The Blog

What does your garden mean to you? For us, it can be summarised in three simple words: entertainment, enjoyment and peace. With it being such a pleasurable, versatile space, it’s no wonder several studies show that it’s within the top three priorities for a potential buyer. Surrounding your house at both front and back, it’s a large area that requires just as much pre-viewing preparation as any room inside – and that’s where we’re here to help! Tidying the garden is one thing, but styling it

Spring is a wonderful time to sell a home – the buds are budding, gardens are springing into life, and a little bit of sunshine makes everyone’s home look better. Plus, buyers have traditionally always started home searching in the spring, and the property portals tell us this is still the case today. If you’re thinking of selling your home, or your home is on the market right now, you may have some questions about how to make your move a success. Here are some of the questions we get asked a

“Give your home the ‘wow’ factor!” We’ve all heard this advice from property experts, but what does it mean? And how do you do it? Most importantly, is it worth the time and effort it may cost you? All good questions, and the answers will be revealed in this article – so let’s dive in… “What’s a ‘wow’ factor anyway?” It’s that elusive magic ingredient that turns a home from standard to exceptional; from forgettable to unforgettable; from ‘meh’ to ‘wow!!’ “Ok I get that, but how do

2021 was a tremendous year for home price growth in the UK – the strongest since the mid-2000s – with many areas and types of home seeing values increase by double-figure percentages. This means a house bought for £500,000 only two years ago could be worth up to £600,000 today! The huge imbalance between supply and demand, with many more buyers than homes available, has been the key driver behind these extraordinary increases. If you own a unique home and you’re thinking of selling, you have

The new year encourages many of us to make positive changes in our lives. A popular choice is pledging to do more exercise, while some people might decide to learn a new skill. But if you were one of the many sellers who put their home on the market last year and you haven’t yet found a buyer, this new year you’re probably resolving to get that sale! As estate agents, we find that pretty much every new year brings with it not only a flood of requests from homeowners for valuations

Selling a home might not be an exact science, but there are a number of factors that will make a huge difference to how successful your sale will be. Our experience has shown us that homes that sell quickly and for a good price tend to have certain key things in common, so we’ve developed a checklist that we can use to analyse the saleability of any home. We rate various elements of your marketing approach across five categories, awarding up to a maximum of five points for each element to give y

If you’re ready to move, you might be wondering whether to put your home on the market now or wait until the spring. Well, although winter may traditionally be a quieter time for home-moving than spring and summer, the market is still very much open for business and selling your home in this colder season does have its benefits. As those who aren’t in a hurry to move tend to hunker down and focus on festivities, buying and selling activity usually dips a little over the wi

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. Or perhaps it’s the opposite – you need more space, in which case, it could be time to upsize into a new place. On the other hand, if you love your home and it’s in the perfect spot, maybe you’re toying with the idea of getting the extra room you need by extending. A report from UK Finance found that people stay in their homes f

Travelling between Rayleigh and London does not take long – just over an hour in the car and about 45 minutes on a train on a good day. But while distance wise the two locations are not far apart, and it is an ideal place to live for a relatively quick commute, the cost of buying a house is dramatically different and you may find yourself taken aback when you see just how wide that financial gap is between the two areas. We took a look at the cost of a five-bedroom ho

Our top tips for selling your home this Autumn The sun may be making less appearances, the dark evenings may be drawing in earlier, but don’t let the arrival of Autumn make you think now is not a great time to sell your home because it most certainly is – and there are things you can do to boost your chances of getting a sale through by Christmas. And these are things you likely will not even think of – and you can be forgiven for that as, as anyone who has ever sold

When you signed the contract with your current estate agent, they might have seemed like the perfect people to sell your home. But perhaps the promised viewings haven’t materialised and now you’re itching to move but there’s not an offer in sight. When sellers aren’t happy with their agent, it’s often because of a lack of communication, so maybe that’s an issue for you. If the calls and emails from your agent have dropped off recently, you could be feeling as though yo

A great agent will be focused on selling your home at the best price, in a timeframe that suits you. If everything goes well, they’ll put the right value on it, market it effectively, then negotiate and progress your sale so you can move on to your new home as planned – and they’ll make the whole process as pain-free as possible. That’s what we strive to achieve for every one of our clients, and it’s what every seller hopes their experience will be. But it’s not always

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! More daylight hours and generally better weather than at other times of year give people much more opportunity to view your home at its best and brightest. And there’s nothing like a sunny day to put people in a great mood, which means they’re more likely to have a positive mindset when they’re viewing. So

Moving home is one of the most stressful things you can do and while it is ultimately worthwhile- a change is as good as a holiday - it is not just a mentally draining process for humans with our animal family members also going through a bit of an ordeal with the upheaval. Dogs, and especially cats, have a tendency to not react well to change and upheaval and it can be quite traumatic for them to leave a place that they have come to think of as home – don’t forget that they have no idea that

We are trying not to look ahead to the Autumn and Winter months just yet, but they will be here before we know it and with that in mind, there is some TLC you can show your home that is far easier to do while it is summer. The reason for that is you are more likely to be able to take advantage of your garden, (British summertime weather dependent), and that will come in handy if you are at the stage where you think your home could do with a deep clean. So, take a day,