Why was your home rejected? Ask potential buyers

When you have a promising house viewing, it can lead to excitement. You begin to picture an imminent move, the house you want to purchase being yours, and order in some packing boxes. But then you find out later that the potential buyers didn’t take it, and their smiles and gushing at the décor suddenly seem a bit false.

So why was your home rejected? If you’re sensing a continuing trend, you can’t stay on the same train; you need to find out what’s putting people off. There could be a multitude of things, but if they’re not obvious to you, you won’t know what to change. So what can you do? Ask the people around you…

Ask your agent – Your agent can prove very useful after a rejected viewing. A standard response can be “They just weren’t interested”, but this isn’t good enough. The viewer probably said this to the agent, but the agent can request more information. Ask for specifics; was it the price? The décor? Too cluttered? Whatever details you can get from the horse’s mouth, are helpful for you.

Ask a friend or family member – While this option has the potential to be a little biased, you need to ask your nearest and dearest to be brutally honest with you. They may like your home, but can be useful to pick at the nitty gritty that you might just not see. Don’t be offended; at the end of the day, you want to sell up and need as much helpful information as you can. Friends or family who are looking to move can be really handy too.

Ask a neighbour who recently sold – If you’re quite friendly with your neighbours and your homes are pretty comparable, ask them to take a look at your home. Get them to offer any suggestions as to why they think your home might be turning people off, in comparison to their recent sale.

Ask another potential buyer – While they might not be interested in your home specifically, it is worth asking other potential buyers to have a snoop. See if your friends and family have friends who are looking to move, and if it isn’t too much of an inconvenience, ask them to have a look around. This could provide a really remarkable insight into your home from another perspective.

If your home isn’t shifting and the buyers are sending a reject your way, ask the people around you for their assessment of your property.

If you’d like my help to sell your home more effectively, please answer a few short questions here and if I think I can help you, I’ll be in touch.

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Sam’s 5 Dos and Don’ts of Moving with Children

Moving with children can be a very stressful time.  Trying to allow for their schedules, needs and energy levels can be a huge drain on your own time and energy while at the same time, trying to move home – something most of us only do a handful of times in a lifetime!

Having moved so many times that I’ve actually lost count, and the last 17 with three children, I thought I’d share with you here my own personal dos and don’ts so you can learn by my mistakes!

Do involve children in the move by getting them to pack and label their own possessions.  Turn it into a game and make it a positive, fun experience.

Don’t rush them into ‘loving’ their new home and life.  The move wasn’t their idea and they may not have known about your decision until it was all cut and dried!  Give them time to get used to it, and before long, their old home will be a distant, if affectionate, memory.

Do create a countdown chart on the wall. Make it colourful and fun, and encourage them to cross off the days as you get closer to moving day.

Don’t forget that young children get tired and whiny easily and when you’re stressed out on moving day, your patience may fray! Consider roping in family and friends to look after them, and give yourself the chance to focus on the move without distraction.

Do have children pack their most special items in a small case that travels with you in the car.  You really don’t want to be opening boxes at midnight when you’re tired to look for their cuddly toy, blanket or other favourite thing.  Having their familiar possessions around them will also help them feel at home more quickly and give you all the peaceful night’s sleep you need.

I’d love to hear any of your own moving tips – with children or otherwise! Leave me a comment.

If you’d like my help to sell your home more effectively, please answer a few short questions here and if I think I can help you, I’ll be in touch.

What to read next:  Are you Ready to Move On?

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Martin Rowson on Theresa May and her tenure at No 10 – cartoon

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Controlling house prices and the need to be able to evict bad tenants | Letters

Carolyn Hayman says action must be taken to bring prices back into an affordable ratio with incomes, while Tom Booth says section 21 should not be abolished

There was a note of scepticism (Labour’s home truths, Nils Pratley, 10 April) about Labour’s proposal to seek to control growth in house prices. Giving the job to the Bank of England alone is unlikely to work. But a government statement of intent to bring house prices over, say, a 10-year period back into an affordable ratio with incomes, using a number of different levers (personal tax, incentives to downsize, development land tax, mortgage supply, house-building investment etc) is more feasible and highly desirable. While people are paying up to half their disposable income on housing, the government’s ability to increase tax rates to fund public services will continue to be a struggle, not to mention the misery of so many people living in cramped and unsuitable housing.

It won’t be popular with homeowners, but we are a shrinking number. And at least some of us will see the benefits for our younger relatives.
Carolyn Hayman
London

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No rogue landlords issued with banning orders in 12 months

Just four entries have been recorded on database in the year since its launch, FOI finds

Not a single rogue landlord has been issued with one of the government’s new banning orders, a year after the key new power in the battle to root out the country’s worst rental property owners was launched.

New laws which took effect in April 2018 mean that slum landlords handed one of the new bans by the courts are prevented from letting out housing across England. Their details must also be entered on to central government’s new rogue landlord database for local authorities to share.

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Finally, some good news for UK renters – now here’s what else we can fight for | Alicia Powell

Tenants have organised and campaigned and now ‘no-fault’ evictions are being abolished. This has to be just the start

Monday marks a huge victory for private renters. Theresa May and the communities secretary, James Brokenshire, have announced that the government will abolish section 21 – a little-known law that means landlords can evict tenants without good reason. Right now, section 21 is used every day to send renters packing. Your landlord might decide they want to hike the rent up, sell the house or just that they don’t want to make the repairs that need doing. It doesn’t matter whether you’ve been a good tenant or not, whether you’ve paid your rent on time. The landlord is in control, not the tenant. I should know, because it happened to me.

Related: ‘I have PTSD and got depressed’: how no-fault evictions affect tenants

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‘No-fault’ eviction of tenants must end. But beware unintended consequences | Simon Jenkins

The government is right to curtail landlords’ section 21 powers. But too much regulation could end up hurting the poorest

Theresa May’s government can get some things right. The curtailment of landlords’ power to evict tenants for no reason with only eight weeks’ notice has been rejected by Labour and Tory ministers for decades. Now the proposed abolition of “section 21” evictions should free landlords from being seen as heartless exploiters, and tenants as worthless transients, endlessly complaining.

Europe’s maddest housing market should be brought closer to its sanest, Germany, where 55% of people enjoy secure and mostly happy private tenancies, for an average of 11 years each. In Britain just 20% are private tenants, with tenancies of an average 30 months. Germany suffers no get-on-the-ladder hysteria. Private savings are not frozen in bricks and mortar, but put to economic use.

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