I meet loads of people that are in the process of moving home. They’ve either just started searching, just put their place on the market or they’ve found a buyer and desperate to find their own place.
I ask most of the people I meet the reasons as to why they’re moving. Very few will say it’s because of the money. Most answers are:
- We need something bigger as our main family home.
- We want something smaller as our kids have grown up.
- We’d like to be in a better school catchment for our kids.
- We want to live by the seaside and get some fresh air.
- We’d like a bigger garden for our kids to run around in.
- Buying somewhere with a sea view is our dream.
- etc. etc.
Money is a really important part when moving home. But it’s number one on the priority list for very few. So if you’re buying or selling a property and you treat the other party like it’s a purely business transaction, don’t be surprised when they don’t like it.
Offering someone a cringe-worthy amount for their home is the quickest way to lose the chance at getting a great deal. Similarly, if you treat someone’s offer on your house as derogatory, when it’s not, you can kiss goodbye to that extra couple of thousand they’d push to for a nice person.
If we’re honest though, money is the number one priority for some. So here are my tips for making sure you don’t make bad decisions when buying or selling.
- Being polite will get you a hell of a lot more than being rude. Why do you think good sales people smile?
- If selling, chasing the golden price for too long will cost you. Everyone is free to have a crack at getting a silly offer, but if it proves unrealistic, make a change.
- The best offer isn’t always from the person that offers the most money. No chain, cash in bank and flexible timescales are all valuable things from potential buyers. Take account of that.
- Trust your own judgement. I once had an offer on a house of £207k. The agent that lost out on initial valuation told the owner not to take it as they would get them a minimum of £210k. (on at £215k). They rejected it. 6 months later and the property was on the market at £205k fixed price with that other agent. They couldn’t get the same price, let alone more.
So even if money really is the most important thing when buying or selling, always remember that it probably isn’t for the other party and treating them like a £ sign will almost certainly cost you.
