I’m back to give some words of wisdom after my blog was horribly struck down with a virus and everything wiped from its memory.
This post is to outline 5 key mistakes (there are way more than 5) people often make when selling their property.
1. Not negotiating with agents. Every agent will offer you a higher % commission than what they’ll actually go with. They want to sell your house. 1% is pretty standard and no tie-in on a contract. 4 weeks is an absolute maximum with only 1 week notice to terminate. Make sure you have favourable terms. You leave yourself open to all sorts of problems if you tie-in for a long period of time.
2. Putting up with the details the estate agent puts together. Have an independent person look at the details and give opinion on whether it’s a good reflection of your home. If it’s not, get it changed. Don’t let them advertise substandard images of your property for all to see!
3. Believing all the bull-shit. Estate agents are full of it, so make sure you ask decent questions and don’t settle for wofty answers. If you’re paying them a hell of a lot of money, make sure they earn it.
4. Overpricing a property in hope of a pig flying past and buying it. In reality, the buyer will decide what your property is worth to them. They’ll see 5 to maybe 10 or more properties. If yours is one they like, they’ll put in what they think is a good offer compared to what else they can get. Let’s say a property is advertised at £450k, and there are 3 very similar properties in the area all at £425k, but yours isn’t as nice, guess what, it’s value to those people is below £425k. Do it the other way and you get the same result. Imagine your property is valued at £425k and the other three are at £450k, but yours is nicer. That makes yours worth more than the others in to them. If you think property never sells for above the advertised price, you’re wrong!
5. Failing to communicate enough. Getting a property through to completion requires teamwork. The agent can only keep it pushing forward if you help out when required. I ask vendors to get information from solicitors that I know prefer dealing direct with their client. This means I get accurate info and can then guide the rest of the chain.
Follow me on twitter@mrgreenhomes for more useful tips.
