Mark Bramell from estate agents Bagshaws. Derbyshire is home to a property once listed as the smallest detached house in Britain - Thimble Hall in Youlgreave. See NTI story NTITHIMBLE. It dates back to 1756 and measures just 11ft 10in x 10 ft 3in and stands 12 ft 2in high. Stretch out your arms and you practically touch either side of the rooms. In August 2000, the Guinness Book of Records proclaimed it the smallest detached property in Great Britain. And yet 100 years ago, a family of eight lived there. Such is its quirkiness, when it went up for auction in 1999 it sparked bids from all over the world including Hong Kong, Athens and New York. It's claimed there was even an offer from Uri Geller.
Buying a house is invariably the most significant investment we ever make. Because of the extent of this financial and emotional commitment, we all endeavour to get the best possible price for our property when it comes to the time to move on. Part and parcel of selling your home is making sure your house is as flawless as possible. To give you a head-start, we have put together only the most cost-effective and time-efficient tips.
It can be difficult to recover from a poor first impression, so it’s imperative to make sure your house’s exterior is in ship shape! Tidying up an unkempt front garden, wiping smudged windows and giving the front door a lick of paint should be just a few of your priorities when you are striving to make your house more presentable.
You may think you can keep any structural defects away from prying eyes but any evaluator worth their salt will quickly identify any underlying problems with your house. It therefore goes without saying that any missing or broken roof tiles have to be replaced, any leaks have to be patched up and any structural cracks have to be addressed.
You have to put yourself in the mind-set of the buyer – they want to imagine their own furniture and accessories in the rooms, so keep a neutral colour scheme to make this as easy as possible.
Pet bowls and beds may be endearing to the few, but to the majority, they can be off-putting. Personalised touches can create a barrier that potential buyers will struggle to see past, preventing them from visualising themselves living in such an environment.
Not only will natural light give your house a more homely feel, but it will help to make the rooms seem more spacious. Relieving your home of thick, heavy, oppressive curtains in favour of light voile curtains is a sure-fire way to invite light into your home. Light can also make rooms feel more spacious.
Space brings with it possibility. A potential buyer can envisage themselves manipulating an empty space to cater for their every whim and desire. Installing mirrors into a cramped hallway can effortlessly create the illusion of bigger rooms – as can simply ridding your home of unnecessary clutter.
If you really want to drastically alter the value of your property with a sizeable investment, experts have estimated that loft conversions add the most value to your home (10%) compared to adding an extra bathroom (6.1%) a new kitchen (5.8%) or a conservatory (5%). Rather surprisingly they found that central heating is potentially the most economically viable alteration you can make, with an added 5.4% value for a comparably meagre £3235 investment.
Whatever changes you elect to make, it is worth remembering that there is very little point adding value to your property to the extent that it becomes an outlier for your area. Very few people will want to pay £400,000 for a house in a £250,000 area. The simplest tips often prove to be the best, and the housing market is no different.
