Q. My property has been on the market for absolutely ages now, around 10 weeks and I have had hardly any viewings. I’m really frustrated as I need to move urgently and get my child settled into a new school within the area I’m moving too. The Agent just keeps telling me it’s quiet. Have you any suggestions to help things speed up and get me under offer?
A. I’m afraid it is rather quiet at the moment on sales and has been for the last few weeks, due to a number of factors namely the election the emergency budget and then the world cup! All of those issues certainly have some impact on buyers which is clearly what we are short of. I hear your frustration and would hope that we may now be about to turn a corner although reports are all saying things will stay static for the rest of the year at least. Moving forward there are a number of positive actions that can be taken in your position to try and increase interest. Firstly – price! Are you marketing at a competitive price for this market? Trying to sell at an over ambitious price in a market like this is like sudden death, the few buyers that are around will just dismiss it immediately because of the price. Please remember that most buyers are now smart enough to completely familiarise themselves with all the sold prices in your area for the last 5 years as this information is so freely available on line. Getting the price right at the onset is so important and if it is too high it really needs to be revisited and reduced within a few weeks of marketing so as not to lose your momentum. Is your agent providing you with regular feedback and have you taken on board any negative comments he may have relayed from viewers and addressed them? Feedback from potential purchasers is invaluable to sellers but is only constructive if taken on board and the relevant action taken to tackle the issue raised. Another valuable tool is a for sale board particularly if you live in a house, of course if you live in a leasehold block this is probably not possible as the lease prevents the erection of boards on the outside of the development and the managing agents are unusually fairly strict at enforcing that. One way around that is placing a board in your window. You would be really surprised how many people there are that rent in your street/development that would actually want to purchase a property there. I have personally sold time and time again to this type of buyer so a board is really not to be under estimated. Are you freely available for viewings at all times? Again – don’t be restrictive every viewer is a potential buyer so you really wouldn’t want to miss any opportunity for a viewing as they may go buy something else that day instead if you decide its not convenient. Finally if you have tried all this and still nothing then maybe its time to consider changing your agent, sometimes a bit of fresh blood on the case can be just what’s needed.