As estate agents, we see plenty of properties that have been on the market (with other estate agents) for too long and not sold (and yes even properties in Bishop’s Stortford too!). We’ve helped people successfully sell after weeks, months and even years on the market with other estate agents. So why don’t these sell with other agents? You might imagine that price is the problem. That’s certainly something that lots of estate agents are quick to use as a reason for why a property hasn’t yet sold. Then you could say that perhaps the presentation of the property is to blame? A cluttered house which isn’t ready for sale is certainly not going to attract a buyer, you’re right.
But what happens when neither price nor presentation is the issue? That leaves only one thing – ‘promotion’ i.e. how the property has been marketed (mainly your Rightmove and Zoopla listings). Today I share the story of a couple who had been trying to sell their property on and off with other estate agents for nearly 2 years! 6 estate agents later and with only 3 viewings in that time, they were quite literally at the point of despair. We stepped in to help, and here is their story…
When I got called out to this property in Braintree Mrs M said to me “I just don’t know what’s wrong with my house!” So I did my research – was it the price? No! In fact it was a bargain buy and definitely current market value (if not a bit lower). So if it wasn’t the price, how about the presentation of the property? No! What I found was a very well-presented property, tastefully decorated, de-cluttered, homely and appealing to the vast majority of buyers. So what was it then? It was when I analysed their Rightmove listing that I discovered the problem – it was all in the marketing. So step by step here’s what we addressed:
Gave it a rest from the market – after so long on the market it really needed a ‘break’ from Rightmove. A few weeks off the market allowed people to ‘forget about it’ and allowed us to re-launch it with a whole new buyer audience. Plus the fact you can see the date a property was added so definitely not a good idea to leave a property on the market to go stale.
Photography – the original estate agent had spent 5 minutes (according to our vendor) at the property and used a basic digital camera to capture the images. No tripod, no DSLR camera, no wide-angled lens and no professional photographer meant that their photos were average at best. This was the really big issue I had identified and why people simply weren’t coming through the door. So we called in the fantastic Stuart Willis from Greenleaf Photography aka. ‘the property photography God’ who took STUNNING photos of the property which showed it off as the beautiful family home it was.
Description – once again, as we so often find, the description lacked imagination, was far too long and wasn’t targeted to the right kind of buyer. We totally revamped the description, targeted it towards family buyers as we knew that’s who we would be attracting and really sold the benefits of the property keeping it short, sweet and encouraging that all important viewing.
And the result?
Two months and 10 viewings later we had agreed an offer on this lovely property – quite a result after nearly 2 years on the market! Why did we get results where 6 other estate agents had failed? A property averages 10 viewings to gain an offer – so getting enough viewings was the problem here. By taking the time to prepare the highest quality marketing materials, using professional photography and by having great attention to detail, we got those buyers through the door and got the property sold AT LAST!
Who do you know who’s struggling to sell a property? Perhaps your property is currently on the market?
Give us a call today to arrange a totally free valuation where we can assess your marketing and give some free pointers to help get your home sold. Call us on 01279 719193 or email info@thepersonalpropertyshop.co.uk.
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