It’s your agent’s job to ‘pull out the stops’ and do everything they can to sell your home as quickly as possible.  Why wouldn’t they?  After all, it’s in the agent’s interest as well as your own.  You are both in this together and communication is very important on both parts.  If you are unhappy about any part of the ‘selling process’, it’s always best to be honest and chat to your agent.  They are there to help you.

Here is a list of questions we have compiled for you, which may be particularly relevant if your house has been on the market for some time.

1. What are you doing to sell my home?  A good agent will be happy to discuss this with you.  They should be working proactively, for example, sending out your house details to any potential buyers, and should be able to tell you who they have contacted.  Sometimes it’s possible for an agent to sell a house immediately by matching a home with a known buyer.

2. Have any comparable properties sold recently? If so, why didn’t they view yours?  Find out if there is anything you or your agent can do to improve viewing figures.  Agents won’t necessarily disclose the sale price (this is not professional and undermines the privacy of the vendors), but they may be able to give you an idea of whether any price reduction was involved

3. What does my Rightmove Performance Analysis show? Pretty much every agent in the country will advertise your property on Rightmove, and as part of the package, the agent can print off your ‘click’ rate figures.  This shows how many people have viewed your initial advert and how many have then clicked for ‘more details’.  You might be surprised by the results.  A good agent will go through this with you and suggest possible plans of action.

4. Can you change my main image? The main image is the first thing people see when searching for a house, and it needs to be attractive and eye-catching.  A mediocre photo could be the reason for a low viewing rate.  Ask your agent to revisit your home on a sunny day and take a new front shot.  Sometimes it’s worth changing it just to test it out.  Do your viewing numbers go up?

 

5. Can we improve the marketing? Is there anything either you or your agent can do to speed up the sale?  Perhaps the brochure needs tweaking, or maybe the wording of the online advert needs adjusting.  Either way, it’s worth making a few changes to see what happens.

6. Why hasn’t my house sold? Build a good relationship with your estate agent and make sure they know that you appreciate honesty.  They should be able to give you some possible reasons or indications why your house has not sold.  Don’t immediately think that you need to reduce the asking price… it’s worth exploring other avenues before you lower the price.

7. What is our viewer’s feedback? It’s useful to get an idea of any feedback from previous viewers, just to keep you in the picture and give you an idea of their opinion of your house.  It’s not always easy to hear, and it’s worth keeping it in perspective.  Remember that every buyer has different taste and requirements.  Some feedback may be useful, for example, if viewers were noticing a smell of dogs, you could have your carpets cleaned and use air fresheners.  Some feedback, however, cannot be acted upon, for example, the garden is too small.

We hope this list has given you some food for thought.  In our experience, we believe that everything is worth a try, and we will always be totally honest with our advice.

A good relationship between agent and client is paramount when selling (and buying) property.

What are your thoughts on this article?  We would love to hear from you.

Send us an email at hello@digs-property.co.uk  or give us a call on 01326 218427.