Insider tips to selling your home…
by Alan Beesley – Director Atkinsons Estate Agents in Enfield
Having been in the residential sales industry for approaching 40 years now (eek!), I’ve learned a thing or two about selling homes. So, here are a few tips to consider when it comes to selling your property.
Do your homework
Despite what you think your property is worth, and despite what your estate agent will tell you, it’s worth as much as someone is prepared to pay for it. When you’re shopping around researching which estate agents to invite in, also do your research into property prices.
Unfortunately, not all estate agents are that honest (shock!!), and the oldest trick in the book is to tell you your home is worth a lot more than you thought, so that you instruct the agent that is going to get you this unexpected windfall. There is a very well-known London estate agency that is renowned for this! They’ll convince you that their buyers all come from London, so they expect to pay a lot more for property.
In truth, they have access to the same buyers as we all do, and London buyers aren’t gullible fools with deep pockets. No, it’s a marketing ploy. They’ll tie you into a tight contract, forbidding you to go elsewhere, and when inevitably you don’t sell your property (quelle surprise!) they’ll get you to reduce your price to a sensible amount, that you could have achieved months ago, and they’ll charge you an arm and a leg for the pleasure!
So, when researching prices, you need to be aware of asking prices, but it’s the eventual selling price that matters. That information is openly available from Land Registry, and there are now websites that will give this information to you in a simple format. Check out www.nethouseprices.com for example, and you can see how much your neighbours paid for their house!
That Initial Period of Marketing is Golden
Don’t forget, the people who probably know prices and the local property market the best are the buyers themselves! After all, it is they who eventually set the price by paying what they feel the property is worth. Buyers will be glued to their homebuying apps (Rightmove, Zoopla etc), so they will be experts with what comes up, when and how much.
With this in mind, the greatest impact the marketing of your property will have will be the moment it hits the market. The property portals will notify all the eager buyers registered with them as soon as new stock comes available. This is why it’s so important to get the initial price right. Buyers will know if it’s too tongue-in-cheek. It’s a balance of trying to get the most you can, without giving it away. You’ll get a reaction straight away. If after a few weeks on the market, you’ve not had a positive response, don’t leave it too long to reduce the price. Don’t waste these golden 6-8 weeks of marketing holding out for an unrealistic price, because statistically, the chances of selling drastically reduce
Choose the right estate agent
Let’s face it, there are hundreds to choose from, and lots look pretty much the same. Ask for recommendations from friends and family, and look out for estate agent’s sold boards in your immediate vicinity. This is a good indication that they know your neighbourhood pretty well. Make a short list of a few to invite in for a free valuation.
Use the valuation like an interview. Even if they seem to perform well locally and the value they give you seems reasonable, you are going to have a business relationship with this company for the next six months, so it’s essential that you feel that they understand your needs, you can relate to them and feel assured that they will look after your best interests. Also, make sure they’re going to showcase your property in the best light and will give your property the maximum market exposure.
Sole Agency
There are a few different agency agreements to consider, but only one you should choose. They are: Sole Agency (one agent only), Joint Sole Agency (two selected agents only) and Multiple Agency (as many agents as you want. The fees vary, from Sole Agency being the cheapest and Multi Agency being the dearest. The reason being that the incentive is bigger for the agent, but there’s a lower chance of them actually being successful and getting paid.
Most estate agencies work on a no sale – no fee basis, meaning that you only pay them if they sell your property and leads to a legal exchange/completion. Ours is one of the few industries where, as an agent, we can spend thousands of pounds in marketing and man hours on a project and not get paid a penny!
So, estate agents like to have a time of exclusivity to give them a sporting chance to sell your home. This period of time varies from agency to agency. The ‘un-named’ London agent mentioned previously will unashamedly ask for quite some months (for their business model to work). In truth, if you’ve hit the market at the right price, it should sell within the first few weeks. Typically, most agents will ask for 2-3 months exclusivity, or SOLE AGENCY. This is generally the cheapest option of the three, but that’s not the only reason to choose this option. Multi agency, as the name suggests means that you instruct as many agents as you want. Imagine being that keen homebuyer, and you see the property advertised with the world and his wife. What’s your first reaction…? “Is the seller desperate?” “What’s wrong with it?” “Why are they so keen to sell it?” So the message it sends is extremely negative, and nine times out of ten it will have the opposite effect of what you’re trying to achieve.
Here at Atkinsons, we do things differently. We are estate agents (strictly speaking in terms of what we do), but we approach the business from another perspective. For a start, each of our brilliant hand-selected sales team have never been in the industry before. The individuals are chosen for their friendliness and interpersonal skills, to understand our clients’ needs. Moving can be such a stressful time, so having a friendly face on your side holding your hand and understanding your unique circumstances is so important, yet most agents ignore this. Also, knowing the buyer’s behavioural journey (how they search and swipe), we steer our marketing directly at them. By using creative and professional-looking photography and eye-catching floor plans substantially increases our ‘click-through’ rate (the point where a buyer wants to click through to find out more). Furthermore, in the property description, there’s a personal note from the seller explaining why they bought the property and what’s been great about living there.
So confident are we that clients will LOVE our service, we don’t tie our sellers into long-term sole agency contracts, instead allowing them to serve notice on us at any time. If you’re thinking of selling, or know someone who is, and would like to find out more, contact Nic our fabulous Sales Manager. She’d love to hear from you!