Selling your property swiftly and for full market value is not rocket science. It is quite straight forward. And here is the secret:
Only two things matter when selling: PRICE & PRESENTATION
Presentation tails in a distant second. Get the price wrong and the presentation becomes irrelevant. Getting the price right coupled with decent presentation WILL result in a steady flow of viewings and offers, even in today’s so-called “sterile” market. Where many home-owners fall down is by choosing the agent that comes in with the highest valuation. This is a fundamental error and will lead to failure.
Today’s shrewd buyers are well informed and will recognise an overpriced property immediately. They will ignore it and look elsewhere. So the secret is to price competitively, thereby attracting lots of viewings and ultimately more (and hence) higher offers. And when the offers come you will be able to cherry pick and select the buyer who is in the best position to proceed (perhaps a cash buyer with no chain if you are lucky). This will give you a much higher chance of reaching completion without risk of collapsed chains or failed mortgage applications.
Once we’ve found a buyer for your property, the process can begin of transferring the legal title over to the buyer. This process takes on average around 10-12 weeks depending upon a number of factors including the type of tenure (eg Freehold or Leasehold) and the number of links in the sale chain.
Entrusting the legal work over to a suitable solicitor or conveyancer is an extremely important decision. This is probably the largest purchase or sale you will ever make and with today’s property prices could run into hundreds of thousands of pounds (or more). A smooth conveyancing process can be vital to ensuring the sale eventually goes through and good communication from the solicitor helps to keep all parties informed of progress.
Hunting around on the internet to locate the cheapest conveyancer you can find makes no sense at all. You may find that you could save yourself a couple of hundred pounds but in relation to a transaction of say £200,000 you would be best advised to use a locally based solicitor who comes recommended. Elizabeth Davenport Estate Agents deal on a regular basis with many of the Coventry Solicitors and are happy to make recommendations if you do not already have a solicitor in place.
We regularly work with Sarginsons Law who are based at number 10, The Quadrant just a few doors from our own city centre office. Their service is second to none and good communication means that we are always able to keep buyers and sellers in the chain regularly updated. For a quote, give them a call on 02476 553181 and speak to Andrea Nailor.
As the children head back to school for the new term, Estate Agents are looking back at their results for the summer period. At Elizabeth Davenport, we’re no different and have dug out some interesting results for the holiday season.
And in fact the sales figures for July and August have been very good, up on the same period for 2011. By contrast, new instructions are down and overall stocks are currently low. This appears to be consistent with the current market place – several buyers have commented to me how they cannot find what they are looking for and that there is little to choose from. So the market right now is leaving buyers with a lack of choice and plenty of competition for the best properties.
So if you’ve got a property that you are considering putting on sale, now is the time to go against the grain and take the plunge. Traditionally September and October are busy months before the Christmas “hibernation” takes place. New properties to the market right now will undoubtedly attract a great deal of interest and if marketed correctly will attract plenty of offers and ultimately a sale.
As the adage goes “There’s no time like the present”, so why not get a free valuation on your home right now. Call me on 02476 010105 and I’ll be happy to drop by and give you some free professional advice without obligation. The act of taking the first step is what separates winners from losers.
Last year Rightmove reported that only 50% of properties put on the market went on to sell!
That’s an amazing statistic and one that all homeowners should take note of. If you are thinking of making the move in the coming months and are about to put your property up for sale, is there anything you can do to make sure you’re one of the successful 50% that finds a buyer?
The good news is that the answer is yes, you can definitley increase your chances of achieving a sale by following some simple rules:
PRICE – PRESENTATION – PROMOTION
i) PROMOTION – Is your property reaching the right audience? Is your agent advertising it through the best channels and getting you the best exposure?
ii)PRESENTATION – Is the photography and presentation up to scratch. You can have the nicest house in the world but if the cameraman used his mobile phone to take the pictures then you’re missing out.
iii)PRICE – The most important aspect of your sale. You can get the other two Ps right but if your property is overpriced you will not attract any interest. You should try and get the price correctly set from day 1 of the process. In today’s market there’s no such thing as a “try-it-and-see” price. You’ll be wasting your own time and in the long run it will cost you. The best way to get the most money for your home is to sell quickly during the first weeks of marketing when there is lots of fresh interest and competition amongst buyers.
Follow these simple rules and you have a good chance of being in the successful 50% of sellers. Get anything wrong and you could well be left scratching your head.
This is the question that many homeowners seem to be asking themselves at the start of 2012. The hesitancy is most likely down to economic uncertainty and worry about jobs, etc. The result is that the market is seeing a void in the number of good properties currently for sale and estate agents are finding themselves short of stock with too many buyers on their books.
Rightmove have recently revealed a 27% increase in search traffic for the start of 2012 compared to the same time last year. Estate Agents on the other hand are desperate for valuations and new instructions.
The one big plus from all of this is that if you do decide to market your property this year and indeed market it at a realistic asking price, you will probably have buyers queuing down the street to take a look. With little for buyers to choose from, any decent property correctly priced will almost certainly be inundated with enquiries and ultimately will sell relatively easily. And with prices predicted in many circles to fall further, now could be a shrewd time to sell.
George Hartshorn, Managing Director of Elizabeth Davenport Estate Agents says, “If you want to find a new home the best place to start is by getting a valuation on your own property first and then getting it on sale. Those that wait and see or try and fine a suitable property to buy first will be left in the starting blocks.”
Elizabeth Davenport have recently revealed their 2011 sales results and are understandably pleased with the figures. “We agreed sales on 74% of the property that we marketed last year” says George. “We achieved this by realistic pricing and through great presentation of all of our properties. If you are serious about selling then give us a call and arrange for your free valuation. We also have some of the lowest selling fees in the Warwickshire area!”
You can reach Elizabeth Davenport on 02476 010105 or visit their website at www.elizabethdavenport.co.uk/.
For many people, one of the hardest things they ever have to do is sell the family home after parents/relatives have passed away or gone into care. It can be a very sensitive time and the stress of having to put a property on the market coupled with the grief of losing a loved one can sometimes be too much to bear. In addition, there may be several family members involved who do not all agree on the best way forward and this can causes added tensions.
In many instances, if the relative was elderly, it may be that the property is in need of updating and modernisation. There may well be years and years of clutter that has built up throughout the property leaving it in rather a ‘busy’ state.
Here are a set of easy-to-follow guidelines that should help to get the property shifted relatively quickly on the open market:
Firstly, give yourself enough time before you decide to sell. Returning to the property and letting in Estate Agents and strange people will be upsetting, so GIVE YOURSELF ENOUGH TIME after a bereavement.
Invite over at least 3 Estate Agents and listen to their valuation figures carefully. If the property is rather dated (as is often the case) be prepared for some modest figures. Go with the agent that provides the most compelling evidence to back up their suggested sale price.
Clear the property of all the clutter and personal belongings. However, you will want to leave some basic furniture in the property (even if it’s old and a bit cranky). This will help to give an identity to each room, it will also make the place feel warmer and more inviting. Completely empty houses always look sad and lonely, in addition photographs of empty rooms do not make pretty pictures.
Let the Estate Agent take all of the viewings. Potential buyers will be talking about “refitting the kitchen” and “tearing out that old bath suite”, not things you will want to hear if you grew up in the property.
Finally, make sure that all family members involved in the sale are easily contactable: time can be of the essence when offers start coming in from interested buyers. You should all agree well in advance what you are prepared to accept in the way of offers. If offers are not forthcoming within a few weeks then be prepared to drop the price a little.
If you stick to these guidelines then you should find a buyer relatively quickly. Bereavement properties often attract a lot of interest due to their modest prices and lack of onward chain.
Let me just dust off the crystal ball and I’ll tell you………..
No seriously, it’s a perfectly natural question to ask if your property is going on the market. Should I start packing straight away? Do I need to start emptying all of that ‘junk’ out of the attic? After all, it’s going to take about 15 runs to the tip!!
More importantly, do I need to start looking for a property to buy or rent? If my house sells within a few weeks and I haven’t even started looking for a new home, I could be left in the lurch? And what could be worse than having to move in with the in-laws?
In truth, no-one can ever tell you for certain how long it might take to find a suitable buyer and beyond that how long the solicitors will take to push the process through to completion. After all, there are always so many unknown variables. So the best advice has to be simply to try and be as relaxed as possible about the whole process. There are several measures you can of course take to ensure that you have the best chance to get a quick, effective sale.
Firstly, choose the right Estate Agent and go on sale at a realistic market value price. It makes sense to invite 3 agents to your property and brief them all that you want a realistic valuation, not a ‘pie-in-the-sky’ figure. Don’t be afraid to ask them how they’ve reached their valuation figure. Bear in mind that the agent’s principle aim is to get your business in the first place so he may be generous with his valuation to try and stand out from the competition. Don’t be fooled, if you get 3 figures back and one sticks out like a saw thumb then it may be wise to ignore it and listen to the other 2 agents.
If you go on sale at the correct asking price with an agent that knows how to market your property well, then you have every chance (even in the current climate) of achieving a quick and stress-free sale. Go on to the market at a sky high price and even with the best Estate Agent in the world and the greatest marketing regime, you are heading for a long, drawn out, blood pressure rocketing experience. Not to be recommended!!
And of course, don’t forget the kerb appeal! Your property must look its best during all of the viewings in order to get a quick sale.
If you want professional advice on how to market your property effectively, call George at Elizabeth Davenport Estate Agents on 02476 010105.
It’s become everybody’s favourite pastime in recent years, dragging Estate Agents through the mud, criticising the service they provide and (in some cases) questioning their professionalism. The tabloid press have had a field day and in many surveys, Estate Agents now figure as one of the most hated professions in the country.
In some cases of course, the criticism has been justified but in many cases it has been a case of journalists and armchair commentators simply jumping on the bandwagon. Estate Agents are an easy target of course, a high proportion of the population are home-owners and the house buying process is a very slow, stressful process. With Estate Agents being right in the firing line during what often takes several months from sale to completion, somebody was always going to get the blame.
The latest trend is to dismiss estate agents as being surplus to requirements and encourage vendors to sell their property privately. “Save thousands” are the headlines. I recently read a review of an Estate Agent: the vendor explained how they had been forced to shell out thousands of pounds for the agent to simply “upload the pictures to the web”. It was all very hysterical.
Many Estate Agents deserve a better reputation.
My Estate Agency recently completed a house sale for which we received a fee of £1500. The work involved in earning that fee included the following:
1. Two hours research before travelling to the house to carry out the valuation which took up a further 2 hours including travel time.
2. Letters and contracts sent to the vendor before going on sale. Then another 2.5 hour visit to the property to take photos, draw floorplans and collect data for the Energy Survey. A full days work ensued to process all of the photos, create brochures submit the Energy Survey and upload all of the details to our own website and the other web portals.
3. Sending the brochures to a professional printers and paying the cost of.
5. Advertising the property in the local press with a half page splash (£380 per page)
4. Dozens of phone calls to arrange the 15 viewing appointments it took to sell the property. We accompanied all of the appointments ourselves at approximately 1.5 man hours per appointment.
5. Negotiating on the 3 offers that were received and achieving a SOLD price that the vendor was happy with.
6. Sending out letters and Memorandums of Sale to solicitors and other parties.
7. Returning to the property 3 further times to let in a Mortgage Valuer, a Surveyor and the buyer again so that they could “show their Mum”.
8. Many further phone calls chasing up solicitors and Mortgage advisors when things seemed to be grinding to a halt.
9. Renegotiating on price when the Mortgage Valuer undervalued the property due to the current state of the market.
10. Releasing keys on the day of completion and finally sending our invoice.
This story had a happy ending with a sale being achieved for the vendor and us receiving our fee. Many houses in the current climate do not end up selling and we receive no fee whatsoever despite carrying out most of the work described above. We have office rent to pay, wages for staff, car and petrol costs, telephone expenses, business rates, £1000 per month fee to Rightmove, £300 per month to PrimeLocation, newspaper advertising, web development costs, purchase of For Sale boards, fees to erect For Sale boards, the list is endless.
If you want to sell your house there is a lot that an Estate Agent can do for you and the costs involved are fairly modest (usually 1-1.5% of the sale figure) By comparison in the USA the figure is more like 5-6% of the sale figure of the property (where strangely Estate Agents have a much better reputation). The service that you receive if you choose the right Estate Agent will be good and help to sell your house at full market value in the minimum amount of time possible.
Don’t believe everything you read in the newspapers………………….
