House Sold Results
There are many different reasons why people put their property on the market. Usually, it is to move up the housing ladder to a larger property to cater for a growing family. It could be a job move or family reasons such as death, divorce or separation – or it could simply be a matter of wanting a different lifestyle in another part of the country.
Phil Tennant, sell house fast Regional Sales Director for Hamptons International says that among the more common reasons for moving are child’s schooling, divorce and friends who have bought together but have now fallen out with each other. He adds: “There are also situations where people have become property owners through inheritance or investors looking to change strategy, deciding that a certain kind of property is no longer useful in their portfolio.”
Whatever the reason for wanting to sell, it is true that in times when property prices are not so buoyant, one of the prime motivators is either to realise equity and downsize, or just get away from a financial situation which has become untenable. Only the seller truly knows the personal reason why they want to move, but the sixty-four thousand dollar question is, just when is the right time?Most people have a pretty good idea about whether the market is suiting buyers or sellers at any given snapshot moment in an economic cycle. The media is also full of constant reports about the state of the national property market, good, bad or indifferent – but there are always geographic exceptions to the general trend and there is no better person to seek advice from than a good, local estate agent.
Many towns and cities are bolstered against the effects of national trends because of their location, the amenities they offer, their transport links, or because of investment in infrastructure. Take for example the Olympic site around Stratford, London where property sales, although slower than the peak months following the successful bid, still enjoy a healthy turnaround when the general market overview has been on the negative side.
An excellent way of monitoring the market is to review specialist sites such as Primelocation.com, the UK’s largest property website, where respected experts provide regular market updates, analysis and opinion. Local newspaper property pages are also a good source of information indicating the way prices are moving in any given area. Combining this research with the knowledge of estate agents and the pool of other useful information available on the internet, today’s homeowner can be pretty sure how buoyant the market is locally and whether now is the best time to sell.
And as they say in the world of property, there is only one good time to sell, and that is now!Since mass use of the Internet has come about, there has been an undeniable growth in the number of people selling their homes via alternative means to the conventional high street estate agent. Despite this trend, the vast majority of property sales are still, fortunately, handled by professional estate agents – and indeed the industry itself has made good use of the web as a vital marketing tool.
Despite the protestations of some inexperienced and fledgling ‘sell-your-home-quick’ companies and certain sectors of the media encouraging people to ‘go it alone’ to save money, a real estate agent is worth their weight in gold for the following reasons:
they know their sell house fast market inside out
they are aware of the types of properties in an area, the situations of buyers looking for them and the typical values
they have their finger on the pulse of local market conditions which may be completely different to the national picture
they have an immediate, live register of interested buyers seeking property
they know how to pick up and exploit buying signals better anything goes diet than the laypersonWhat a lot of sellers faced with the prospect of ultimately paying a significant sum of money to an agent do not know is that there is much more to selling a property than merely taking a photograph, placing an advertisement in the paper and erecting a For Sale board outside.
The reality is that the physical process of selling a property is relatively easy if the agent has sufficient buyers on their register. The real work of the true, professional estate agent begins when a sale has been agreed: keeping all parties informed, progress chasing and managing often tenuous chains. That is when the agent earns their crust – where one can distinguish between a quality agent and someone who is merely good at matching buyers to properties, which is a completely different prospect altogether.
An estate agent can be as active or inactive as the market and their need to earn income dictates. However, all good estate agents should possess most if not all of the following attributes:
communication skills – letter writing, marketing, selling we buy any house
progress chasing – co-ordinating and keeping together complex chains at each of several stages
tenacity – the ability to deal with sometimes difficult solicitors, surveyors and other professionals
peacemaker – placating angry vendors and buyers for whom the agent is always the focus of most blame if things go wrong
diplomacy – sometimes telling people bad news
keeping everything progressing smoothly through to exchange of contracts and ultimately, completion
organisational skills – keeping appointments, making time for clients
the memory capacity of a PC – to remember all of the above
acting as a marriage guidance counsellor – keeping calm when everything around you is collapsing!
Take a look along in any town centre and you are bound to see a host of estate agents, each vying for your business. But which one should you choose? How do you know which one is best suited to sell your home and how do you know you can trust them?
Choose a tried and trusted, long-established agency selling property in your locality, preferably one that has been recommended by someone who has used them before. Primelocation.com’s UK estate agents search is an excellent way of linking to agents in any postcode area throughout the UK.
Match the agent to the market. It is no good choosing an agent dealing with the high-end luxury market to sell an average terraced home, and vice versa.
If the agent has been established for a great many years, it is a sure sign that they have been doing something consistently right over that time. That said, there is nothing wrong in selecting a newly-formed company as it may be staffed with a breadth of experience, but do your research first. It is no good selecting an agent with little experience just because they charge a much lower fee. As in all things, quality often comes at a price. Primelocation.com’s register of over 4,000 estate agent firms gives a wide spread of choice covering the entire UK.
Test the agent before engaging their services by acting as a prospective purchaser. Make a checklist of how well you are welcomed, how promptly, enthusiastically and professionally are you treated and how thorough the questioning is of your requirements and needs. If you leave with a positive list of all boxes checked, you can be sure if you instruct that agent to sell your home, your buyers will be similarly treated, qualified and handled when introduced to your property.
Look for an office buzz. A busy agent’s office will be a hub of activity so watch each office from the street and assess the mood before you walk in. Does the office look well organised and professional? Is each negotiator looking busy on the telephone or attending to clients – or are they just leaning back in their chairs looking at their watches, bored?
Opening guitar scales hours are crucial. As a seller, you will want to utilise all marketing opportunities possible to sell your home. Agents offering the longest opening hours should be high on your shopping list of requirements.
Website presence. Aside from the agent’s own website, agents who are listed on Primelocation.com enjoy two million visitors a month searching for properties, giving sellers the broadest possible buyer base.
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