Tips on how to sell your property

Tips on how to Sell your Home

Ever wondered why your property is not selling while your neighbours are?  It may be that your estate agent is not being honest and telling you what YOU NEED TO KNOW.  Some estate agents are afraid to offend you but if they do not tell you the truth and point things out that may stop your property selling, you can have as many viewers as you like but it won't sell.

At http://www.scottishhousemove.com we want to sell every property we market and is therefore vital to get your property in ship shape condition prior to the board being erected on your property.

So here we go:-

First impressions are vital. Tidy gardens, or close, and have a clutter free porch.

Clean up your house and make it clutter free. Consider some minor redecoration to make the place look ‘fresh’. Although, do not spend too much on this.

Dripping water from taps suggests faulty or worn out plumbing – sort it out.

Make sure property is well lit and bulbs are fitted (inside & out).

Don’t cram ‘stuff’ into cupboards and wardrobes. Storage space can be vital to a possible buyer.

Let the sunshine in! Open blinds & curtains, clean windows and let there be light.

Bathrooms sell homes. Scrub it, clean it and let it shine!

Dream spacious bedrooms are what buyers look for. For a spacious look get rid of excess furniture. Clean colourful bedspreads and fresh curtains are a must.

Get rid of the booby trap – flailing extension cords, slippery rugs, low hanging lights and any items left on the stairs.

Keep pets|out of the way and try to reduce pet smells to a minimum.

Turn down the stereo and TV. Loud is no good!

If you choose to conduct viewings yourself be friendly and let the conversion flow naturally. Viewers want to concentrate on your home.

Never apologise for any shortcomings you think your home may have. If someone makes a derogatory comment, ignore it and move on. 

Please don’t try to sell your ‘extras’ you no longer need – furnishings etc.. You may lose out on the ‘big’ sale.

If a viewer wants to talk price, quickly direct them to your http://www.scottishhousemove.com estate agent to negotiate price.

http://www.scottishhousemove.com estate agents are trained price negotiators. Let them deal with your viewings, we are confident you will appreciate the difference.

Clean & tidy

Light neutral decorative colours

Heated house for viewers

Clutter free rooms – spacious as possible

Shared areas (hallways etc) to be clean & tidy

No pets or pet smells

No noisy neighbours (if possible)

How much?

At http://www.scottishhousemove.com/ we are always trying to stay ahead of our high street competitors both on price and service.  We ask all our potential sellers to compare our rates with high street agents but do you know how hard this actually is. 

We set ourself a task.  Call 50 Scottish high street estate agents and ask them 3 things.  How much do they charge for a Home Report, how much do they charge for a marketing fee and what is their commision.  We told them our property was valued at £150,000.  The reason we told them the value was so they could not tell us we cannot comment on what we would charge until we know the value of your property.

Anyway the results in our view show how much estate agents simply want to get their sales people out to sellers houses.

42/50 gave Home Report prices over the phone (these ranged between £470 - 620)
38/50 have their marketing costs (these range between £235 - £470)

But amazingly only 13/50 gave us their sales commision.  37 estate agents even though they knew our house was worth £150,000 refused to give us their charges.  When pressed why most of them could not give us a figure they came up with the same excuse it depends on the location (why, do you charge me more for being in a better/worse location?), the value (well we told you it was worth £150K), the valuer (i.e. their salesman) decides the commission (so if you tell him you have 4 other agents out he will come and go, if you hint it's only them they up it?).

This is a service industry, their are no real variables in our view.  That is why we publish our prices.  The same service for all our sellers big or small houses.  The general view of what it costs to sell is around the 1% mark plus vat.  But some of the corporates who have a strangle hold on areas do and will charge 1.5% plus vat.  So a house worth £150,000 can cost a seller over £3,000 to sell.

So don't count on trying to find out how much your high street agent charges until you have to sit through a long sales pitch from the valuer (remember the valuer is an estate agents salesperson).  So come on you high street estate agents why not start being upfront with your customers and tell them what you you charge?

Can't see it happing can you?

UK House Prices

Are property prices really rising in the UK?  Here are http://www.scottishhousemove.com we think prices have remained flat if not dropped in the UK in 2010.  However, most agencies who report on property prices agree that prices have rises year on year.

In October 2010, rightmove the UK’s largest property website recorded a 2.9% year on year change.  However, while both the Halifax () and Nationwide () reported rises they were on a smaller scale.

Rightmove had some other interesting stats regarding the market.  November sellers cut their asking prices by 3.2%, the biggest monthly drop since December 2007.  Falls now recorded in 4 out of the last 5 months, as year-on-year price growth heads for zero.  24,028 new sellers coming to market per week, down 9.1% on previous month yet still outstripping muted mortgage approvals by 2 to 1

Unseasonally high number of unsold properties and longest ever time on the market mean sellers face tough competition, while winter buyers hang back waiting for bargains.

So are property prices really rising?  Ask an Online Estate Agent  or any other estate agent and they will tell you the same story.  Prices are very much static and in most areas prices are dropping as sellers reduce their prices in order to secure a sale.  Buyers especially those who have sold or are in no chain are bargaining hard and seeing thousands knocked off asking prices.  Is it just the time of year we hear you ask?  Our sellers are using any reduction in their asking prices to secure a reduction on their purchase, which in our view is what you have to do.

So what about the prospects for 2011? Will cautious sellers come to the market or not?  Well as in every other down turn in the property market, people still need to move.  Family’s need larger properties, the owners of the big house need to trade down, the young couple want to move in together, the old couple who want to move out to go their separate ways, so the market trundles along.  But it does not look good for 2011.  VAT goes up to 20% in January 2011 and public sector jobs are under threat.  And on that thought what is the Government doing to stimulate the market?  Nothing in my view.  Banks need to start lending or be forced to lend.  Government needs a clear strategy or even a strategy would be a good start. 

Some corporate estate agents are even having Christmas sales in their offices to sell their stock.  In our view this is simply so they can get some sort of commission, rather than a real effort to sell their client’s property.  In fact we calculated one branch in one week knocked off £550,000 across their clients asking prices.

So are prices actually increasing?  Maybe in London, rich Arabs and others are buying due to the value of the pound but outside London we think not.