Selling Property

Property may have a value, but this can fluctuate quite a large amount depending on how it is presented, sold and who it is marketed to. If a number of buyers want it desperately the price will increase way above the asking price and if no one is interested  and time passes an offer may be accepted a long way below the asking price, or sufficient time may pass for all property to increase in value until the asking price becomes a bargain.

So when you come to sell your property how do you get the best price possible.

The answer to this may depend upon the timing, state of the market, location and more. The speed you want to sell also has to be considered.

Estate agents/realtors

The largest percentage of property in the UK is sold through estate agents who for a small percentage will produce details, include it in local advertisements and show people around. This can be the cheapest method of selling short of doing it completely yourself. They function on the basis of listing a lot of property of which some will sell each month. They may make you feel you are being treated as an individual but in practice it is unlikely that marketing your property will be dealt with in any way other then the normal model they use for all property. They may also have additional charges, for putting up sales boards and changing the sign to offers, sold subject to contract, and sold. These signs have little impact on the chance of you selling your property and are mostly a free advertisement for the agent.

You may be able to schedule an open day, or days to allow a number of those the agents are aware are looking for property to visit and see the property at the same time. This is convenient if you have to make special arrangement prior to showing, for example farming out pets and kids. The major advantage is that interest creates interest, and as each sees others looking around you may get the buyers to feel that they have to move faster towards an offer so be prepared to make either an higher offer or be less critical of any defects.

Property auctions

Particularly over the last few years with the increase in property values, and interest in both buy to let and property renovation the amount of property being both sold at auction and getting more than expected by this means has increased. Historically it was a way to get rid of property that was a problem or to offer property that was difficult to value, as in the case of thatched country property that were ripe for development. More property in popular locations is now being sold by auction, but there are cost involved in putting together a pack to make available to potential buyers and in sales charges and commission that have to be considered. 

You also need to consider who the potential buyers of your property is for while a developer may be confident to arrange funding in advance and bid at auctions, first time buyers are unlikely to be, and therefore the market you are selling to switches perhaps away from the local towards the national specialist or person looking for a deal or opportunity. Where you may benefit is in that some of these people have little idea as to the local value and may base their bids on the basis of value of property in their home area. Likewise many of those new to property development have no real understanding of the budget required to renovate a property or the margin that they need to make it worthwhile. Therefore the perceived value may be higher to some and the price reached at auction higher than could be raised within a reasonable time scale locally.

Is what is available right for you

The services above are available from a number of vendors, and in many cases you may feel that this is sufficient to meet your needs.

We believe there is more expertise required when buying than selling, however we have seen estimates from estate agents in some areas that are drastically different, sometimes one being as much as twice another and in other cases high valuations being given in order to get the client to sign up to sell the house through them, when they know it will not get that amount, and subsequently the price is reduced in several steps.

As we know from buying operations and what members have reported, on some occasions there appears to be no interest in an overpriced property and then an offer well down will be accepted by a seller who wants to sell so as to split money between inheritors or to allow them to move or make changes in their life. In some cases the offers accepted will be very considerably below the asking price, one we looked at recently was £60,000 below the asking price, and made a good buy for the buyer and allowed the lady who wished to sell to move as she wanted to. As she had lived at the house for some time she still felt that the amount she got was reasonable and felt that current asking prices were all ridiculous even where people were paying them.

The difference in the marketing can vary therefore from up to £60,000 or even more below the asking price to probably the same amount above. For some properties therefore the difference in revenue that can be generated can be as great as £120,000. This is why some people can make a living from buying and flipping, reselling the property without any work done, and cover all costs, including stamp duty and still come out well ahead.

On some occasions, as with a cluttered house and unfriendly pets, the owner moving out can solve the reason the property is unpopular, but few estate agents would be bold enough to suggest to a potential client, that the property may be worth more if they packed up and left. Similarly over personal decoration, or other features may be off putting and simply buying simple redecoration and restaging may produce a far higher margin then becoming involved in property development.

You may feel that people would know if there was a problem that was putting buyers off, but that is rarely the case, pet odor for example has become the background they have become used to and so not identified by them and they naturally like the decor they have become used to and their own muddles around them. Its also quite difficult for owners to approach their own home with a neutral mind and assess what the initial reaction is to it and what a buyer will react positively and negatively to. While you can ask someone else to do this, its difficult for them as they don't wish to offend or upset you so its a bit like when a person asks a friend or relative for a view on a new hairstyle or clothing purchase few feel comfortable to say what they really feel. Similarly asking an estate agent is often not a practical approach as they want you to like them and let you sell the property for them, and tend to see positive points only until it has not sold for some time and then they can tell you the list of negative comments that people who viewed it had to say. If you had these first you may have chosen to do something about them.

The strategy you choose, and how you go about selling the property may offer some considerable scope for a faster and more profitable sale.

Club services

Introduction

Most people will not need to use these services and we definitely are not attempting to replace estate agents and auctions as a prime method of selling property.

We have however come up with three specific services aimed at helping those members who wish to use them to sell their property most profitably. If you are already using another service you may be able to extend that service to cover selling. Similarly franchises will often make use of these services from time to time.

An overview of services

Below is an overview of services, but we also have a separate page on each, available by clicking on the hyperlink below or the buttons at the top of this page.

J7 - Selling property hand holding

This service like our other executive handholding services, is intended to empower you to sell it yourself but with whatever level of help you feel that you need. You could for example decide to use this to help you to sort out the property pre sale and sort out valuations and instructions to an agent. Or action necessary to sell it completely yourself, perhaps the equivalent to what is undertaken below. Of the three services this is probably the one that most people can make use of, as it is more about maximizing income from existing channels than in creating new markets.

J8 - Selling property for a fee

This is  about marketing the property for you, for an agreed fee, more expensive than an estate agent and often including using a local agent for a part of the process, paid out of the fee paid. The reason this works is in creating a wider market and specifically marketing the property, rather than it as one of a large collection. It may be that marketing will target people who could commute from it, or people who may want to retire to it from another area. The objective has to be to create more interest than you would get by just promoting it in a small local area.

J9 - Selling property for a profit share

In effect there is very little difference between this and the service above, other than in the way the service is paid for. It may be that a person who has had a house for sale for some time and had no reasonable offer may have lost confidence in being able to get  a full price, or a person may have a property to sell but not the cash to be able to use one of the other services or to fully market it themselves.