In the midst of all the doom and gloom, we thought you might like a bit of light relief, so this month’s sellers article is all about ugly houses…

It is doubtful anyone will ever tell you you’ve got an ugly house. We feel so proud of our homes, they can become almost like a member of the family and means we often hide the awful truth from ourselves. After all, we would never admit to having ugly children, now would we? In some cases, the only clues we’ll get come from the polite, but less than enthusiastic platitudes from friends when they first visit. And, if it’s really bad, you might notice a sharp intake of breath from your estate agent when he comes to value it.

So if you have got an ugly house, how on earth do you sell it?

Some of the best advice comes from across the pond, as our American friends seem far less shy about tackling the issue.

Bill Ailion, a real estate agent from Atlanta, gets straight to the nub of it:

“Price solves all problems,” he says and he’s right, of course. If your house is the ugly duckling lurking in a row of Georgian gems, you will just have to accept the fact that you will be looking for a buyer who wants to live in a nice street, but can’t really afford it. Your house offers that opportunity. It may even be why you bought it in the first place. If, on the other hand, your house is in an equally unattractive row, you will just have to drop your price a little lower.

Adjusting the price is also what you have to do if the house is ugly as a result of neglect. If you don’t get the work done yourself, you’ll have to subtract the cost of it from the asking price, plus a little extra for the inconvenience. Fortunately, there are always plenty of people looking for a ‘doer upper.’

If your house is ‘aesthetically challenged’, one thing you must do is make sure everything else is perfect – ie the garden is immaculate, the kitchen is sparkling and the front door has a fresh coat of paint.

If you’re willing to throw a bit more money at the problem, you could do a makeover – covering cheap brickwork with cladding, replacing ugly windows and altering roof lines, such as turning a flat roof into a pitched one. If you need some help, there are companies that specialise in transforming ugly homes, such as Back To Front Exterior Design, who have performed near miracles on some very unpromising material.

Whisper it quietly, but there’s also money to be made out of ugly homes. In America there are companies that openly advertise for them, such as We Buy Ugly Houses, who are a hugely successful franchise operation. They make money from doing them up and then either selling them on for a profit or renting them out. They boast they have bought 60,000 ugly homes since 1996 and even ran an ugliest home award a few years back.

Mind you, some people get so attached to their homes, they don’t care if they’re ugly, in which case they don’t have to worry about selling, because they’ll be staying put!