House Doctor : " How To Add Pounds To The Value Of Your Home " - Hardcover

Ann Maurice

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0002202107 ISBN 13: 9780002202107

Publisher: HarperCollins Illustrated, 2000

Synopsis

House Doctor is a highly successful prime-time Channel 5 series which shows you how simple changes to your home can dramtically increase its market value and help you secure that all-important sale – and make a substantial profit!

House Doctor, presented by straight-talking Californian property stylist Ann Maurice (the ‘Doctor’), has become compulsive viewing in the UK. Ann gives practical, inexpensive advice on how to present any type of home to the market in its best possible light, and clinch that all-important sale.

The focus of this book is not on dramatic or extreme makeovers of the Changing Rooms variety, but on styling the home you have to maximum advantage, and without spending a fortune. While aimed primarily at people wishing to sell their home, the book also provides plenty of ideas for people looking to smarten up their property, both inside and out, and then enjoy the results themselves. In fact, as participants in the programme have found, by following Ann’s advice their living space is so improved that they can’t bear the thought of some else getting the benefit!

House Doctor is illustrated with specially-commissioned photography from many of the real-life, on-site cases filmed for the series. The Before and After photographs show how each room in turn can be turned into a style winner. The book looks at a range of different types of property, from contrasting geographical areas, paying particular attention to that all-important first impression. We know that most buyers make up their mind about a property within a few seconds of entering, and often before getting beyond the front door. House Doctor explains what your home style and colours say about the home – and about you.

Specific topics covered include:
· creating a focal point in a room
· colours that never work
· dealing with techno-clutter
· scents and smells
· maximising ‘kerb appeal’ (why if you really want to sell your home you should paint your front door blue)
· making your garden an oasis not a scrapyard,

About this title

Product Description:

This is a great book to help anyone who is even thinking of puting a home on the market to sell. Ann Maurice offers very practical and logical things one should do to market your home for resale. One of the most practical tips is to "de-clutter" your home of anything not needed and in particular of personal items.

Review:

Ignore Ann Maurice's impersonation of American Psycho on the front cover, the contents of House Doctor really aren't anything to be nervous of. This book accompanies the popular Channel 5 series featuring the very straight-talking Californian property stylist. Her mission: to make simple, inexpensive changes to the presentation of your home to increase its value and your chances of selling it. Like the show, the emphasis here is not on striking or dramatic makeovers in the Changing Rooms style. You aren't meant to like the designs, they should be subtle, almost a neutral canvas so the people visiting your house can imagine themselves living there. As Ann continually reiterates, the biggest mistake sellers make is in assuming that because they love their home, a prospective buyer will feel the same. None of the designs will excite but all have proven to be, in a bland kind of way, the ideal way to add value to your home and ensure it appeals to the majority of people entering your front door.

Ann's advice is mostly good common sense but as some of these "pre-makeover" photographs show; common sense is a rare quality amongst homeowners. This is where her tasteful intervention is required. Seven chapters take you through the houses with before and after shots of exteriors, entrances, reception rooms, kitchens, bedrooms, bathrooms and gardens. Anyone who's seen the show will recognise much, if not all, of what they see here. The same remedies are repeated throughout; clean furiously, fix anything broken, hide anything ugly and make rooms as light and airy as possible--people want space, not to see a lifetime accumulation of worldly possessions. Remembering to remove traces of everyday chores--washing up, ironing board, etc, and avoid over personalisation. These cures sound and look all too easy but remarkably seem to work every time.

All in all, a cheap and cheery read, but if you are trying to sell your house you could do a lot worse than follow this doctor's orders. --Rachel O'Connor

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperCollins Illustrated
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0002202107
• ISBN 13: 9780002202107
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 128