Everyone’s a winner with Mastermove

Mon, Jul 17th 2006, 11:00

Signing up for Redrow’s Mastermove service to help them sell their existing property and trade up to a brand new home was a “win-win situation”, says mum-of-two Laura Woodward - especially with the inclusion of a professional home sale consultation worth £200.

Laura, who now lives in Helsby, Cheshire, with her partner Nick Shaw and their children Emily, five, and Olivia, two, explains: “We’d tried to sell our former property a couple of times previously and for various reasons didn’t go ahead with our planned move. This time we were determined to make it happen.

“We loved Redrow’s four-bedroom, three-storey ‘Ouse’ semi and when we learned about Mastermove and how it works, it seemed as though we couldn’t lose.”

A small down-payment was all it took to demonstrate Laura and Nick’s commitment and they had the reassurance of knowing that this initial outlay would be deducted from the cost of their home on final completion.

Laura continues: “Our former home was a tiny two-bedroom cottage and a bit quirky. We knew it might not be the easiest property to sell and wanted to do everything to maximise our chances. With Mastermove, Redrow took care of the red tape, appointed an estate agent and managed the whole process on our behalf.

“They also gave us the option of a two-hour home sales consultation with a stylist from national company Home StagersÒ. The consultant would come to our cottage and give us the benefit of her experience and advice on how to speed up the sale of our home and get the best possible price – so we could buy the Redrow home we really wanted. We were more than happy to take advantage of this part of the service.”

Aware that they needed to do everything they could to increase the sales potential of their “quirky” two-bedroom cottage in Frodsham, Laura and Nick – an account director for event management company Creative Realisation - had already embarked on their own programme of improvements.

“Although we were living there with two small children we knew that it wasn’t really a family home and this was not our target market,” explains Laura. “So we’d already started to get rid of a lot of the colours, accessories and other paraphernalia associated with young children and to turn it into a home that would appeal to a couple or young professional. We were in the middle of decorating and had chosen neutral colours.”

Experienced Home StagersÒ stylist Beverley North was called in to offer her advice and the first thing she did was to give the thumbs up to Laura and Nick’s pro-active approach.

Beverley comments: “It was great to see that they had made a start on preparing their home for sale. A lot of people find it quite difficult to remove themselves from the property and view it objectively, but this is really what they need to do.

“In Laura and Nick’s case it was mostly very simple things like rearranging the furniture, de-cluttering, finishing off the painting, adding ambience and doing everything they could to maximise the space and light.”

Laura takes up the story again: “Beverley gave us some very down-to-earth advice that was quick, easy and inexpensive to put into practice. Although we had some ideas of our own, it was great to be able to call on someone who was totally objective about the whole project. She helped us to detach ourselves from the property and view it through the eyes of a stranger.

“She confirmed that we were doing the right thing by decorating, helped us to tweak our final colour choices and made some very useful recommendations on rearranging the furniture and using mirrors to open up the space.

“Beverley also gave us some coaching on how to show viewers around the property, for example letting them go into each room first, keeping doors closed so that they got the full impact of a surprise ‘reveal’ with each room, showing them round first and then giving them the option of having a second look around but this time unaccompanied. It was all fairly basic stuff but so easy to overlook if you’re not used to doing this type of thing.

“She was totally approachable and even after the consultancy we were able to call her for advice. For instance, when we followed her suggestions and moved the furniture around we were left with indents in the carpets where tables and chairs had been. I rang Beverley and she told me not to panic, just to place an ice cube over each indent and wait until the carpet pile rose again. It worked a treat!”

After signing up for Mastermove, benefiting from the marketing activities of local estate agency Beresford Adams – “they were excellent and couldn’t do enough to help us sell our property” – and taking on board the advice of Home StagersÒ, the couple showed about a dozen potential buyers around their old home. All were very complimentary and an offer close to the full asking price soon followed.

With the sold sign up outside their old home, Laura and Nick were able to make the step up to their four-bedroom Ouse at Redrow’s Sherwood Court development, in Helsby, with lots more room for the children. And, as the icing on the cake, under the terms of Mastermove Redrow paid their estate agency fees.

Simon Bennett, Redrow’s marketing director, says: “While several home builders offer assisted sale schemes that operate in a similar way, we are the only major housebuilder to work with Home StagersÒ and to offer such a comprehensive service, including professional help and advice for customers to maximise the chances of selling their existing property for the best possible price. It’s all about creating consumer confidence and making the whole moving process as quick, simple and cost-effective as it can possibly be.”