Weeks before the vans
A home made ready, then measured
Buyers decide in the first minute whether they can see themselves living somewhere. Getting a house ready is mostly subtraction, light and honest measurements.
From the kerb in
The walk a buyer takes
- Kerb
- Bins out of sight, the step swept, the front door and its number clean. A terrace front is small, so every detail shows.
- Hall
- Coats and shoes away, the light on. Hallways in older terraces are narrow; a clear floor makes them read as a way in, not a store.
- Rooms
- One purpose per room. A box room used as a dump reads as no room at all; set out as a study or a small bedroom, it counts.
- Kitchen
- Clear worktops, tidy cupboard fronts. Buyers open doors, so the inside of the cupboards is part of the view.
- Garden
- Cut, swept, the shed door shut. Say which way it faces: buyers ask, and the answer sells evenings.
Light
The right hour for each side of the house
Photographs and viewings are booked around the light, not around the diary. A front that faces south-west is at its best from mid-afternoon; a north-facing kitchen needs every lamp on and the blinds fully up.
In winter we photograph around midday, when the sun is highest. In summer we go early or late, when low sun falls across the front and the rooms behind it.
Measured
Floor area, room by room
Particulars measure each room at its widest point and give both metres and feet and inches, so figures from two agents can differ by a little without either being wrong. Add your rooms below to see the area of each and the total, in square metres and square feet. An L-shaped room is two rectangles: add the second part to the same room.
Papers
What the buyer's conveyancer will ask for
Once a buyer is agreed, their conveyancer sends questions. Most are on two standard forms: the property information form (TA6), about boundaries, works, guarantees and services, and the fittings and contents form (TA10), about what stays and what goes.
Answers that are ready on the first day save weeks later. Start a folder now.
The folder
- Guarantees for windows, damp work or a new roof.
- Certificates for building work, electrics and the boiler.
- Planning papers for any extension or conversion.
- Recent utility and council tax details.
The full list is the seller’s pack, with a tick-list in your account.
Next
See it with us
A first visit covers all of this in your own rooms: what to clear, what to fix, when to photograph and what to gather.