Tag Archives: estate agents

Copy that crackles

When an estate agent describes a house he’s selling, in a brochure or online, you’ll see he uses words that are found almost nowhere else in the English language: “benefiting from”, “dual aspect lounge” or “located in a premier turning” are all commonplace phrases for today’s estate agent. Surely learned in estate agents’ school, along with the capacity to spell the room we eat in as the “dinning room” and accommodation with only one ‘m’, or one ’c’, or even one of each. Oh dear…….

I’m on holiday as I write this post, in beautiful and windswept Northumberland. Staying in a cosy retreat of a cottage, that sold itself to me via some appropriate images (log burner, super king-sized bed, coffee machine), and also, importantly, the right words: “squishy sofas”, “great jazz cd collection”, “secret garden”.

The whole quirky, fun-sized brochure is beautifully written, and – unlike most property descriptions – really draws the reader in. Listen to this description: “This architect designed house brings you the sound of the waves, mesmerizing coastal views and sand between your toes, just steps away from a spacious and light-filled contemporary interior splashed with vivid artwork.”

Or this: “The fitted gourmet kitchen blends together oak and leather furniture and a cosy ‘snug’ with flat screen TV and piles of reading material, leads of the living room.” This one really sets the scene: “The patio is the perfect place to watch the harbor activity and the changing sea from sunrise to sunset.”

Now compare the above descriptions with those used by local estate agents to describe beach-front properties:

“A 3 bed semi-detached house located in the heart of the village with coastal views to the front.”

“An attractive three bedroom detached bungalow occupying an enviable position on Harbour Road, enjoying superb views to the sea.”

“The apartment is situated within the attic space of the central building with direct sea views to the Farne Islands and along the beach towards Bamburgh Castle.”

These are beach-front homes, for goodness sake!

Which style works better in painting a picture for the reader? Can a buyer really become enthused by these agents’ descriptions? Despite the fact that I’m a professional property expert who has herself, moved home more than thirty times, I’m still a sucker for the kind of emotive language used by the holiday rental company in question, and the combination of such romantic words and atmospheric images wins me over every time.

The lesson here is this: if estate agents employed the same attention to detail in their copy as the best travel companies do, they too would win over their audience – the buyer. If you’re still not convinced, take a look at the website of the company who got my business: www.coastalretreats.co.uk and lose yourself in some holiday dreaming.

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.

“The flaws in the intelligence are plain enough in hindsight.”

~ Edward Kennedy

Have you been trying to sell your home for months, or even years, without success? You’re certainly not alone; did you know that only half the properties on the market last year actually sold?

Did you decline an offer in the first month or so that, in hindsight, you now would take? It’s a familiar story. In fact, around 75% of sellers who contact us would now accept that offer – gladly – and now regret having rejected it.

A property is never more desirable than when it first goes onto the market. The initial flurry of interest can even occasionally generate an offer in excess of the asking price, such is the draw of a newly-marketed home. The interest curve for those all-important first few weeks looks something like this.

However, once all the buyers who have been searching for a while for their next home have seen it, then it’s only the new buyers coming to the market who are around to show any interest, and this may be only a handful a week, at best. This just isn’t sufficient to instill any sense of urgency in a buyer, who may view 15 – 20 or more properties before making an offer on one.

Once your property has been on the market for more than a couple of months therefore, the interest curve looks more like this:

If you drop your asking price, and keep dropping it in an attempt to counteract this downwards trend of interest, all you’re doing is ‘chasing the market down’, in effect.

So what’s the answer? Here’s my expert guide to keeping your property marketing fresh, and avoid it becoming stale and forgotten:

1. Don’t dismiss out of hand any offer you receive in those crucial early weeks of marketing. It will probably be the best offer you will ever receive on your home;

2. If you’re several months (or years) down the line, you need to break the vicious cycle that is no one wants a house that no one wants. Take it off the market completely for at least two months, and preferably up to six months.

3. Re-launch at the right time of year for your property, ie at the time of year when your buyer is most likely to be searching.

4. Don’t scrimp on your re-launch: engage a professional home stager, commission a professional photographer, and choose a proactive agent who believes in quality marketing.

5. If you get an early offer when you go back to market, take it! Within reason of course…. As a general rule of thumb, anything in excess of 85% of your asking price is definitely worthy of consideration in this market, and over 90% is a terrific offer.

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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.

Property pricing is of paramount important these days. I don’t mean the question of ‘value’ – but instead the art of setting the right price so that the portal searches are optimised. For example: you have a house to sell worth approximately £1 million. The agent suggests an asking price of £999,999. “It’s a psychological price point” they tell you. I don’t agree. At all. I say – market at £1,000,000, and here’s why:

£999,999 is a cheap ploy – an ‘Asda’ price. Your buyers aren’t daft, so don’t treat them as if they are! Give them some respect and a ‘Harrods’ price. Make it £1 million straight.

£1 million is actually an aspirational price point – your buyers WANT to spend one million pounds on a house, and tell their friends and family that they have done;

£1 million is a very confident price – it says “my house is worth a million pounds” £999,999 is apologetic, humble: it says “make me an offer”;

£1 million gets your property shown in more searches. At £999,999 on Rightmove, your property will only appear in searches up to £1 million. At £1,000,000 straight, it appears not only in searches up to £1 million, but also those over: potentially doubling traffic to your property advert.

After all, as my Dad would have said, “Look after the pennies, and the pounds will take care of themselves”.

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.

When I was a young teen, I was lucky enough to have a pony. He was a beautiful Welsh Mountain palomino, called Biscuit, and I adored him. My very favourite thing to do was to explore the countryside with him, where we then lived in rural Lincolnshire.

One day, we were out riding, and I spotted a small copse that looked interesting. Finding a way in, I urged him on, hoping to find some little pathways to ride, but he seemed unusually reticent. I pressed my heels into his flank, but he really didn’t want to move. Annoyed, I dismounted, and attempted to lead him by his bridle but he dug his heels in and would not be budged. I was perplexed. He’d never done this before. I remounted, and rode around the periphery of the copse, hoping to fool Biscuit by finding another way in.

Then I saw it. The big red sign saying DANGER – SWAMP! I was stunned, and very grateful to my lovely pony, who had sensed the danger when I was completely unaware of it. His sixth sense alerted him, and though I’d tried to override his reluctance, thinking I knew better, in the end, he proved that he was far wiser.

So why am I telling you this?

Because when a homeowner tells me they are about to put their home on the market with an agent I know is not a good choice, I feel the same sense of dread that Biscuit did! My protective instinct makes me want to shout – DANGER – WRONG ESTATE AGENT!

I’ve been selling houses for a long, long time. And an awful lot of them too. I’ve also helped hundreds of homeowners identify the right agent to sell their home. What I’m trying to say is, like Biscuit, I know more than you do. I’m wiser and more experienced, and if you don’t want to fall in the swamp that can be the house selling landscape, please listen to me. When I have the wrong estate agent in my sights, I’m always going to dig my heels in and say, “No, not that way”.

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.

To brighten up your grey Saturday morning, here are some silly estate agent jokes

Windows

Why have estate agents stopped looking out of the window in the morning? Because otherwise they’d have nothing to do in the afternoon

Flowers

An estate agent thoughtfully sent his customary bunch of flowers to a purchaser who has just moved in. Unfortunately, they arrived with a card saying ‘Rest in Peace’.
Furious, the recipient phoned the florist, who replied: “I’m really sorry for the mistake, Madam. But just think – there’s a funeral taking place today with some flowers on the coffin where the message reads: “We wish you happiness in your new home”.

Beat the competition

An estate agent broker was dismayed when a brand new real estate office much like his own opened up next door and erected a huge sign which read ‘BEST ESTATE AGENTS.’

He was horrified when another competitor opened up on his right, and announced its arrival with an even larger sign, reading ‘LOWEST COMMISSIONS.’

The estate agent panicked, until he got an idea. He put the biggest sign of all over his own office. It read: ‘MAIN ENTRANCE’

Porsche

An estate agent parks his brand new Porsche in front of the office to show it off to his colleagues. As he’s getting out of the car, a truck comes speeding along too close to the kerb and takes off the door before speeding off.

More than a little distraught, the estate agent grabs his mobile and calls the police. Five minutes later, the police arrive. Before the policeman has a chance to ask any questions, the estate agent starts screaming hysterically:

“My Porsche, my beautiful silver Porsche is ruined, it’ll simply never
be the same again!”

After the estate agent finally finishes his rant, the policeman shakes his head in disgust: “I can’t believe how materialistic you estate agents are,”

“You lot are so focused on your possessions that you don’t notice anything else in your life.”

“How can you say such a thing at a time like this?”, snaps the estate agent.

The policeman replies, “Didn’t you realise that your right arm was torn off when the truck hit you.” The estate agent looks down in absolute horror……….

“Oh my God!” he screams – “Where’s my Rolex?!”

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.

This guest post is brought to you by Alex Sebuliba on behalf of Martin & Co.

Martin & Co are a UK based national Lettings agency who offer service to tenants, landlords, sellers, buyers and investors. With over 25 years of experience, they specialise in ensuring the specific demands and requirements of every individual are met at all times.

While many home owners have decided to sit tight while the financial crisis rumbles on despite a desire to move, those who do decide to go ahead and try to sell their property have a decision to make – sell privately, or go through an estate agent?

For many people, it’s a question they’ve not even pondered, handing over the power – and plenty of money – to their local estate agent in a bid to help them sell. But the reality is quite different, and in the last few years a growing number of people have chosen to sell their own property. So which is best?

Estate agents

Using an estate agent remains by far the most common way to sell a property. When I sold my home, I visited a plethora of estate agents in Newark, who all vowed to do their best by me, to take the stress off me and to achieve the goal of selling my home for the best possible price.

But their services came at a cost. All wanted a minimum of 1.5%, plus VAT, as a fee. The average UK house price is now £238,000, meaning estate agent fees total almost £4,000 before VAT is added.

However, if you choose to sell through an agent, you know they want to sell your property – and so they will do their best to get viewers and to make a sale. This is, surely, exactly what you want from them, after all it is their job.

Selling privately

With the rise of the internet and a change in the rules on buying and selling property online, it’s now easier than ever to sell your house yourself, and the fees that come with it could be a lot less – sometimes as little as £175 to list your property for sale.

However, this cost will likely rise if your house doesn’t sell quickly depending on the type of independent selling process you use; some websites allow a one-off fee to

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.

Well done Andy!! I think I speak for the entire nation when I say that I was very proud of our ‘grumpy Scot’ yesterday. I think my whole village heard my shouts of delight when that ball went in the net and the trophy was ours after 77 years!

So as a tribute to our success, I decided to write a series of 5 posts with Wimbledon as a theme for the HomeTruths’ blog! Not such a contrived proposition as you might first think! Today’s post is all about:

Determination

To be seeded in tennis, the levels of determination required are intense. Practice, review, and practice again; repeat ad infinitum. It’s this persistence and tenacity that really sets apart the professional sportsperson and without it, they cannot hope to achieve success.

When you are selling your home, you need to display a dogged persistence in the face of adversity. Viewers will fail to show up, agents won’t call you back, lots of people will make negative comments about your lovely home, and throughout it all, you have to rise above it, and carry on regardless, and try to keep a smile on your face besides. Only by picking yourself up and still making sure your property is looking at its very best for each and every viewing can you, in turn, hope to achieve success. Many sellers fall by the wayside: statistically less than half of sellers actually sell their homes through their original agent, and over 15% just give up. It takes determination, perseverance, and a certain amount of stubbornness to stick to your asking price, and keep your chin up, but if you do this, eventually you will sell!

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.

This blog post is courtesy of our lovely office manager, Hellen, who sees an awful lot of very bad photography!

I took a call from a potential client today in the office. One of our consultant’s had been to see them that morning and they’d been pondering whether HomeTruths was the way forward for them but then needed some extra reassurance. This is quite a common occurrence; after all, it’s a big step in what is a very emotive time. Here at HomeTruths we really don’t mind if you want another ear to talk things over with, that’s what we’re here for. In fact, the gentleman in question posed one of the most common queries; “is the grass greener on the other side”?

When clients contact us, most (not all, I might add, but the majority) have lost total confidence in their agent. No doubt when the agent initially met with the vendor he gave them lots of confidence. Confidence that the price was achievable, that their house would sell quickly, that they would be an open dialogue at all times regarding their sale, that they would produce a beautiful brochure and post a great advert on Rightmove, that there are people queuing up on their books to view their home. Of course he did, he wants your commission! Six months (or longer!) down the line and that confidence is waning. But how does the client know that their experience with the agent we recommend is going to be any different?

Here at HomeTruths we take the utmost care when recommending agents to sell your property. We have outstanding relationships with the agents that we use. We are confident they understand our philosophy and have the means to market your home as we would like it to be marketed. In most cases we not only know the Managers in the individual office but the Regional Director too. They’re on speed dial with Sam. We meet with them regularly to check we’re still on the same page. We’re not formally associated with any agents, nor do we earn commission (including back handers in brown envelopes) and if they’re not performing as we would wish, we don’t use them any more. It’s as simple as that.

In the majority of cases we also know the photographer (and in some cases his wife)! We can tell, when a brochure lands on our doormat, whether one of our recommended photographers has taken the photos. We will only use photographers who we know of, and whose work has impressed us in the past (and there’s no-one more picky than an ex-photographer is there Sam)? In fact, if we see a brochure we love, and we’re not familiar with the photographer or the agent, we’ll give them a call and see if we could work together.

So actually yes, we believe the grass is greener on the other side, and that’s because we’ve done all the legwork for you to make sure that it is.

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.