Your house moves are likely to be the biggest transactions in your life. You are probably already primed to present your house ready for sale, and you can follow the best advice in the book about dressing your home (yes, neutral colours, deep cleaning and clipped hedges are all worth doing), but it’s all for nothing if no-one comes to see your hard work.
Here we look at how you can work with a trusted estate agent to get a steady queue of interested and genuine buyers through your newly polished front door.
It’s not what you know…
An agent will list your property online to drum up interest. What you need though, is an agent that has good relationships with existing and interested buyers who trust them.
Google and the top property portals are great tools, but they aren’t a substitute for a qualified database of potential buyers. A good database, built on personal relationships nurtured over time, is just one factor which makes a good agent invaluable.
Cast the net wide
If an agent with great personal relationships is good news, one with a wide branch network is even better, because people will often move into new areas.
A local independent agent has the advantage of specialist local knowledge, however a branch network combines that with the knowledge of potential buyers who may not be looking at your home because it isn’t in an area they’ve scouted yet. In fact, over 20% of Marsh & Parsons’ properties are sold by negotiators based in a different office.
Look at the details
When reviewing your property description, make sure that you put your buyers head on and cast your mind back to what it was that you wanted to know about your property when you were originally buying it. The chances are that a potential buyer is going to have similar questions as you did, so make sure that your property description answers them.
Answering potential questions from the outset could be the difference between someone being willing to arrange a viewing of your property or not.
Market your property effectively
Ensuring that your property is seen by the right people in the right places is crucial. We’ve already touched on the importance of having a good database to market to, but other marketing activities are just as important. Is your estate agent going to take professional photos and feature you on their website? If so, what do their listings look like and how many people view their site on a weekly or monthly basis? Do they work with popular property portals, local publications and listing sites that will feature your property? And do they invest in any supporting advertising, direct mail, social media or PR promotions? All of this will increase the chances of potential buyers seeing your property.
Show your property in the best light
A whole industry has grown up around dressing homes for sale, and it meets a genuine demand.
When someone is looking to buy a property, they want to see it at its best to visualise its potential and ensure that what they’re purchasing is value for money. To ensure potential buyers see your property in the best light, we advise decluttering to remove any personal items that could make rooms look smaller than they are, doing some basic decorating to present your home in neutral shades, and having professional photographs taken for marketing.
The market moves
Selling your home means you’re probably in the buying market yourself, so you’ll know how easy it is to pass a home by because it’s outside of your budget.
Working with a reputable estate agent that knows and understands the market will help you determine a sale price which reflects market demand and your own needs. For example, do you need a quick sale or are you in a position to hold out for the best offer?
Flexibility
Selling your home is a big deal, and sadly, it can be unavoidably demanding and stressful.
Where you can, it pays to help your agent by offering them plenty of time slots for viewings, or by trusting them to conduct accompanied viewings with potential buyers.
Everyone is busy, and buyers will move on if you make it at all hard to get through your door. Work as a team with your agent, and you’ll both win.
In summary
If you’re selling your home, viewings are a good thing. However, they’re not the sole metric of an effective estate agency.
It’s important to get people through the door, but what’s more important is that they are the right people.
People who are right for your home, who have been given an honest appraisal of what it offers, and have the resources to fund its purchase, are the only viewers that you, or your agent, should be spending time on.
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