Tag Archives: Estate agent

I visited a lady recently who was trying to sell a very pretty cottage on the edge of a village in Yorkshire. It was one of half a dozen similar properties, and as I parked my car, I noticed one of the neighbouring cottages was also on the market. Over a cup of tea, I asked the lady about this other cottage, and was surprised that she didn’t know its asking price, how long it had been on the market, or whether it was actually getting any interest. How could she make sure she was competing well with her cottage?

There are a number of issues when your house is in competition with a neighbour’s property, and if you get your timing and marketing right, they can actually help yours to sell. Here’s my guide to selling when your neighbour is selling too:

Don’t wait until they sell before putting yours on the market – often, property competition is positive, generating more interest and viewings for each homeowner. How many times have you seen a street with lots of sold signs on it? Interest begets interest, and it can actually create a buzz around the area with viewers booking to see more than one property.

Do your homework – you need to find out all you can about the other property, so that you know how well it compares with yours. Does it have a bigger kitchen, but a smaller garden? Has it been decorated more recently than yours? Is it shabby chic to your minimalism style? Look carefully through all the photographs you can find on the agent’s own website and on Rightmove and Zoopla, and try to look at them through a buyer’s eyes. How does your house compare?

The best way to find out about your neighbour’s house is to….

Talk to them – if you don’t already know your neighbour, (and hopefully you haven’t fallen out!) then go and talk to them about your properties. If you can both see it as a joint marketing opportunity, you have a much better chance of both getting what you want: a sale. Be as honest and open with your neighbour as you can, and discuss your reason for moving (you better hope you aren’t theirs), timescales, even the price they need. You are much stronger as a united front. If you open up with them, there’s every chance they will do likewise. You could even agree between you not to drop your asking price without first speaking to the other.

Use the same estate agent – if your buyers are likely to be similar, using the same agent means that more often than not, they will book viewings on both houses. A buyer viewing both will not only have a true comparison of both properties, but could well be an invaluable source of feedback for you. If both houses are on the market at the same asking price, a buyer preferring your neighbour’s may be able to highlight any areas your property is lacking, giving you the chance to put these right. Having the same estate agent can help to make the whole viewings process more transparent.

Don’t play a negative bidding war – I once had a client who had dropped their asking price nine times over the course of just a few months, because his neighbour was playing the same game. Do this, and neither of you wins. You’re not Poundland. Get your neighbour onside and both agree to stick to your asking price, and don’t drop it without an open and frank discussion withyour neighbour.

If they sell before you do – don’t take it personally; it could have been the smallest of things that persuaded the buyers their property was the one for them. And don’t worry, you may find another neighbour has been waiting until they do before they put their home on the market!

As you can see, selling when you have competition can be a real opportunity to sell your house more effectively. And remember, estate agents’ offices are often clustered together with several on one street. Take a leaf out of their books!

If you’d like my help to sell your home more effectively, please answer a few short questions here and if I think I can help you, I’ll be in touch.

How viewings can go wrong

Last weekend, my partner and I went house hunting. We move house around every two years, so it isn’t entirely unusual, but it did highlight for me (yet again) the problems faced by viewers today. Our method, like many buyers, was to compile a shortlist of properties worth considering in Rightmove, then with printed list of saved houses to hand, to drive round establishing the areas and positions of each property. If we liked the look of a house, we would call the agent and see if we could book a viewing there and then.

These are the problems we came up against:

No for sale board – it’s so frustrating to be driving around an area trying to locate the house in question, when there’s no for sale board to guide you. We really struggled with a cottage down an almost hidden driveway, and also one house that was almost impossible to discern from the photograph. Which brings me onto the next issue:

The front photograph so misleading you don’t recognise the house – this was the case on several occasions. One particular house was completely unrecognisable from the main photograph and we are still none the wiser as to whether we actually found it. On two other occasions we just gave up and drove off, frustrated at not being able to find it.

No address given – in these days of sat nav and smart phones, finding properties should be so much easier, but estate agents need to accept that we need a property address to start with! I know that they are worried other agents will try to poach their clients if the address is too evident, but surely this is less of a problem than genuine buyers not being able to find it?

The estate agent doesn’t call you back in time – one house we quite liked had a for sale board outside, so I called the agent to see if we could view sometime the same day. This was around 11am on a Saturday, so I figured my chances we good. However, a call answering service took my message, and the agent didn’t return my call until 5pm, by which time we were ready to call it a day. Given that she would then have to take my details, and call the vendor, a same day viewing was by then impractical.

The estate agent can’t give you directions – because there was no sale board for the cottage we were trying to locate, which ended up being down a ¼ mile long track, and through a farmyard, I called the agent to ask for directions. She then had to put me on hold for ages whilst she went to locate the property details, then read the directions out to me. However, as neither she nor we were familiar with the area, we were actually coming from a different direction, and so ended up impossibly off course for several miles. Had she had a map to hand, or someone who knew the area to advise us, we could have been spared this unnecessary and annoying detour.

The seller doesn’t let you view on spec – when we finally found the cottage (almost thwarted yet again by the similarity of its name to another cottage a mile away) the owner happened to be outside in the garden, and greeted us in a friendly manner. After telling her that we were interested in her house, and pointing out how far we’d come, I asked her if we could possibly view. “Oh no”, she protested, “it’s in a right old mess. I’d need to tidy up for you”. I later learned that her cottage had been for sale for almost 9 months: is it any wonder when she deters potential buyers in this way? Why not just make sure the house is ready for viewings, even if just at weekends, for spontaneous viewers like us. I’m sure we’re not unique.

This is a difficult market for sellers, there are no two ways about it. Demand is low, mortgages are hard to get, and many of us are choosing just to stay where we are. So if a genuine buyer in a good position (we’re in rented accommodation until we find the right house) happens to show an interest, the agent and seller both need to do all they can to keep them interested and facilitate a viewing. All the barriers that were put in our way this weekend did the opposite; they left us feeling undervalued and frustrated. In fact, out of the 20+ potential properties we had on our list, we only viewed one, and that’s because someone we asked directions of just happened to be the seller’s daughter-in-law, and she and her husband couldn’t have been more eager to accommodate us.

If you are trying to sell your home, make it easy for your buyers:

Have a for sale board, and if your home is very rural, two or three with arrows and your house name
Make sure your main photograph online is the front of your house
If the directions on your property listing aren’t comprehensive, write them yourself, one from each direction
Have the full address listed online
Make sure your home is ready for viewings at all times, and especially weekends
If you see a potential buyer loitering outside your house, invite them in!

Otherwise, your buyer is doing all the work, just like we did. Given that we know statistically, at least 12 – 15 potential buyers will drive past your house for each viewing booked, make sure you and your agent are being as encouraging and accommodating as possible.

We haven’t bought yet, obviously, but when we eventually do, you can bet it will be a house where the agent and the seller both made us feel special by making it as easy as possible for us to buy the house.

If you’d like my help to sell your home more effectively, please answer a few short questions here and if I think I can help you, I’ll be in touch.

If your house has been on the market for more than three months, there are some questions you need to ask your estate agent to find out why it hasn’t sold so far, and what to do about it. A good agent will be able to answer all seven – let’s see how many your agent can answer…..

1. Who have you sent our brochure out to? – to what kind of buyers? How many had asked specifically for your property details, and how many had been sent out to their mailing list? How many did they print, and how many do they have left? Sometimes, agents won’t reprint when they run out, preferring instead to keep costs down by printing off the office printer – tacky!

2. Can you show me our Rightmove Performance Report and your analysis? – (see blog post Your Rightmove Property Performance Report). Most agents these days can provide you with one, but can they analyse it? If they can’t – send it to me! [email protected] – I’ll tell you what you need to know.

3. Can you change our main image and test the results? – if your online activity is low, I’d suggest you change your main house shot. However, this is only useful to you if you can then measure the results. If it doesn’t improve your statistics, try another, and keep trying until you get the click-through rate you need (see post as above). Sometimes, a fresh new image improves your rate temporarily, so try changing it regularly to keep your results as high as possible.

4. What did our viewers buy?– this is a great one! Your agent should be keeping in touch with your viewers to discover what they eventually went on to buy. By doing this, you can build up a picture of the types of buyers looking at your house. For example, if they went on to buy a completely different style of property, it could be that your marketing is appealing to the wrong target market. If they bought somewhere very similar, you need to compete better. Even the best agents need nudging to find out this information, so nudge!

5. What’s happening on any comparable properties? – who is achieving viewings, and who isn’t? Which houses have been reduced in price, and has this made any difference? Which are under offer, after how long, and at what kind of value? If you aren’t getting viewings and everyone else is, ask why!

6. How do you think our marketing can be improved? – ask your agent for a marketing review, and analyse as dispassionately as you can, your brochure, photography and online advert. Identify areas that can be improved, and make sure they are acted upon.

7. Why hasn’t our house sold – other than the price?– I have often asked agents this question, and listened to them trying to come up with an answer. The truth is, there are often several reasons, and it’s highly likely that none of those reasons will be the asking price! Ask your agent for constructive ways you can help him to attract viewers, and make sure he knows he can be honest. If he can’t come up with anything, call me, and I’ll tell you!

If you’d like my help to sell your home more effectively, please answer a few short questions here and if I think I can help you, I’ll be in touch.

Sometimes I look at a client’s property brochure in despair. It can be a beautiful, rambling country house full of character, and for reasons only known to the estate agent in question, he is attempting to market it with a flimsy A3 folded sheet, printed from the office printer. The text is lacking in any kind of warmth; the photographs are dull and dark, having been printed straight onto copier paper, and the overall result is cheap and amateurish. This lack of care and attention to the marketing of a house can permeate a buyer’s view of the property; after all, if the estate agent and seller don’t care enough about it to take the time it needs in creating a beautiful showpiece for the house, how can we expect the buyer to see it as a house of value?

Of course, if you are selling a studio flat in a less than salubrious area, you might expect the property details to consist of only a single sheet of A4 with perhaps 150 words and three or four photographs, but if your house is a good sized family home, it will usually warrant considerably more effort. As a rough guide, I would expect that a flat or house with four rooms or less rooms to be marketed with two sides of A4, and a family house brochure to be at least four sides; anything bigger than this really needs a brochure of at least six pages, with country homes warranting easily twelve pages or more. There are exceptions to this of course; development projects, very dated properties or houses that are extremely cluttered and therefore difficult to photograph; the details for these types of house will always be compromised by what the estate agent needs to show, and can photograph. However, if you have a house packed with interesting and unusual features, a pretty garden, or both, then your brochure really needs to reflect this and make sure a buyer’s attention is captured long enough for them to book a viewing on your house.

There are arguments I hear often from estate agents about “overselling”. In other words, if you set a buyer’s expectations low, they are more likely to be bowled over when they actually visit the house. This is a pretty risky strategy: if your brochure undersells your home, there’s a strong likelihood that no one will book a viewing anyway. With almost fifteen properties to each buyer at the time of writing, they will just move onto the next house to look at; one that is being marketed effectively. Make sure your brochure size, type and style all reflect your home and that you are proud to call it your showcase: after all, your brochure really is the gateway between you and your future buyer, so make sure you keep that gate firmly open.

If you’d like my help to sell your home more effectively, please answer a few short questions here and if I think I can help you, I’ll be in touch.

Your house is finally on the market: it’s looking wonderful, your photography looks great, your brochure enticing; time to sit back and wait for an offer, right?

Wrong!

When it comes to selling your home, patience is not the virtue it’s cracked up to be, and the most successful sales are always the early ones. It’s vital to spend some time each week to ensure you’re doing all you can to keep interest in your property as high as possible. Here’s my 20 minute weekly workout for home sellers:

Call your agent – make sure you speak to them every week, without fail. It’s so important to keep your house in their minds, and keep the relationship as warm as possible. You should know all the staff on first name terms, and even if you just call to ask how the market is doing, your house will be the first one they mention to their next enquirer. 5 minutes

Check your sale board – is it straight? Is it clean? A grubby, damaged board sends all the wrong signals so make sure it looks as if it was only just put up. 2 minutes

Monitor your Rightmove Property Performance Report – make sure your agent knows to send it to you every week, and watch the trends. If interest starts to dip, ask your agent to swap the leading image, and try a new headline. Test and assess the results on a regular basis to make sure your property is getting the attention it deserves. (Find our more about your Performance Report here ) 5 minutes

Check out your competition – spend some time on Rightmove and the other property portals each week, so you can see what’s just come to the market, what properties have gone under offer, and how they compare with yours. 4 minutes

Clean your front door – and make sure any plants at the front of your house are looking their best. Take away dead leaves, wipe down pots and check your doorbell works. 2 minutes

Check for any light bulbs that might have gone around your home; extractor fan lights and underlighting in kitchens are the usual culprits. 2 minutes

Spend just 20 minutes on your house sale each week and it’ll most likely be 20 minutes more than your competitors are spending. It’s all about standing out, in all the positive ways you can stand out. Snag your buyer’s attention long enough to pique their interest, create a desire and with a little bit of luck, they will take the right action – to buy your house!

If you’d like my help to sell your home more effectively, please answer a few short questions here and if I think I can help you, I’ll be in touch.

2. Can you show me our Rightmove Performance Report and your analysis? – (see blog post Your Rightmove Property Performance Report). Most agents these days can provide you with one, but can they analyse it? If they can’t – send it to me! [email protected] – I’ll tell you what you need to know.

3. Can you change our main image and test the results? – if your online activity is low, I’d suggest you change your main house shot. However, this is only useful to you if you can then measure the results. If it doesn’t improve your statistics, try another, and keep trying until you get the click-through rate you need (see post as above). Sometimes, a fresh new image improves your rate temporarily, so try changing it regularly to keep your results as high as possible.

4. What did our viewers buy? – this is a great one! Your agent should be keeping in touch with your viewers to discover what they eventually went on to buy. By doing this, you can build up a picture of the types of buyers looking at your house. For example, if they went on to buy a completely different style of property, it could be that your marketing is appealing to the wrong target market. If they bought somewhere very similar, you need to compete better. Even the best agents need nudging to find out this information, so nudge!

5. What’s happening on any comparable properties? – who is achieving viewings, and who isn’t? Which houses have been reduced in price, and has this made any difference? Which are under offer, after how long, and at what kind of value? If you aren’t getting viewings and everyone else is, ask why!

6. How do you think our marketing can be improved? – ask your agent for a marketing review, and analyse as dispassionately as you can, your brochure, photography and online advert. Identify areas that can be improved, and make sure they are acted upon.

7. Why hasn’t our house sold – other than the price? – I have often asked agents this question, and listened to them trying to come up with an answer. The truth is, there are often several reasons, and it’s highly likely that none of those reasons will be the asking price! Ask your agent for constructive ways you can help him to attract viewers, and make sure he knows he can be honest. Looking forward to hearing from you.

If you’d like my help to sell your home more effectively, please answer a few short questions here and if I think I can help you, I’ll be in touch.

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I was once called in to help a homeowner with a beautiful Georgian home in Chichester. He and his wife had been trying to sell their house for a soul-destroying seven years. If you asked any of the six or so estate agents who had tried and failed to sell the property, why hadn’t it sold, they would chorus as one: it’s the price. That’s always the reason a house won’t sell, right?

But this house had already dropped in price by a staggering 33%, and was now starting to actually look cheap when compared with the competition, so I knew it wasn’t the reason for the lack of a sale. Once I’d played detective, I uncovered a whole raft of issues I felt were stopping the house from selling. We tackled those fairly inexpensively, put the asking price up, sprinkled on a little luck and hey presto, the house was sold inside a month. Once I had identified the factors that were stopping this house from selling, the owners were happy to rectify the issues. Until my visit, they hadn’t known they existed.

The first step in turning round a failing property sale is to identify what has gone wrong so far. Until you do this, how can you put it right? Whilst estate agents will assume the asking price is too high, (often a price they themselves valued it at) I will look at all the other factors, including the way the house is presented, whether that’s right for the target market, the motivation of the seller, the subliminal messages that the photography and words are conveying, and many other aspects that may not be apparent to the seller. (See also my post ‘Is there a hidden reason your home isn’t selling?’)

With all the houses I’ve helped sell over the last decade or so, there has almost always been a very subtle reason it wasn’t selling. That reason would stop a buyer being able to connect with the house, and to see it as their new home. Without this connection, it’s almost impossible to sell your house, other than to an investor with no emotional investment in the transaction. But until you know the reason, you are relying on luck playing a huge part in your property sale. It’s a big gamble.

So when a client asks me “When will my house sell?” I reply simply, “When you’ve discovered why it’s not selling”. Find that, and you’re almost there.

If you’d like my help to sell your home more effectively, please answer a few short questions here and if I think I can help you, I’ll be in touch.

It’s very tempting when the market is difficult to blame your estate agent, especially when you doubt they are actually doing anything proactive to sell your house. But however inclined you might feel to bawl them out, it’s vital that you keep them ‘onside’ and the relationship as strong as possible, if you want to sell your house for the best possible price. Here are my five tips for keeping your agent sweet, and trying hard to sell your house.
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Today’s blog is courtesy of our south-west consultant, Claire Thatcher.

When times are good, market activity is high, and there are plenty of buyers for plenty of houses – so why should they choose your house?

When times aren’t so good, market activity is sluggish, with fewer people prepared, or able, to buy a house, and certainly being more picky about it – so why should they choose your house?

Here are 4 ways to ensure that your house stands out above your competition, in good times or bad:

A better agent will make sure your viewings are engaging, that follow up is thorough and that your sales process and negotiations are handled professionally and quickly

A better brochure means that your agent has something to follow up an enquiry with, a brochure that bestows the benefits (rather than the features) of living in your home

Better home presentation means that when viewed it leaves a lasting, positive impression that reinforces your property brochure

Better photography ensures you will stand out from the crowd and show your house to its best possible potential, showing them what their life could be like living there.

It may seem difficult to believe, but most sellers and agents do not follow these basic principles.

If you’d like my help to sell your home more effectively, please answer a few short questions here and if I think I can help you, I’ll be in touch.

Are you downsizing?

If you’re at that time of your life when you’re currently rattling around in a house that’s too big for you, that is consuming more time, effort and money than you want to give it, you may have decided it’s time to move on to the next chapter in your life. Perhaps you have your heart set on a cottage in the hills, a coastal retreat or just being closer to the family.

Your home may well be your most valuable asset, and when you’re hoping to make a new life for yourselves, and at the same time make sure you have a nest egg to fall back on, it’s vital you realise your home’s financial potential. Here are some of my suggestions to make sure that you leave your lovely home with enough money to make your move worthwhile:

Tell your estate agent – make sure they know how important your sale price is, and that achieving as close as possible to this is your primary goal; more important in fact, than selling quickly.

Allow negotiation room – make sure you pitch your asking price with enough of a differential between it, and the price you hope eventually to achieve. Try to resist the temptation of ‘testing’ the market at a higher price for a short time, as this strategy rarely works. Instead, do your research and set your price, then stick to it. Remember too that current asking price to sale ratios are at around 95% at best.

Stage your home – if you’ve lived in your home for more than 15 years, unless you’ve updated it regularly, chances are its interior may not be as up to date as today’s buyers expect. Whilst commissioning the services of a professional home stager may cost you a few hundred pounds, this will almost certainly prove to be a very worthwhile investment, and avoid buyers making low offers on the basis that your house is too dated for them.

Have confidence in your asking price – if you don’t, how do you expect your buyer and your estate agent to?! Be firm with your estate agent if he tries to persuade you to drop the price, and be equally firm – but fair – with your buyers when they make an offer.

Make sure you implement these four steps, and you’ll be embarking on your exciting new chapter with some pennies in your pocket to enjoy it.

If you’d like my help to sell your home more effectively, please answer a few short questions here and if I think I can help you, I’ll be in touch.