If you’ve placed your house on the market recently, then you have great timing!
You have just entered the best housing market the UK has seen with the highest asking prices. Certainly, in Hitchin and the surrounding villages, we have seen unprecedented activity, which means most houses are not on the market for very long.
Some properties don’t even make it to market!
As longstanding Estate Agents, our experience has shown us that, a house for sale in this market should not remain unsold for longer that 6 weeks, maximum. If on the market longer than that, then there is an issue with either the pricing or the estate agent’s marketing strategy.
How does pricing affect the sale time?
When potential purchasers are searching for a new home, they generally won’t consider a property if they feel the asking price is too high. They may simply scroll on by, and your property will go unseen. Buyers set their specific search criteria within portals such as Rightmove and price is a key filter parameter. Of course, in the current competitive sellers’ market, if your price is too high, savvy buyers will see a red flag and your home will end up on the market for much longer than is necessary.
James talks about Rightmove Price Branding…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9v8NYnljTU
Some strategies use ‘Offers In Excess Of’ others will use a ‘Guide Price’ approach. Choosing the best pricing strategy plays an important role in how attractive your home will appear on the market, so an experienced and professional estate agent will help you make this decision.
Nick and James explain how to choose a marketing Strategy for selling your home…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4x0s-FdyvVY
You must also consider how the pricing band will fit within Rightmove. If your asking pricing strategy falls between the listed bands, then you will miss a large number of potential viewers. We will present an example of this a little a later in this article.
Photos and home presentation makes a critical difference
Put yourself in your potential buyer’s shoes for a moment. You’re on your smartphone or tablet and you’re having a look for your next move. As you scroll through there are listings that present clear, well-planned images of the home that really make the property stand out from the crowd. Chances are, you’ll likely take a good look before scrolling on.
Now consider the next listing along. The images are poor quality, they don’t highlight and showcase the features of the house and the rooms look a cluttered, small and drab. The probable result of this scenario is that you will continue your search without even having a look at the house. This particular vendor will also likely need to accept a reduced offer.
It may seem to some to be a minor issue, but we can’t stress enough how important good photography really is.
Changing estate agents if your home isn’t selling
We would like to share with you a recent example we have dealt with that takes into consideration all the points we have spoken about.
The property in question was on the market with another local estate agent. It was originally listed on 28th October 2021 for Offers Over £525,000. Over a staggering 4-month period, they only accumulated 10 viewings, with none showing any significant interest.
Why didn’t the property sell?
When we were approached to potentially take over the marketing and sales process for the, now incredibly frustrated, vendors, we asked ourselves why this was the case. We carried out a little research and found that the main problems with the other agency were clear. The problems were also easy to solve for a well versed and knowledgeable estate agent that understands the local market.
Their pricing strategy was to market the property at offers in excess of £525,000. This a misjudged launch price as it missed the price bands. Moreover, when the pricing didn’t work in the first 2 to 3 weeks the problem was neither addressed, or managed by the agent. Unfortunately, they hadn’t changed the pricing strategy.
The photos used to market the property were not taken by a professional photographer (they were taken by the agent). This meant quality was not to the level needed to successfully market the house and help it to stand out from the crowd, therefore very few people arranged a viewing.
As a point of intertest, it is best to avoid having too many photos of your house. Rightmove recommend no more that 10 to 15 in any one property for sale, as this is the optimum number potential buyers will scroll through.
How we were able to sell the property… fast!
After we had taken over from the other estate agent, we set about our work, we:
- Changed the pricing strategy to a Guide Price (Offers Over) of £500,000 so that it would appear in more Rightmove searches and did not appear to be overpriced.
- Arranged to hold 2 open days for potential buyers to view the property. To help generate interest and urgency.
- Arranged professional photography taken to replace the original images.
- Asked to vendors to declutter their house for the photos and viewings to help make sure it was well presented.
As a result of the changes we made, we were delighted to see that we had 12 viewings over a day and a half. This followed with multiple offers and on to a final sale price that was higher than the original price of £525,000.
All this was achieved in under 2 weeks!
This goes to show the difference between an estate agency employing a clear and professional pricing and marketing strategy as opposed to an outdated and inflexible approach to the market.
If any of this is sounding a little too close to ‘home’ and your house has remained unsold for more than 6 weeks, then please contact us and we can help turn that frustration in to happiness!
Speak you Nick or James, calling 01462 229 555 or email hello@wellingtonevans.co.uk, it would be great to talk through your concerns with your house sale. Equally, if you are new to the market and would like to discuss a new valuation please get in touch.
