So many people have no idea where they want to live when trying to buy a home.
Registering new applicants and the responses you get from certain questions is fascinating.
Eg. Where do you want to live?
Some replies that come up more frequently than I’d think possible are:
“Within 10 miles of Bournemouth”
That area is massive. Even if you do a search between £350k and £450k, three or four bedrooms, you get 664 properties to look at that are on the market right now.
The thought process behind this I’m sure, is that people don’t want to miss out on anything. But what you’re really saying to any agent is
“I have no idea what I want to buy”.
The agent will end up labelling you as non-serious (yet) and spam you with everything via email, but they won’t pick up the phone and speak to you about off-market properties. The good stuff.
Here are 3 tips for making your registration better and more likely to get those calls.
- Choose five roads where you’d like to live. It would be a good idea to know if you don’t know.
- Work on small radiuses. 10 miles is mad. Even if true. It’s way too vague.
- Know the areas you don’t want to live. It’s helpful.
A good example for the location part of a registration would be:
“My perfect roads would be A Road, B Road, C Road, but I would buy anywhere within Z School Catchment. The only places I’d like to avoid are A, B, C. If there are roads you know that are similar to A, B, C, let me know about those too”
Agents spend all day going in and out of houses in their covered area. With a little better info, they’ll know where you will buy. You just have to give them a chance to work it out and then subsequently when they’re on those roads, will give you a call.
Brief, accurate info wins the day.
Any questions please do ask.
