Does it feel like your home is invisible with your current estate agent?
There's many reasons why a house might not be selling or generating the level of enquiries it deserves. To make sure you have the best possible chance of making your property stand out, here are a few top tips:
Maximise exposure - Advertising your property on all the major portals Rightmove, OnTheMarket and Zoopla should be a given . Rightmove is perceived as the biggest, but it is important to appear on all three to ensure your property is being seen by as many people as possible.
But, what about people not activley looking or registered for alerts with them? Seeing your home appear someehere else could be the one that sparks their desire to move. We share every property to our thousands of followers on Facebook & Instagram. Our social media advert showcasing our listings also receives approx 90k views per month. We also regularly submit properties to be featured in both online and print publications, our properties are often featured by The Times and Country Life. Last but not least, 'for sale' boards are an old, but effective way to catch the attention of potential buyers.
The best light - Does your property look it's best online and stand out? Don't forget the basics, from premium professional photography to captivating descriptions. There are plenty of other ways to show off your property too with floor plans, video tours, drone imagery etc. These can all be utilised to highlight key selling points.
Keep it fresh - It can be a good idea to mix up the photographs and description periodically. Showing off a different aspect of the property to appeal to a different profile could capture the attention of other potential buyers, even those that may have previously disregarded your property.
Be proactive - Your estate agent should be regularly looking for potential buyers and make it easy for people to register direct with them. Can they tell you how many proceedable buyers they have in your area and are they contacting people who might be interested? It is worth checking in with them to see how they are being proactive. Just putting the property on a portal and hoping for the best usually isn't enough.
Feedback - Is your property is getting viewings, but not offers? Make sure your agent gives you detailed feedback from every viewing. Perhaps you need to declutter, or do some decorating to make your home more desirable to buyers. There are other ways to generate new interest using feedback from previous buyers constructively.
Ensuring there is weekly communication with our customers is very important to us. We hope to be speaking regularly to book viewings, give feedback and negotiate offers. However, if it’s been a quiet week on your property we will discuss why we haven’t achieved as much interest as we would expect, what changes we can make to the marketing and make sure what’s happening with your property and what we’re doing about it becomes a weekly discussion. We pride ourselves on being proactive with every part of your journey and see it as a failure on our part if you are having to chase us for updates.
Keep an eye on the market - Your agent should have a good understanding of the property market, ask them what is happening in the market at the moment. There's plenty of factors that can affect the property market, and therefore your sale. Having said that, a good agent can generate interest even in a slow market, it may be worth asking yourself if your agent is committed to the sale of your property.
Is it difficult to switch agent? - It is easier than you think, especially if you aren't receiving the level of service you were promised. The first step is to check the terms of any contract you entered into, the period it was for and how to give notice. In many cases, if you are outside the contract period your notice can be given by email, then you are free to appoint another agent. Any contract should also have a 14 day cooling off period in the event something has happened within the very initial period which has made you question if they are the right agent for you (e.g. quality of marketing, photos, video tour, particulars not to the high standard promised). Depending on the nature of your issue with them, you might be able to negotiate an earlier termination of contract. Our team are experienced at taking on properties from other agents who have not managed to find them a buyer and we have gone on to sell them successfully. Please get in touch for free, no obligation advice on how to proceed.
