What to Do When Your Home Won’t Sell
Estate agents commonly state price as the reason for properties not selling. Rarely though do they look at other aspects such as the presentation of the property or the quality of photos they have taken. Price is rarely the reason that a property isn’t selling. If you live in the Bishop’s Stortford area you may keep hearing that it’s a ‘seller’s market’ and hear stories of properties selling overnight. You may be starting to think ‘is there something wrong with my house?’ or ‘I don’t think we’re ever going to sell it.’ A few changes can make the world of difference and get your property sold without breaking the bank.
Here are 5 steps for when your home just won’t sell:
Re-photograph
So often when I see a property on the market that isn’t selling, the photography is simply not doing it justice. Your Rightmove advert is the 2014 version of the estate agent shop window. Therefore your photos have got to show off your home in its best light, encouraging buyers to take the next step to book a viewing. If your photos are below par and poorly taken, then ask your agent to retake them! You’re a paying customer and perfectly within your rights to expect quality marketing materials for your property.
Consider home staging
Home staging is still relatively unknown in the UK but has already taken off across the rest of the world. So what is it? Home staging is all about preparing a property for sale or rent by presenting it in the right way to attract your target buyer. It’s about making your home look it’s very best to get the maximum price and sell it faster. Things such as; cushions, throws, flowers, ornaments, bed linen, furniture arrangement, neutralising and de-cluttering all come under the home staging hat. Home stagers can cost from as little as £300 and will help you present your home in the best way before you sell it. Of course if you sell with The Personal Property Shop, home staging advice is all part of the service.
Look at your online listing
Does your Rightmove advert scream – “look at me!”? If not it needs work and your agent needs to change it. Your first photo should ‘encourage the click’. A quirky or particularly stunning main picture will encourage far more buyers to actually click through and look at your ad. Second, consider the summary description (the bit before you click through to look at the full advert). This should be punchy, concise and grab the attention of buyers. Ideally it should be around 15 to 20 words maximum. The last thing to consider is the description itself. Is it just a list of each room, including not-so-fascinating descriptions of the radiator that can be found in each one? Get your estate agent to rewrite it to create an engaging sales pitch for your property. If they’re not up to it, give them a hand and do it yourself!
Look at your asking price
No I’m not talking about dropping your price, so relax. I am talking about your ‘pricing strategy’. Want to know how you can get your property seen by up to twice as many potential buyers? Simple – round your asking price up or down to the nearest £10,000. For example take a property marketed at £299,995. The ‘995’ or ‘999’ is a very common estate agent trick to make a property look ‘cheaper’, but here’s why it doesn’t work. Buyers searching for properties in Bishop’s Stortford ‘up to £300,000’ will see your Rightmove listing. BUT what about those searching for properties in Bishop’s Stortford ‘from £300,000 to £400,000’ well guess what? They won’t even see your listing despite your property being within their price range! You can attract up to twice as many buyers with a rounded price so get your agent to change it if he’s still using an out of date strategy.
Change agents
Is your estate agent working as hard as they could? Are they keeping you regularly informed? If not, get a new one! A new estate agent is going to be far more motivated to sell your property and probably come up with some new ideas to help it sell. An agent that offers home staging as a service will be able to help you get your presentation right.
If you have a property that’s on the market that isn’t selling then send your Rightmove link to me at angela@thepersonalpropertyshop.co.uk and I will happily give you some FREE pointers to help you get your property sold. For more information on how we help sell properties when others can’t then give me a call on 01279 719193.
What to read next? ‘5 Reasons You Need Professional Photography When Selling Your Home’
Another interesting one Angela. It always surprises me how bad some estate agents photos are – after all it is something they do all the time and they usually have good equipment. I actually did mention this to an agent last year when I looked at the property details she had prepared for me, as everything was way too wide angle, making the lines of the rooms badly distorted. She was amazed and said she didn’t know how else to take photos and nobody else has ever complained! The pictures you put up on facebook are great though.
Thanks Susan. I totally agree, photos are SO important, in fact probably the MOST important thing to get right! I am glad you noticed and let them know, as like you mentioned too many people let it slide and then the house sits on the market for far too long. Thanks for your lovely feedback and thanks for commenting!