Brick and timber family house with a wide driveway and mature front garden on a quiet residential street

Independent agent · Marlow Ridge & the valley

Houses explained properly, before you offer

I list a small number of homes at a time, walk every room myself, and tell you what the survey is likely to find. Viewings are accompanied by the person who priced the house — not a call centre.

Book a viewing See current listings

Three homes on the books
Accompanied viewings
Valuations in writing

Available now

Current listings

Each entry carries the figures I would want if I were buying: real floor area, tenure, and the date the keys can actually change hands.

White rendered two storey house with a flat roofed garage and clipped front hedge

New instruction $745,000

Marlow Ridge — Dell House

Four bedrooms over two floors, south-facing rear garden, garage converted into a studio with its own entrance. Boiler replaced two winters ago; windows are original to the 1990s build.

Bedrooms: 4
Bath / shower: 2
Floor area: 1,780 sq ft
Tenure: Freehold
Available: Chain-free

Pale family house with a covered porch, pitched roof and lawn running down to the pavement

Viewings open $518,000

Haden Fields — 1930s semi

Three bedrooms with the original bay and picture rails intact. Kitchen is tired and priced to reflect it. Loft has a fixed ladder and light but is not a certified conversion.

Bedrooms: 3
Bath / shower: 1
Floor area: 1,140 sq ft
Tenure: Freehold
Available: Onward purchase found

Bright open plan living room with tall windows, pale walls and a long sofa facing a low table

Share of freehold $362,000

Quarry Lofts — second floor

Open-plan conversion in a former bottling works. Two bedrooms, one without a window to the outside wall, so treat it as a study. Service charge covers the lift and the roof fund.

Bedrooms: 2
Bath / shower: 1
Floor area: 880 sq ft
Tenure: Share of freehold
Available: Vacant

Nothing here yet? Tell me the shape of house you want and I will call before the next one goes to photography.

Field notes

What each area is really doing

Prices move street by street here. These are the things I end up explaining on every second viewing.

Marlow Ridge

Sets the price: Plot width and whether the garden faces the afternoon sun. Two identical houses can sit 6% apart on orientation alone.
Usual stock: Four-bedroom detached from the late eighties onward, most with a garage somebody has already converted.
Practical catch: Several conversions were done without sign-off. Ask for the paperwork before you commission a survey.

Haden Fields

Sets the price: Whether the kitchen and bathroom have been touched this decade. Original interiors trade at a visible discount.
Usual stock: Pre-war semis and short terraces, three bedrooms, deep rear gardens, on-street parking.
Practical catch: Side-return extensions often sit on a shared drain run. The search will flag it; budget for the build-over agreement.

The Quarry district

Sets the price: Floor level and lift access. Top-floor units with good light carry a premium over identical layouts two storeys down.
Usual stock: Warehouse conversions and newer infill blocks, one and two bedrooms, mostly share of freehold.
Practical catch: Read the last two sets of management accounts. A thin reserve fund becomes your bill within a few years.

Lower Yonder Lane

Sets the price: Distance from the level crossing, and whether the roof has been re-laid since the storm two years back.
Usual stock: Cottages and converted outbuildings, rarely more than two or three available in a year.
Practical catch: Private drainage in places. Treat a septic system as a condition to inspect, not a detail.

Aerial view of a large house with a tiled roof, gravel drive and mature trees along the boundary

A valuation should survive a buyer's surveyor. Mine comes as a written bracket with the comparable sales attached.

No fee for the visit, and no obligation to instruct me afterwards.

If you are selling

List now, or prepare first?

Most sellers arrive asking what their house is worth. The more useful question is whether this month is the right month. Read the two lists and see which one describes you.

Lane A

Go to market now

The house photographs well as it stands and the garden is in season.
You are chain-free, or your onward purchase can wait a few weeks.
Kitchen and bathroom are dated but sound — buyers will price that in without panicking.
You would accept a figure inside the lower half of the valuation bracket.
Paperwork for any extension or conversion is already in a folder.

Lane B

Spend six weeks preparing

There is visible damp, a failed seal or a roof repair that a survey will find anyway.
A conversion was done without sign-off and needs regularising.
Two rooms are being used as storage and the layout no longer reads on a floor plan.
You need the top of the bracket to make your own move work.
A neighbour is mid-build and the noise would shape every viewing.

How an instruction runs

Four stages, no surprises

The same sequence every time, whether the house is a studio conversion or a four-bedroom detached.

Stage 01

Walk-through

About an hour in the house, loft and garden. I measure rather than estimate, and note everything a surveyor would raise.

Stage 02

Written bracket

A price range with the comparable sales behind it, plus the asking figure I would start at and why.

Stage 03

Marketing window

Photography, floor plan and listing copy go out together. Viewings are grouped so the house stays tidy between them.

Stage 04

Offer handling

Every offer comes to you with the buyer's position checked. I chase the chain weekly until exchange.

Before you call

Questions buyers and sellers ask

How is your fee charged?

A single percentage of the agreed sale price, payable on completion rather than on exchange, with no upfront marketing charge. The figure is confirmed in writing with the valuation so you can compare it against anyone else you are speaking to.

How close is a valuation to the final sale price?

I give a bracket rather than a single number, because the top of the range usually depends on a buyer who wants that specific street. If offers cluster below the bracket after three weeks of viewings, the bracket was wrong and I will say so and reprice.

Will you tell me if a buyer's position is weak?

Yes. Before I pass on an offer I ask how the purchase is funded, whether a mortgage offer is in hand, how long any chain below them is, and who is acting for them. A slightly lower offer from a chain-free buyer is often the better one.

Are viewings accompanied?

Always, by me. Sellers do not have to be in the house, and buyers get to ask awkward questions without an audience. Saturday mornings are open sessions; weekday viewings are booked individually, including early evenings.

What paperwork should I gather before listing?

Title documents, any building regulation completion certificates, guarantees for roof, damp or window work, the boiler service history, lease and management accounts if the property is leasehold or share of freehold, and the drainage arrangement if it is not on mains.

Can I withdraw after accepting an offer?

Until contracts exchange, either side can withdraw, and no deposit changes hands. If you do need to pull out I will tell the buyer's solicitor the same day rather than letting them keep spending on searches.

Get in touch

Book a viewing or a valuation

Send the details below and I will come back with two or three times that work, usually the same day.