Kirstie Allsopp has revealed her top ten tips for selling your home, including the one colour she believes you should never paint a room for fear of putting buyers off.
The property guru, 53, is known for her expert advice for homeowners alongside Phil Spencer in Channel 4‘s Love It Or List It and Location, Location, Location.
Kirstie, who spent more than two decades speaking to families across Britain about difficulties selling their homes, offered her top ten commandments before putting your house on the market.
From making first impressions count by completing scruffy unfinished DIY jobs to decluttering, the TV host claimed it’s important to consider the state of the whole house.
Elsewhere the broadcaster, who often shares her tips on X, where she has more than 430,000 followers, enjoys helping homeowners make the right decisions for their home.
She previously warned against painting rooms in your home a ‘fashionable’ colour because she has yet to ‘see it done really successfully.’
She tweeted back in 2019: ‘Think twice before painting a house grey, even the palest grey.
‘It seems to be very fashionable at the moment and I’ve yet to see it done really successfully.’
Kirstie Allsopp revealed the top ten tips for selling your home
Kirstie said she likes grey furniture and carpets, but painting whole walls in the hue can ‘risk light loss’.
She continued: ‘Grey indoors swallows light, we’re a Northern hemisphere country we need to maximise light in our homes not eradicate it.’
Kirstie also claimed that dark grey is not environmentally friendly as it forces homeowners to use artificial light to brighten the room, rather than natural light.
She tweeted: ‘In addition grey is environmentally unfriendly because it often requires more light, therefore more energy use. We should all find ways to add light without having to switch it on.’
However, Kirsty is not against using the colour entirely and she instead recommended an off-white paint colour.
She added: ‘Then use pictures, cushions and fabric to inject colour. Without light bouncing off the walls colour can’t sing.’
In 2021 Kirstie, took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to suggest an alternative colour for her followers.
She said: ‘For anyone tempted by grey, this is a great alternative “nutmeg white” from @duluxuk.’
Kirstie, who spent more than two decades speaking to families across Britain about their difficulties selling their homes, offered her top ten commandments before putting your house on the market
The property guru, 53, is known for her expert advice for homeowners hoping to achieve their housing goals alongside Phil Spencer in Channel 4 ‘s Love it or List it and Location, Location, Location
She said: ‘For anyone tempted by grey, this is a great alternative “nutmeg white” from @duluxuk’
Meanwhile her tips on what to do before you sell your home are simple yet effective: like cleaning up before people come round to view the property, decluttering, depersonalising and taking a long hard look at what really needs doing.
Phil also has key advice on bigger projects that could add thousands to your property’s value.
Kirstie claimed she is keen not to over-promise on what’s realistic when selling a house.
Speaking to Mail Online, she said: ‘It’s a percentage game. You have to ask yourself honestly, “Did you overpay in the first place? Is the property still in the good condition it was in when you bought it?”’
She also said: ‘You need to know the state of the market. If the Queen put in bi-fold doors on the back kitchen of Buckingham Palace, would it increase in value by ten per cent? No.
‘But if you take the average family house with a narrow old-style kitchen, sitting room and dining room, classic semi-detached style, and you knock down a wall and put in bi-fold doors and a family kitchen then, yes, it will add 10 per cent. I’ve no fear in saying that.’
Be careful to consider the state of the whole house though, if your budget is limited.
‘If something big needs fixing, such as the roof needs replacing, then do it. But let’s say Granny dies and her whole house is just very dated. There’s no point only doing the kitchen. People will say: “Oh yes, a new kitchen but I’m going to rip it out because I’m doing the whole house anyway.”
‘It’ll also show up just how much the other rooms need work. It’s about balance.’
So what else will ensure your home sells – especially as the market slows?
First impressions count, said Kirstie: ‘Sometimes it’s difficult to see what needs doing when you live in a place, so ask a friend. Your agent won’t tell you, because they’re afraid they’ll offend you and you’ll fire them.
‘Chipped tiles, scruffy unfinished DIY jobs, damp and mould. It’s not always necessary to get someone in – there is a lot you can do yourself.
‘But be practical – big jobs, such as rewiring the house, will also mean you need to re-plaster and repaint. You may well not need to get into that.’
She claimed that it can also pay off to look at your lease, if you have a leasehold property.
‘I’m always amazed that people don’t extend their lease before they try to sell. A short lease is very off-putting to a buyer,’ she says.
As for those who want to buy a home right now, her best advice will surprise you.
‘Stop using the b****y internet! Houses are homes, they are physical entities.
‘You can’t go and look at every place, I know that, but people get into this thing of rejecting properties that would really work for them, if they only went and had a look. Pictures are so misleading.’