What to do Before Putting Your Home on the Market

The property market is incredibly extensive, and it seems to get bigger and better every single year. More properties, more affordable prices, more customers looking to buy and rent, etc., which all works out in your favour if you’re looking to sell a property of your own. 

However, putting your house on the market isn’t a one step process, and people often forget about how long the prep time can be. And because of this, we’ve detailed out the most important yet mislooked steps below. If you’re looking to sell, make sure you keep them all in mind! 

Find the Right Estate Agent


Finding the right estate agent should take you some time; don’t just turn to your nearest local agency and expect them to pull off the dream sale you’re looking for! Sure, you can try selling yourself, but if you’re not sure of the process, it’s better to go with a professional. 

When looking for an estate agent, keep in mind the time it takes them to sell a property, how often they successfully negotiate asking prices, and their average fees. Once you’ve worked all of these factors out, pick from the best of the bunch. 

Get Your Property Checked Out

Then it’s time to call in someone who can check your property, and grant it the certificates it needs to be placed on the market. These include an EPC (Energy Performance Certificate, which is the most important certificate you’ll need to be able to show, as well as Asbestos checks, or an Electrical Safety Report, depending on the history of your property. Getting all of these certificates doesn’t have to be hard either - you can get in touch with a supplier of property certificates very easily, and you don’t need a solicitor or estate agent to be present either. 

And whilst you’re here, make sure you have other necessary documents on hand as well, such as a copy of the title deed, mortgage details, and a property information form. Your estate agent of conveyancer should be able to provide more details and/or a copy of the forms you need to fill out/sign. 

Get a Solicitor 

And finally, it’s time to find yourself a good Conveyance Solicitor. Every single property that’s currently for sale on the market has been put there by the work of one of these solicitors, and they handle all legal needs during the selling process. 

Thankfully, you don’t have to wait until you’ve found a buyer to look for a conveyancer. You can find them out ahead of time, and use their services to help the selling process move a lot faster and smoother. Of course, they’re going to cost extra money, so make sure you’re aware of the kind of fees you’ll need to pay here. 

Putting your home on the market is a lot of work, but if you know what you’re doing, the process won’t take half as long! So keep these tips in mind. 

Personalised Christmas Gifts - What Katy Did - Shop with Small Businesses this Christmas

This Christmas gift guide is a bit of a spotlight on a business that's local to me; I know how hard Katie works to make sure her products are the best quality and I know she's up at all times of the night sorting orders out (all while looking after her 3 boys!) so I wanted to share some of the fab products she sells on the What Katy Did. She sells all sorts of brilliant gift ideas from personalised children's clothes and accessories to personalised pet accessories and beautiful homewares.

I've picked out a few bits from the Black Friday clearance section because there are some amazing deals:


I've included a few things which are perfect for Christmas eve boxes such as the personalised christmas pyjamas (£11.95) and a personalised enamel mug which would be perfect for enjoying a hot chocolate on Christmas eve before Father Christmas visits!

I love the personalised children's apron set which can be bought either as a set or as a separate personalised apron and baking set 

The personalised bamboo elephant plate set is a perfect little gift or stocking filler; it comes with a set of matching spoons and personalised name of your choice engraved on it for only £10.00

Perfect for nursery of school, the children's personalised rucksack (£10.00) is another great little gift/stocking filler!

I'm all for dressing for the occasion so the baby's first Christmas dinner bib caught my eye because it's such a beautiful design.

Please note that All What Katy Did products are handmade and therefore take time to create. All turnaround times are listed on the homepage. Please ensure all spellings and your colour choices are correct for your purchase. If in doubt please get in touch with Katie via email; she's really lovely and always happy to help!

Christmas Gift Guide for someone who loves Disney

Here's another small business Christmas gift guide and this is the Disney edition. I've found a selection of businesses selling Disney inspired bits and bobs which would make perfect Christmas gifts for any Disney lover.

Teeqco sell the most beautiful embroidered t-shirts and accessories, one of my personal favourites is the Slinky Dog t-shirt, I also love their embroidered socks with the Up! house on them they also sell some beautiful enamel pins (the classic Mickey heart enamel pin is my personal fave!)

Any Disnerd loves a bit of pixie dust in their home so something from Magical Signage Co would be perfect. I bought one of their Cast Member badge 'Welcome Home' signs a while back so I can vouch for the amazing quality! They have also recreated the Disney road signs and made them into a range of different products which I've had my eye on for a while!

Know someone who would live in Disney World if they could? Bring some of the scents into their house with a candle from Tweedle Dee Candle Company; the Fly Through Pandora candle sounds perfect!

Still on the subject of Disney inspired home scents, Magic Park Scents also do a great range of products and scents to transport you back to your happy place! Their wax melts are very reasonable at £3.50 and they have a great range of scents such as Polynesian, Karamel Kitchen and PhilarMagic

Tails of Toria soaps have you covered for anyone who loves Disney and a pamper night; they have a brilliant range of handmade soaps, bath bombs and bubble scoops. How amazing does the Adventure is out there soap look?! The Lot-so Hugs bath bomb sounds like it would smell incredible (strawberry obvs!). Pixie Dust would make an amazing stocking filler - don't worry too much if it says sold out at the moment as they do a re-stock every Friday at 6pm so keep checking back!

Last but not least I reckon any Disney fan would love to receive the I Wish I was at Disney rose gold necklace from Briar Rose Gifts (I know it's firmly on my wish list!).

Christmas Gift Ideas for Someone with a Sweet Tooth

I know it's tempting to buy all your Christmas gifts from the big brands and retailers but this year I really wanted to try and help raise awareness of the incredible small businesses out there that don't get anywhere near as much recognition as they should. All small businesses featured on here offer delivery within the UK so you can get your Christmas shopping done without leaving the house and knowing that you'll have made a small business owner's day just by choosing to place an order with them. 

This sweet tooth Christmas gift guide is for that person with a sweet tooth and there's a selection of sweet treats from across the UK. If you're worried about use by dates, give them a quick message on instagram or via email and I'm sure they'll get back to you (that's the beauty about smaller businesses, they actually WANT to talk to you and help where they can!)




Pixture and Mixture have a selection of different gift boxes full of your favourite sweets; you can go for a Signature mystery box (priced from £6), the Vegan Box (from £6.50) or you could go all out and get the Jumbo Mystery Sharing Platter (£20.00)

If there's a day when it's acceptable to eat donuts for breakfast, it's Christmas Day; Stupendonuts have got you covered with their box of 6 donuts posted - they look absolutely delicious (and you can pick your own 6 flavours which means you'll always get the flavours you want!)

Pretty Sweets have a gorgeous range of Christmassy sweet boxes like this white themed sweet box which contains snowflake jellys, snowman lolly, choc nibs, chocolate coins and lots of other festive sweet treats. I'm particularly fond of this particular business as it's very local to me in Doncaster and was a business set up during Lockdown 1.0. 

For the biscuit lover in your life, the Biscuit Baron have got you covered; they offer biscuit subscription boxes containing upto eight full sized packs of biscuits from around the world so they'll potentially get to try biscuits that you won't usually find in supermarkets!

If fudge and chocolate is more their thing then The Confectionary Lounge is a good place to start with their handmade fudge selection. They have lots of different flavours including Baileys, Cherry Bakewell, Salted Caramel and Beautiful Biscoff. 

If you've got a brownie lover in your life (to be honest, this would be my ideal gift!) then I'm sure they'd love to open a box of brownies from The Savvy Baker... I've not tried these yet but I have every intention of doing so very soon!

Keep your eye out for other gift guides featuring small businesses as I'll be releasing them over the next couple of weeks!

If you are a small business owner and would like me to feature your business in a gift guide please contact me: j.hewitt4468@gmail.com. These gift guide features are completely free of charge!