Are you thinking about making a change to where you live? If you no longer need all the rooms in your home, you might have decided to downsize into something smaller.
Summer is a great time of year to sell your home. With bright, sunny days, gardens at their greenest and flowers blooming, your marketing photos will look fabulous!
We know from experience that the better your home looks and feels when potential buyers come to view, the more likely you are to get an asking price offer.
If you’ve ever searched online for a home yourself, you’ll know how many listings there are. The broader your search terms, the more results are going to come up, and then you start scrolling through…
Valuing homes accurately is at the core of our business. We’ve got to price them at a level that attracts enough attention from buyers, while achieving the maximum sale price for our clients. Sometimes it’s a challenge – particularly when there’s not much to compare them to.
It’s a new year – time to give your home a whole new look? If you’re selling your home, or planning to, our top home styling accessories for 2021 may help you make the right decisions to give your home a mini-makeover without breaking the bank.
We all dream of a white winter wonderland. A thick layer of snowy icing on the lawn, roaring fires, candlelit windows, movie afternoons wrapped in thick, downy duvets. The spicy scent of mulled wine drifting in from the kitchen.
Seven reasons to sell your home this September. Why buyers love home searching in autumn and how you can take steps now to be in your new home by Christmas.
When choosing an estate agent to help you sell your home, it’s important to prepare yourself before making your decision. After all, your agent is trusted with one of the biggest transactions you will make in your life. Selling your home can often be stressful and full of pitfalls, so it’s useful to instruct an agent who is going to work hard for you, put in the extra effort and take that stress and worry away.
In previous blogs, we have advised that investing in a new kitchen or bathroom, or revamping the front of your house, are good ways to add value and desire to your home when It comes to selling. However, there is one property change you can make that costs less than £40 – and could add thousands of pounds to the value of your home.
You’ve decided to sell your home, and having chosen the right agent for your property, they have got off to a good start with some great marketing, bespoke boards, fantastic photography, and uniquely designed brochures with your own personal branding, and potential buyers are now wanting to view your property in person.
Back in the 1980s, it was customary for agents to stick coloured photographs on the front of typed particulars and writing all about Artex ceilings and how many power points were in each room. Writing information about whether the property had hot AND cold water was commonplace, as was advising that the home benefitted from having double glazing!
Home styling is all about maximising your property’s assets and minimising its flaws. In today’s ultra-competitive market, simply giving your rooms a lick of paint may not be enough – you need to consider factors such as scent, lighting and whether your home is over-personalised. By following these tips, you can make your property appealing to the highest possible number of potential buyers, which will hopefully result in a swifter sale, for a better price.
When the time is right to move from your current home, and you’ve read our “sellers’ checklist”, you may be asking yourself why our 1st point is to list 5 great things about your house that only you would know based upon your experience of living there.
Everyone will tell you that photographs are vital when selling your home. They are the window into the lifestyle your home can provide and the attention-grabbing hook, to make buyers take a closer look!
As we head into the final week of March and what was could have been the last month that the UK was a member of the EU, I’ve been giving some thought to the effect, if any, that the recent issues have had on the local housing market.
You may have heard some people say that summer is the best time to begin your selling journey. School holidays, warm weather, easier to take time away from the office, etc, or do you wait until the autumn when the children have returned to school and the weather is (or at least ought to be) still warm, however people are returning to work and perhaps its not so easy to focus on moving. Well what about winter?
If the excitement of selling your home has waned and the viewings have tailed off, it’s time to start asking some questions as to why the sale of your home has ground to a halt. In order to find the answers, we need to review all the issues that may be affecting your next move.
Online Property sales platforms like rightmove.co.uk offer you the best opportunity to show off your home to thousands of potential buyers. I have put together a list of the key factors you need in your advert to really make it stand out.
When it comes to our home, it’s safe to say that we all feel we could do with a little extra space. Somewhere to store those things that just don’t fit anywhere else. Perhaps your family is growing and suddenly the children’s bedrooms are not quite big enough to accommodate all the toys, books and clothes that they need.
Maybe it’s your room that is now feeling a little cramped following that trip to the sales earlier in the year. Whichever room it may be, we have some suggestions on how to make the most of the space you currently have.
Like most things in life, before starting a task, you get a better result if you prepare. A previous boss of mine had a favourite saying, ‘Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance’, and I have to agree with him. Selling a house is no different. The better you prepare, the better chances of a good result – a sale.
The time you spend viewing a property and the information you uncover whilst there can be critical to inform your decision whether to buy the home or not.
When your home isn’t selling it can be easy to look to external influences as the cause. With the UK in political turmoil, Brexit has become the latest scape goat. But is Brexit really to blame for your home not selling?
Many agents are using Brexit as an excuse for lack of viewings. However, here at Alexander Gibson we have not seen any drastic changes at all. In fact, we are getting lots of interest on every home we advertise for sale, and we’ve just had our busiest December ever.
Winter may not strike you as the best time of year to sell your home. Don’t let the darker, colder winter nights put you off. Winter is a magical time of year and there are many ways you can draw on the season help sell your home. The darker, colder weather can be used to your advantage and one of the best ways to do this is by paying careful attention to how you present your home.
Here are our top six tips to help you embrace the chillier months and make the time of year work for you and your home sale.
Cheap fees can be very attractive but like with most things in life - you get what you pay for. Take Ryanair for example. They are the cheap option of the aviation industry. They serve a purpose, a cheap product for a cheap price. I once flew with Ryanair to Italy. After a rowdy two-and-a-half-hour flight home, jammed into a tiny seat and staring at the back of the illuminous yellow seat in front of me, I swore never to fly Ryanair again. Pay cheap – get cheap. The customer experience left a lot to be desired.
Getting a valuation for your home is the first step on your way to selling. It is common practice to obtain a few estimates of the value of your home. Most sellers invite at least three estate agents out and ask for their opinion on what price their property could sell for. This also gives the seller a chance to find out more about the estate agent and explore if they could work with them.
It can be very frustrating when your home has been up for sale for a while and is not selling. Not knowing when you are going to move, if at all, can leave you feeling in limbo. Sure, everybody says that they love your home but why is it not selling?
The air has most definitely turned crisper this week, with a whiff of Christmas around the corner you may be wishing your home would sell by the end of the year. Wouldn’t it be nice going into Christmas knowing that you’ve sold your home and you can kick back and enjoy the festivities? Enjoying one last Christmas in your home before it’s time to start a new chapter in the New Year.
Are you thinking about moving and selling your home? Are you wondering which estate agent to choose? There are usually a few estate agents that dominate an area. Maybe you have driven past their swanky shop front, you have seen their for-sale boards popping up, flicking through your local newspaper you see their advertisements.
Whilst certain agents may have a strong foothold and presence in your community are they the right choice for you? When it comes to choosing an estate agent, is bigger always better?
Do you live in a unique home? Are you thinking about moving? Or is your home already on the market and not selling? Unique homes are very special and you need to find a very special buyer to buy your unique home. A buyer that celebrates and loves all your home’s quirks that make it individual. It’s not always easy to find the perfect buyer, which is why sometimes unusual homes can take longer to sell. Here at Alexander Gibson we are very experienced in selling unique homes and we love selling these types of properties.
Putting your house up for sale is an exciting time. The anticipation and excitement of what lies ahead, who will buy your home and what house will you buy? You may feel that you only have a few months window of opportunity before Christmas to sell your home. You’ve had your home valued and you know which agent you are going to choose. You’re chomping at the bit to get your house on the market as quickly as possible.
After an offer has been accepted, the next phase of your sale and/or purchase is very much in the hands of your solicitor. Thirty percent of sales fall through during the period after offer acceptance. This is why it is so important to choose the right solicitor. The ideal solicitor is proactive, communicates to all parties and does their best to keep the sale on track. Making sure you choose an excellent solicitor can mean the difference between you moving or not.
As a nation we are fascinated with property, and particularly with house prices. We are especially intrigued by what our own property could be worth. Maybe you are just curious about the value of your home or perhaps you are considering moving, whatever your reason, finding out the value of your home couldn’t be easier these days.
If you are thinking of moving, it is important that you obtain an accurate valuation of your current home so that you know how much you are realistically going to be able to sell for. This allows you to determine your budget for your next home.
If moving is on your mind, you may be wondering if it’s worth investing time and money into your existing home to add value. When it comes to adding value there are two ways to look at this. Firstly, you can ensure a higher value and quicker sale by making your home more ‘saleable’. Here you can look to improve your home through inexpensive ways to make it more appealing to a buyer. Secondly you can add floor space. Adding extra space will increase the value of your home because you have increased it square footage and size.
Different agents will give you different answers on this very important question. There are some that will tell you that a home owner knows their home the best so is therefore the best person for the job. Our experience shows that this is the wrong approach, we have found that an experienced salesperson who has researched your home and location is definitely the best placed to present your home.
These days everyone has access to the internet. How we search for houses has completely changed and online property portals such as Rightmove have revolutionised the estate agency industry. Gone are the days where you had to nip down to the local estate agents’ shop to thumb through the particulars. Now you can search for your next house from anywhere in the world, anytime. This revolutionary new way of searching has paved the way for online estate agents.
To sell your home, you first need to command the attention of a potential buyer. This all starts with your property images. If they are not interesting enough then your potential buyer will skip on by and onto the next home that does grab their attention.
The pictures of your home are essentially your shop window. It is likely the first time your buyer will set eyes on your house will be through your property photographs. You need to take this golden opportunity and wow them. Your home needs to stand out above all others.
A home is not just bricks and mortar, it’s a lifestyle. Many people want to move home because they aspire to live a certain lifestyle, one their current home does not offer. Perhaps they want to live in a more rural area, country walks and home-grown veggies are top of their agenda. Maybe children are on the cards and being near a good school and a home with more space is a priority.
It’s been a wonderful year so far, we have been blessed with amazing weather, and there as been plenty of sport recently to occupy ourselves during this glorious weather.
Whether you are a tennis fan or a football fan, there is no denying that both the World Cup and this year’s Wimbledon have had us on the edge of our seats. Cracking open a beer or pouring yourself a nice cool glass of Pimm’s and lemonade, it has been nice to kick back, soak up the sun, excitement and atmosphere of the recent sporting challenges.
Are you a little bit confused about the value of your home? Maybe you've invited a few local estate agents out and their valuations have varied hugely. Or perhaps you have used an online valuation tool and there is a massive variation in the minimum and maximum value it has given you. You are not alone, we often speak to clients who have previously had such a variation in an estimated value for their home. To obtain a value, most homeowners will usually call out a handful of estate agents to find out their thoughts. There can often be a large variation in the values given by each agent.
If you are thinking of selling, you may be bamboozled by the sheer number of estate agents out there. You only have to look at the for-sale boards in your area and you will start to notice names that you may have never heard of before.
Selling your home is a big step, a step towards the next exciting chapter in your life. When you put your home on the market you don’t envisage it taking months or even years to sell. You love your home, so surely everyone else will? It’s pretty much a given, right?
Whether you are buying, selling or both, negotiating an offer can be a nail biting experience. You’re in touching distance of moving. It is such a relief and so exciting for both parties when an offer is accepted. Time to pop open the fizz and celebrate!
Online Property sales platforms like rightmove.co.uk offer you the best opportunity to show off your home to thousands of potential buyers. I have put together a list of the key factors you need in your advert to really make it stand out. 
