Tag Archives: marketing

When to put your home on the market, and why timing is so important.

Often, when we decide to sell our property, we simply engage an estate agent and then ask them to market it immediately. However, putting your house on the market at the wrong time of year for your particular buyers may mean that your property launch is more of a dribble. You need early and strong interest from buyers who want to move, and that takes a little planning. Newsflash – certain times of the year are better for selling particular properties than others.

The key is to know your buyer and plan according to their timescale, not yours. Different types of buyers like to move at different times of the year, according to their own needs. It’s not healthy for your eventual sale price, or for your emotional wellbeing, to have a property languishing on the market for months, so the better you can plan your launch, the more likelihood there is that your property will sell quickly.

Who buys when?

Young couples and singles: First time buyers often begin their first home search very early in the year. Perhaps they have spent one Christmas too many at home with their relatives, and realised it’s time to move out. Their search often starts in earnest in January and February, and their purchases at the lower end of the market – apartments and terraced homes – then supports the second and third time buyer market – semi-detached and detached homes. This, in turn, supports the larger properties, and so the cycle goes on. One thing to remember about young couples and singles, is that they tend to look at lots of different properties, and as they are not in a hurry, their search can go on for months, and even years. So be patient with them, and let them take their time to make up their minds.

Families: Family buyers tend to buy at three distinct times of year: autumn, spring and early summer. Do you recognise the significance of these times? They are school term times. Buyers with children don’t usually like to house hunt during the holidays. First, they have better things to do, perhaps going on holiday, and second, it’s a whole lot more stressful viewing a home when you have a bored and whiny child to contend with. Mums and Dads tend to wait until the children are in school, so they can view the house in peace.

Downsizers: Older couples and singles usually prefer to look at homes during the warmer months, so bungalows and retirement homes will often languish on the market over the winter time. The elderly don’t want to venture out to look at homes in the rain and snow, and nor do they want to move house in the winter time. For them, summer is the ideal time to sell, and to buy, and this type of buyer tends to look at fewer properties, and make their minds up more quickly.

If you know who is most likely to buy your home, you can plan your launch to market more effectively. Remember that the less time your home is on the market, the closer to your asking price you are statistically likely to get, so plan for a quick sale!

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 wrestling with the decision of exactly what the marketing price of your house should be?Worried you’ll make a mistake, and concerned about the consequences?

Selecting just the right asking price for your house can be a challenging task.; one that should be made easier by the advice of your estate agent, but often that’s not the case. After all, if you’ve interviewed three or more estate agents to give you an up to date market appraisal, you may have found yourself in possession of three different asking price recommendations.

We’ve been advising homeowners on pricing strategy for well over a decade now, and in that time, we’ve tried and tested some simple guidelines to help you select the best asking price for you to go to market with.

Rightmove’s search bandings

If you choose a strategically optimised asking price, it will make sure your house is found in a Rightmove search:

When you use the drop-down search in Rightmove, you’ll see the price ranges become further apart as the prices go higher. So for searches below £300,000, the bands jump in £10,000 rises, whereas between £1,000,000 and £2,000,000, the price bands are in £250,000 increments.

If you select an asking price that’s just below a Rightmove price band, say £599,999, your property will only show in a search up to £600,000, but not including it. This is what we call the ‘Rightmove Zero Pricing Strategy’. By pricing your property at £600,000 exactly, it will appear in searches that both start and end at £600,000. Simply put, pricing your property at the exact same price as a Rightmove property search band, your house will show in more searches; potentially up to double the number of searches you’d get found in, with a non-optimised price.

The psychology of pricing houses

Estate agents often like to use a price with all the nines, because they believe it’s a psychological price point. But this is an outdated viewpoint, that doesn’t work in today’s digital world. Let’s face it, a price with all the nines like £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 with a ‘John Lewis’ price.

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

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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.

Summer is a perfect time to take advantage of guerrilla marketing when it comes to selling your house. If you’re new to the term ‘guerrilla marketing’ read our previous blog post on the topic. Essentially, guerrilla marketing campaigns are unexpected and unconventional, and consumers are targeted in unexpected ways and places. The results are usually pretty responsive, with marketing your home no exception. So where can you take advantage this summer? Take a look at some ideas…

Summer fetes & Car Boot Sales – Lovely summer weather attracts many seasonal events, and a summer fete or car boot sale is an ideal time to advertise your home. If you’re planning on holding a cake stall or you’re in charge of the raffle, place an advert alongside your table with details of your home on it. You could have a few printed brochures to hand for anyone interested. Ensure you ask the event organisers beforehand, and maybe offer to donate something towards the cause of the summer fete.

Bulletin Boards – Bulletin and notice boards are regularly checked over the summer, especially for parents seeking out activities and childcare for their children. This is a perfect time to put up an advert about your home; make it colourful and informative, and make sure you add your contact details. Great places that let you advertise include supermarkets, gyms, churches and corner shop windows.

Social Media – If you’ve previously missed it, have a read on our post about advertising your home on social media. With just a few simple guidelines, your home could be reaching your target audience within hours, and is perfect for filling with summer lifestyle photographs of your home!

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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In this day and age when there is a multitude of properties to choose from in estate agent windows and on property websites, a floorplan can really make or a break a decision to view a property. People like to see how a house is laid out, and a floorplan does this for them before they have even stepped in the door. Surprisingly though, floorplans are still overlooked by some sellers and agents, with some only being available on request. In other instances, floorplans are uploaded to a properties portfolio online, but can be too small to view or the zoom function doesn’t work. If this is the case, it might as well be hidden altogether.

So why are floorplans so important? Use our points below to assess how beneficial a floorplan would undoubtedly be when selling your home.

Size – A floorplan enables a buyer to see how big a place is. It is also useful to include measurements too, to ensure you’re providing accurate information. This can let someone assess where their furniture will fit, and how they could display everything in their new home. A floorplan doesn’t miss anything out, leaving no room for error or deception.

Usage – Buyers like to see how the house is laid out, and consequently if the layout will work for them. If parents desire their bedroom to be close to their children, a floorplan could make up their decision to make a viewing. Floorplans show the flow of how a house works. If it doesn’t work for someone, it isn’t worth wasting your time and theirs by coming to see it.

After a viewing – If someone does decide to come and view your property, a floorplan can be very useful afterwards to remember where everything was and to help a buyer further their decision. It is a helpful tool for discussion alongside images, for couples and families to talk about their potential future home.

If you’re selling your home, ensure that a floorplan is available to your viewers. Make sure that this is both available in the agent’s office, as well as online for download via any property websites that your agent may use. Talk to your agent to make sure it is clear and works correctly. It could just help sell your property!

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 home has been sat on the market for longer than you even want to admit to yourself, you may be considering ringing up your gracious agent, and telling them to drop a few numbers from the big one. They may even be encouraging you to do it, too. People buy homes on price, right? Wrong. Dropping your price is not the way to go, and can actually have a negative effect and create long term damage. Sound a bit farfetched, for something on offer to you? While it may do, you have to consider what people are thinking when they see a house reduced in cost. Get ready to change your mind…

Is something wrong with it? If a house is dropped in price, people begin asking questions. Why hasn’t it sold so far? What’s wrong with it? Why the dramatic price drop? Their image of the house won’t be rosy and optimistic; it will begin to look like a sale item. While your home may suddenly attract a few extra viewings, they’ll be walking around your house looking for the pessimistic side of your four walls, and wondering why it wasn’t snapped up already.

Quality issue – Even though when it comes to many material goods, many of us love a good bargain, it’s different when it comes around to property. With a long term investment, we want to feel like we’re buying in to something worthwhile and valuable, and often budgets are blown and overspent when purchasing the dream property. If a price is assertive and optimistic, it means it is being sold for what it is worth. Drop your asking price, and the quality of it will suddenly seem a little dented. Surprising, but true.

Confidence – If shares were falling on something, would you buy them? The same can be said for property; do you want to put in an offer on something that has decreased in value? A drop in price indicates a lack of confidence in your own home and its original price. If you want to install confidence in your buyer, show confidence in your own home!

Are you thinking of dropping your asking price, or is your agent persuading you to do so? Reconsider! Contact us, we can help.

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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When it comes to potential buyers viewing your home, you may think any time is best. If your home is in tip top condition, what’s the problem? While your home may be a glowing example of property perfection, there are certain property viewing times that should be avoided if at all possible. Read some of the best times to avoid below…

Sports events – Live near a sports venue? Viewers won’t be keen to hear the loud screeches of athletic devotion, so best to avoid times such as these. Keep an eye on local schedules in the newspapers to know when to avoid.

Neighbour affairs – Even if you love your next door neighbours, their regular Saturday night BBQ full of raucous laughter and booze, won’t be appreciated by your buyers. They might come to adore your neighbours too in time, but let them get acquainted without the merrymaking first.

School run – Live near a school? If so, your road is probably used as a car park during the school drop-offs and pickups. Buyers will have probably anticipated this might be an issue pre-viewing, but it isn’t best to propel them straight into the thick of it immediately. Let them see how congested the road can get in their own time.

Commutes – “I thought your area was quiet?” If your area is quiet, but the daily commute adds somewhat of a bemusing resonance to the day, avoid this time at all costs. Buyers might think that is the sound all of the time.

Refuse collection – As beautiful as your street is, lined with wheelie bins and recycling boxes, its charm can feel a little dented. Skip this day of the week, for one sans the rubbish.

When it comes to times of day to show your home, being selective does have its merits. Let your viewers idolise your bricks and mortar without the little distractions. If they love your home that much, these slight imperfections will be overcome when they’re faced with them.

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.

What’s in a name? Do you live in ‘Rose Cottage’, or just ‘number 37?’ Do you know that the name of your house can make your buyers turn off, or reach for their cheque book? That it can even affect your chances of achieving your asking price? Here are some surprising facts about house names:

• Land Registry figures show that around 5.4% of homes in the UK currently have a name instead of a number.

• If you have your eye on a place called Courtenay House, named after the Earl of Devon, you’ll need deep pockets. Homes with that name tend to be more expensive than those with any other. To buy one, you would typically need about £4.8m.

• Since 2000, more than one house called The Cottage has sold every day. According to Mouseprice, the typical value of a property with this name is 50% more than the average.

Here’s what one national estate agency chain has to say on the subject: “House names are generally always included on property particulars.They are felt to add interest for many would-be buyers, and often seem to generate more enquiries”.

What should you name your home in order to attract a buyer willing to pay a premium for a desirable name? Forget ‘Dunroamin’, ‘Cheznous’ or any name that is made up of your own names! Instead, improve your sale chances by taking your pick from this list:

The Cottage
Rose Cottage
The Bungalow
The Coach House
The Barn
The Lodge
Ivy Cottage
Sunnyside
Orchard House
Woodlands

Feeling inspired? Or do you have a better alternative? Let us know!

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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When your home has been on the market for a while, it’s easy to become disheartened and disillusioned. “What’s wrong with our house?” you may ask yourself. At first, I’m sure that every viewer got the star treatment – you would changed the bedding, banish the dog and buy fresh flowers for each and every viewing, now it all seems like too much effort for what you’re sure will be another timewaster.

However, it’s not all about doing what you can to make your house look as appealing as possible, though obviously this is important; you also need the right mindset.

Think of something difficult you have tried to do: perhaps you’ve given up smoking, lost weight or passed an exam. Maybe you tried several times before you actually achieved your goal. If you look back on your previous attempts, why did they fail when achievement was clearly in your grasp?

It’s all to do with mindset; any dietician will tell you that you have to be in the right mindset to lose weight, otherwise you’ll keep failing. Those friends I know who have successfully given up smoking after many years of ‘trying’ tell me that eventually they just set their mind on their goal, and that made all the difference.

But when you’re selling your home, it’s not in your control whether your viewers actually offer or not, right? Wrong! Of course, you can’t force them to make an offer, but you can make sure that you are totally focused on your goal of selling.

When you are focused, you will call your agent more often, research the competition, keep your home looking beautiful, make suggestions to improve your marketing campaign; and all this because your mindset is that of a seller. When you give up, you lose the fight.

To help you get into the seller’s mindset, make a list of all the reasons you want to move. Write them in two columns: one list for your motivations to move out, and the other for all the reasons you want to move to the place or home you have chosen. Keep this list taped to the inside of a kitchen cupboard you use every day. Read it often, and use it to motivate you to get out the vacuum cleaner one more time for a viewing; or polish the bathroom taps, or clean the front door.

Stay focused, stay motivated, and the buyer will come. All because of your mindset.

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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.

When buyers are property perusing, the first minute of a potential home viewing is imperative. An initial positive sixty seconds puts them into a great frame of mind, where as if they pick fault in those vital moments, chances are they won’t be signing on any dotted lines. A good first impression will make your viewer want to live in your home, and that’s what you need to establish in those first moments.

We’ve previously discussed kerb appeal, and the stamp your home has already made before buyers even get to the front door. If this is flawless, read our tips on the first sixty seconds when they step through the door…

Maintenance – How’s that broken light fitting in the hall, are the wires still dangling from the ceiling? A minor five minute job for you can lose you a sale. Showing a lazy attitude to your general DIY before a house viewing, can leave people deflated and wondering what else you might not have fixed, especially things that can’t be seen. Complete all repairs in the house before you have people over.

Cleaning – You may have enjoyed your eggs on toast this morning, but the buyers won’t enjoy the pots on the table, or the leftover smell. It may seem like a minor detail, but if it’s one of the first things they see, it’ll leave an impression. Do the dishes and make your kitchen shine. Hoover and dust each corner and crevice of your home to perfection, wash the windows, and make people want to live there.

Clutter – De-cluttering is vital for the first minute of a property viewing. If buyers walk in to a hall or living room that is full to bursting, it makes rooms look smaller and your home immediately feels chaotic. To envision themselves living there, buyers need clear open spaces to picture where their belongings and furniture can go, and it’s hard to imagine this with piles of stuff in their line of vision. If you have a lot of clutter, spend a weekend sorting it out. If it’s easier, store things at a friend’s house, although throwing out things you don’t need now will save you time when you move.

Smells – Just like the eggs example, any lingering smells will hit buyer’s noses instantly. Open the windows (weather permitting!) to let fresh air into your rooms. Put any pets outside or ask someone to look after them. Create a nice smell for the air, such as baking. Read about smells in your home in more detail here.

Colours – Even if you love your very darkly painted entrance room, heading into a dark room could give a bad first impression. Research has shown that a lot of buyers prefer natural colours such as magnolia, and this is a sensible choice for a hallway. Heading into a light and bright room, works wonders.

If you want to create the right first impression with your buyers and generate a positive viewing, the points above are crucial to pay attention to. If a sale can be generated from a few hours of work, it will be worth it when you are shaking hands with the agents for your property.

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.