Talking of price, or more specifically the asking
price. There is a window of opportunity for Chorley homeowners to take
advantage of this stamp duty tax cut, yet don’t let local estate agents curry
favour with you by tempting you with a high initial asking price to win the
right to put their for sale board outside your local home.
A Which report stated in 2017 that many estate
agents routinely over inflated the asking prices of the properties they brought
to market. One might ask why this is an issue for Chorley property home sellers,
as surely, they can just reduce their asking price at a later date? The
excellent report proved that those estate agents who on the face of it appear
to be doing you some kindness by endeavouring to get more for your home with a
suggested higher asking price, the property often ended up selling for much
less than similar properties that were realistically priced properties from day
one and also, they ultimately took longer to sell!
This Which report compared the original asking
price with final selling prices for 370,000 properties to ascertain how many
estate agents had reduced the initial asking price of properties in order to
sell them. Which found that 70,300 (19%) of all 370,000 properties sold had to
be reduced by at least 5% in order to get the property sold, whilst the other
81% (299,700) had no or very minimal reductions to get them sold.
Of the 299,700 sold properties that weren’t
reduced or reduced by less than 5%, the average initial asking price was
£261,000, yet they eventually sold for an average sale price of £260,000. For
those 70,300 homes whose asking prices were reduced by over 5%, whilst the
average listing price was £266,000, their eventual sale price was only
£241,000, a loss of £20,000 each. Even worse, those properties with the heavy
price reductions (5% or more) took an average of nine weeks and one day longer
to sell (when compared to the other properties with no or minimal reductions).
What that means is by over inflating your
initial asking price of your Chorley home, it will cost those homeowners an
extra nine weeks to find a buyer and they will lose out on the final sale price
by some considerable margin (meaning you will also probably lose out on the
stamp duty holiday).
Assuming your asking is price is realistic, you
aren’t out of the woods yet. Other things that will help you get the best price
for your home in the best possible time (and thus save you money with the stamp
duty holiday) are …
- · Everyone searches on the portals for their next home. Photos are therefore very important (a picture speaks a thousand words). If the weather isn’t good on the day of the photoshoot, ask the agent to revisit when the sun is out (and even tell them to hold off marketing the property until those pictures are perfect)… as you only get one go at being ‘new to the market’, with all the excitement and interest that causes.
- · Employ the services of a solicitor at the same time as instructing the estate agent. Bringing together the legal paperwork of the property you are selling. By doing so, you will save weeks between the sale agreed and completion. Also, solicitors will be really busy, juggling many property transactions at the same time in the next 200+ days. Anything you can do to get a head start on others can only help your cause.
- · Kerb side appeal. Look at your property from across the road. Does the front door need painting? Could a tonne of gravel spruce up your driveway? Maybe adding some hanging baskets and planted pots will help to make a home stand out for the best reasons?
The final piece of advice I can give you is if you are planning to sell your home, make sure your local estate agent can show you proof of similar properties and what they actually sold for to back up their suggested asking price. If the asking price isn’t realistic, the chances are you end up losing many thousands of pounds and wasting everyone’s time. If you would like to chat about selling your home, please do not hesitate to pick up the telephone.
If you are looking for an agent that is well established, professional and communicative, then contact Forbes Estates to find out how sales procedures will help find you the best finance approved buyers in the time frame you require.
Email me on paul@forbesestgates.com or call on 01257 273324. If you are in the area, feel free to pop into the office – we are based at 353 Preston Road (A6) Whittle-le-Woods, Chorley, PR6 7PY, the kettle is always on.
Best regards
Paul Forbes
