Press Article
PROPERTY SQUARE MAGAZINE - April 2008
Find me a property with... Storage
Jo Eccles, an ex-banker and property PR professional, set up her property search company Sourcing Property in June 2006. Sourcing Property, which specialises in central London, acts for time-poor buyers and tenants, offering a comprehensive search service designed to eliminate the time and stress associated with finding dream a property.
Further information t: 020 7834 1343 w: www.sourcingproperty.co.uk
As a property search consultant, I get asked all sorts of requests, most of them quite standard - a house or flat with a certain number of rooms, in a specific location, near good transport links and so on, but occasionally, some requests are somewhat trickier than others...
Recently, I had a client who lived alone, he was divorced and his children had moved away which usually constitutes a request for a smaller property. However, in this case, we were called upon to find him a larger property - he was up-sizing to accommodate his vast and growing collection of books. Our brief was that he didn’t care how many bedrooms there were, as long as there was sufficient vertical wall space for his bookshelves, specifically the space required was 100 ft wide by 7’6” high - exact to the inch! So, with each viewing I would have to measure all available wall space (excluding any walls with radiators or angled walls in the eaves), and ensure that there was adequate wall space for his furniture, as well as the bookshelves. Needless to say, it was a fairly challenging task!
Obviously not all requests are this specific, but what it did highlight was the importance of storage solutions. It’s amazing how many properties lack sufficient storage, yet it’s high on the priority list of many of our clients, and could make the difference between someone buying or renting your property or not. A lot of tenants will turn down a property that doesn’t have good storage or where a bedroom is used as a ‘dumping’ ground - I’ve had clients who have been immediately turned off by a bedroom which has been used for storage as they get the sense that there isn’t sufficient storage space elsewhere, and find it hard to visualise the space offered in that extra bedroom because it isn’t being utilised. So, bear in mind that good, fitted storage can be a major selling point in your property.