantee to know a prospective buyer's taste (which you obviously can't) as long as the price reflects work needing doing, then you will be fine. The estate agent sounds inexperienced.

Sorry had to sign off because battery was running out.

I think you will find that most EAs worthy of their salt would be delighted to see some form of professional qualifications. I know I would. It would help sort out the wheat from the chaff and help assuage the clients doubts and fears that they were receiving the "best advice"for their circumstances. It would perhaps help polish up what is sometimes seen as a tarnished image.

The sad fact is sales professionals (of all kinds) are not given enough respect or recognition for their skills. All business rely on sales, no sales, no income, the business goes bankrupt.

I stand by my comment about learning in the job and gaining practical hands in experience, in all kinds of markets, whether buoyant or sluggish.

No disrespect to the most recent newcomers to estate agency but if they have only been in the business during the last few years they will not have any experience of difficult market conditions. They simply wont have the knowledge or experience, they will need training and mentoring to cope.

Thank you for your kind comments Doodlebug and Germanshepherdsmum. One does one's best to remain gracious and dignified. 😁.

For the doubters of my professional standing and the value of advice I have given, here is brief resume of qualifications and experience.

BA degree in art and design with a special interest in architectural design.

Professional qualifications as a Mortgage Advisor. Professional qualifications as a Debt Counsellor.

Over 30 years working as a senior negotiator and ultimately sales trainer both in EA high street offices and on new build developments. Also owning and operating my own overseas property company. (Spain).

2 years as an independent mortgage advisor, two years specialising in mortgage arrears for a building society.

Plus of course practical experience acquired through buying, renovating and selling for profit a number of residential properties.

I give advice that I am qualified and experienced to do so. I never give advice on commercial properties because that is outside my remit.

My advice was given freely in the spirit of trying to help people overcome the pitfalls of a falling market.

Anyone can sell a property when times are good. It's times like these that sort out the boys and girls from the men and women.

One final word about pricing. The EA does not set the price, the vendor does. The EA can only advise.

As for commissions.....I would rather pay a higher commission fee and get a higher price for my property than go for a cheaper agent and get a lower price.

Same with solicitors, accountants, mortgage advisors. You get what you pay for.

As a new build negotiator I witnessed loads of buyers rip out their kitchens within the first 12 months of ownership. Mind it has to be said builder grade kitchens aren't always that great. Lol.

You write very well DerbyshireLass and there should be no doubt here as to your abilities and professionalism. I couldn’t agree more that experience is worth paying for.

When we sold our last house we initially used a local firm of EAs as we knew one of the partners. Big mistake. Worse than useless. We were selling a country house with several acres. We then brought in one of the well-known national firms, which we should have done in the first place. A higher rate of commission but they already had potential buyers and the house was sold inside a week. As a retired solicitor I’m always saying you get what you pay for - I should have practised what I preach!

GSM. We all make mistakes. Just don't fall into the trap of making the same mistake twice.

Yes there are different types of agents for different types of properties.

What the industry refer to as premium properties require specialist agents. For example large country properties or high end properties in London will not be sold by the middle of the road agents. You do need the international big boys for those.

If you want a £10 m flat in Knightsbridge or a Manor House in the Cotswolds then you don't shop at Purple Bricks. Lol.

Many of the top properties don't even need to be advertised, you just instruct the agent who will have their "little black book" of potential clients raring to go.

Like the top end galleries and museums these premium agents have a very selective hiring policy. Attractive posh boys and gels, usually from top public schools. Why ......because they have the right connections and can bring in a lot of business through those connections.

As I said before I see the EA's primary function as an introducer, the "average" end of the market rely on marketing and advertising, the upper reaches use their connections and networks.

Many years ago I met a very fancy high priced New York lawyer. When she found out what I did for a living she said you really ought to try the New York real estate market. They would just love your accent, you would make a killing.

I was pregnant at the time so never did get round to trying it. Pity, but you can't have it all. 😂🤣.