How to sell a property for the top possible price.

The comprehensive guide to selling a property for the top possible price!

Psychology is massively important with selling property.  Above all else, your property NEEDS to be perceived as desirable.  Creating the circumstance where people want to buy your house starts with the marketing.

One important thing to consider is that properties get their best price within the first four weeks of going to market.  An agent will generally say that selling fast means selling cheap; whereas stats prove that this is entirely the opposite.  This means getting it right first time can save you thousands.

NOT EVERY PROPERTY IS THE SAME – the process to working out the best marketing plan is always the same, but the end result will always be different

If you follow this simple process, you will be on the right track to selling heaven:

  1. Brainstorm thoughts for who is going to most likely buy your property for the most money.  Being realistic is important and getting it right is even more so.  Will it be a wealthy retired director with a large family looking forward to retirement by the sea?  Is it most likely to be a young couple with their first child on the way?
  1. Now you know who the ideal buyer is, it’s time to work out what that buyer is looking for in a property, where they search for property and how you’re going to stand out from the competition and make sure your home is one of the properties they wish to view.  If they’re from out of the area, then a few key details about the location are essential.  If it’s a family, include details about schools, shops etc.
  1.  Photography is so important!  Most people will decide if they’re going to view your home based solely on the images and text they see online.  There is no benefit in portraying your house to be something it’s not, but showing it off in the best possible light is a must.  On average it takes my photographer and I an hour and a half to photograph a small house.  Little details such as moving clutter out of shot, setting furniture so the image is perfect all NEED to be done.  Why would you risk losing potential buyers at stage one?
  1. Don’t waffle on in property details.  Keep the text concise.  If a potential buyer is put off reading text as there is too much of it, they won’t read the important parts.
  1. Always remember, the property advertising is designed to get the viewing, not sell the house.  In a similar way to a CV should be written to get you a job interview, not the job.  Don’t go in to too much detail, just enough to get them to pick up the phone.  Quite often, less is more.

Now that your property details are perfectly targeted towards your ideal buyer, it’s time to put it live.  Let the world see your home!

The process of creation now turns to monitoring.  Statistics from each property portal and an agent’s own systems will give you a fantastic idea of how well the marketing is doing.

There are X stages that you may potentially lose a buyer at:

  1. Before they’ve viewed.  (Stats will show a high number of people seeing your property and clicking through to see more details, but no enquiry)  (This means either it’s too expensive or the marketing is poor)
  1. Most potential buyers drive past a property before they view the inside.  Similar to point 1 with stats.  A lot of buyers will phone the agent to ask for the door number though, so your agent should know if the outside is an issue.
  1. After first viewing.  If they say no to a property, I always enquire as to why.  Some people are too polite and need a little encouragement, but if you ACTUALLY ask questions, you’ll get to the bottom of their problem.  Once this is done and if I can’t give them a suitable solution to their problem, I ask them if there is a price that would interest them for the property.  If you have 10 people look and they all say they’d be interested at £20k below the asking price, guess what?  That’s what its worth in the current market.  An agent HAS to get good feedback from EVERY viewing as if there is a problem that keeps coming up, it will need to be addressed sharpish.
  1. Second viewing.  Sometimes, a property just isn’t right for someone.  Much better to find out now than three or four weeks in to an agreed sale. 
  1. The process of taking a property from being sale agreed to completion.  This area is 100% responsibility of the agent.  They need to have everything agreed up front, ideal dates set and to ensure people are 100% happy.  They need to have checked with solicitors, mortgage brokers or IFA’s etc. so that this sale isn’t doomed from day one.

One thing to consider with point 3 is that if the agent isn’t asking potential buyers enough questions upfront, or the marketing isn’t targeted properly, your chances of selling are so greatly reduced because it’s just pot-luck as to whether you get a suitable buyer through the door or not.

 

 

A few things you may not have known about estate agency!

Every agent in a given area will have buyer lists that are 99.9% the same.  If you’re looking for a property, would you only go to the agent with a pretty name and risk missing out on your dream home?

Contract tie-ins are the biggest risk to you.  Some agents operate a 22 week tie-in period for sole agency.  That means you can’t move agent for nearly 6 months EVEN if they don’t do as they said they would!  6 months!!  4 weeks is the maximum you should ever risk.  At least you can be 100% certain the agent is telling the truth on valuation as if they’re not, you’ll go elsewhere!  My thoughts are that if an agent is doing the best they can and they perform and update you etc. when they say they will, why would you go elsewhere?

Any contract that states you can’t get out of it in the first 4 weeks is there for a reason, and it’s not because they do a fabulous job. 

Nobody cares who your estate agent is.  You could sell your home with Mickey Mouse.  If it’s portrayed as the home of some persons dreams they will buy it.

75% of all estate agency enquiries come through Rightmove.co.uk.  That means if your house looks poor on Rightmove, you can guarantee people are going to be put off coming to have a look.  It’s inevitable that you’re going to lose people that probably would have bought your house if it’s not done justice on Rightmove alone.

Mr Green is an expert at selling property.  There is no comparable agent; Mr Green is one of a kind.