Items Tagged With new home

It is often said "Be careful buying a house that smells of new paint!". Paint can cover an awful lot of problems. Apart from that, a fresh looking house will ALWAYS sell more readily than one that looks time-worn. I know, I've done it often enough myself.

But redecorating just before you're about to sell looks too obvious. As a potential purchaser be particularly careful where the redecoration has involved heavy anaglypta-type wallpaper. This is almost certainly to cover less-than-perfect walls rather than for its brilliance of appearance!

On the other hand, I've been in many houses where the walls have been painted in gloss! It looks absolutely atrocious, but it certainly high lights any problem Paint can be painted over again - crumbling plasterwork and huge cracks can't!

Be wary with houses where there is a great waft of very pleasant smell when you enter. The old trick of boiling up coffee or wafting scent around just before visitors enter still works. However, YOU don't need to be taken in by it.

I well remember many years ago when I was looking to buy a house in Kent after being moved down there by the company I was working with at the time. We found one place that looked great and the price was a snip. Fortunately the vendors were honest when we asked them - works on the M20 motorway were just about to start and guess which garden was to have a grandstand view?

Location, and potential problems with location, are normally the most pressing reasons for a property dropping in value, but the internal structure or external condition of a house are also vitally important.

Some properties can be in excellent condition, but simply go out of fashion. Classic example here would be the 1930's flat-roof style that you really do have to be a devoted fan to appreciate. Others are fashionable at the time and gain a huge price premium that rapidly disappears when commonsense prevails once again. Did I hear someone say 'barn conversions'?

Striking The Bargain

Getting the deal at the price that YOU want to pay is a careful blend of skill and science. It is worth putting a VERY CONSIDERABLE AMOUNT of effort into because it involves a VERY CONSIDERABLE AMOUNT of money.

The way to think about it is this: You may be negotiating over £5,000, which might be only 5% of the purchase price, but just how long would it take you to EARN £5,000 NET? How much effort will earning that money take? Just think about that before the you start the negotiations.

The first consideration is:

• How desperately do the vendors want to sell?

Are we talking bailiff-on-the-doorstep, doing-a-bunk desperate or just "let's see what it's worth". You would be astonished how many time-wasters put their homes 'on the market' with very little intention of ever selling - they just want to see how much they could get.

• How realistic is the price?

Remember, the price on the sales details is only the offer price. You have to make a reasonable offer based on what you believe to be a true market valuation of the property (and how little you think you can get away with!). A 5% discount would be the starting point for consideration, 10% the norm. Any necessary works should be deducted from the price. If you know of other similar properties in the area that have sold at a lower price, use that as supporting evidence for your offer.

Play hard, but fair. Remember, if the vendors actually take a dislike to you, they may sell to virtually ANYONE else if the difference in offer price is marginal. Don't beat them into the ground, just make them feel that their original price was for the birds and this is reality we're talking about!

• Who is the vendor?

Is the vendor the original house-holder, a building society/bank, or the vendor's employer? In the latter two cases you're in, because their priority will be 'getting shot' as soon, AND EASILY, as they can. Don't make things hard for them. If you're involved in a long chain sale on your side (i.e. the purchasers of your property have to sell theirs first before they can buy yours etc.) you'll be of less interest than a "cash" buyer or a first-time buyer.

If you ARE a cash buyer (i.e. you've got no property left to sell) then push HARD on the price - you're just what they want and BOTH sides know it.