The Property perfectionist

But it Also Helped Me Sell This Flat in a Week

There is something about estate agency that has frustrated me for almost two decades.

Many sellers invite three agents to value their home. Two tell them exactly what they want to hear. One tells them what they need to hear.

The problem is that the honest agent doesn’t always win.

Growing up with ADHD and OCD means I find it genuinely uncomfortable to be anything other than truthful. If I walk into a property and spot things that could put buyers off, I can’t pretend they don’t exist. My brain simply doesn’t work that way.

If a room needs painting, I’ll say it needs painting.

If a space is cluttered, I’ll say it’s cluttered.

If I believe spending £4,000 could add £20,000 to the eventual sale price, I’ll say that too.

Unfortunately, that isn’t always what homeowners want to hear.

Over the years I’ve lost plenty of instructions to agents who promised the same result without the effort, inconvenience or cost of making improvements first.

I’ve never understood that logic.

How can a property not become more attractive if it’s presented better?

How can a buyer not be influenced by cleaner walls, brighter rooms and sharper photography?

It seems obvious to me. Yet I still regularly hear stories of sellers being told that presentation makes little difference.

This particular story began in West Norwood in early 2025.

Julie invited me to value her flat. It was a lovely property. Bright, spacious and in a great location.

But it needed decorating.

Family life and particularly toddlers who loved art, and walls, had left their mark. The walls were tired and covered with the sort of scuffs, marks and drawings that naturally appear when grandchildren unleash their inner artist and treat the walls as an extension of their colouring books, lol!

I explained to Julie that if she wanted the very best result, the flat needed repainting.

Not because there was anything wrong with it.

Because first impressions matter.

Fresh paint is one of the simplest and most cost-effective ways to transform how a property feels. It creates a sense of care, cleanliness and quality before a buyer has even started analysing the floorplan.

Julie thanked me for my advice.

Then instructed another agent.

I wished her well and carried on with my life.

Well… sort of.

I also kept an eye on the advert. Obsessively.

Months passed.

Then more months.

There were price reductions.

There were agent changes.

There was still no buyer.

Eventually I reached out and suggested there might be a simpler solution than continuing to reduce the price.

When Julie invited me back, she greeted me with a smile.

“You’re going to tell me I need to paint it, aren’t you?”

“Yes,” I replied.

“Because doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting a different result rarely works.”

This time she agreed.

I introduced her to Dean, a local decorator I trust and have recommended to many clients over the years.

Dean repainted the walls, skirting boards, architraves and carried out a few minor external touch-ups.

The transformation was remarkable.

Same flat.

Same location.

Same market.

Completely different impression.

Once the decorating was finished, I spent the best part of two hours decluttering, moving furniture, removing unnecessary items and preparing the property for photography.

This is another consequence of my OCD.

I can’t just turn up and take photos.

I need every image to be as good as it can possibly be.

Every cushion.

Every lamp.

Every angle.

Every distraction removed.

Only then was I happy to launch the marketing.

Within a week, the flat was under offer to a committed buyer.

Now, was it the paint alone?

Of course not.

It was the combination of preparation, presentation and marketing.

But none of that would have been possible without first addressing the obvious issue that buyers were seeing the moment they walked through the door.

The lesson is simple.

The market doesn’t pay more because a seller wants more.

The market pays more when buyers see more value.

That’s why I’ll continue giving honest advice, even when it occasionally costs me instructions.

Because my job isn’t to tell people what they want to hear.

It’s to tell them what they need to hear if they genuinely want the best possible result.

And if that’s my OCD talking, I’m perfectly happy with that.