There are three important considerations when thinking about how to Sell your house:
1. Supply – Other properties on the market
Supply controls the market – more supply means less chance of you selling, selling quickly and getting the price you want.
Seasonality of listings coming to market can often be influenced by people being in the market to buy. But it usually has more to do with people in general not being on holidays or finding that time of year inconvenient.
Summer holidays and Christmas are obvious times to avoid listing your home for sale.
Property portals release stats every year about record traffic in January – but that doesn’t translate into sales. It’s just people bored with New Year blues browsing property porn. People have to be happy, euphoric even, to commit to such a big purchase. Which is why Springtime is when you get the best price for your home.
2. Demand – The number of buyers in the market
How many buyers (and how much money) is chasing properties like yours?
Often demand is a factor of Government policy.
Is there a new scheme to help first-time buyers, like Help-to-Buy? Or is there a change in tax policy that attracts (or scares away) wealthy foreigners to your area and type of property?
The only people that can tell you about demand are local estate agents, who have recently sold properties like yours.
The most important question is how many disappointed buyers were there for each property that was sold. Be specific and ask about the number of offers received, how much higher the winning offer was (if it was higher – often a cash buyer is chosen with a lower offer, as opposed to someone who is part of a chain, or has mortgage requirements).
3. Pricing
While price is a function of supply and demand, you setting an asking price is the most important decision you will make.
Too low will attract lots of viewings, but may ‘set expectations’ of how much your home is worth.
Too high and your property will sit on the portals with few viewings requested by potential buyers. You’ll end up dropping the price (and therefore your pants) and the process of getting the most for your home just became very difficult.
It’s preferable to price more attractively (lower) than higher.
Properties that are over-priced take over 2 months longer to sell, on average.
If you use GetAgent.co.uk to pick an estate agent, you’ll remove the agent’s need to over-value your home in order to win your business.
A good agent, without the pressure to over-value will be your best chance at pricing for a quick and profitable sale of your property.
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