Julian Price

How Can I Sell My House Tips:Getting Valuations Right and Dealing with Estate Agents



Posted: Wednesday, June 01, 2011

by Julian Price
http://www.uk-freelance-content-writer.co.uk/

Selling your house can be a tough thing to get right. Putting it up for sale is one thing but actually attracting buyers is another, especially in a market still feeling the effects of a financial crisis.

Preparing your house for sale is crucial and there are things you can do to ensure that your house has the best chance possible of not only appealing to buyers, but of it ultimately being sold.

I spoke to someone who has bought and sold 7 properties and made a profit on each one. What follows are her tips for readying your house for the property market, and dealing with estate agents in the UK.

Estate Agents

 If your house has been sitting on the market for ages with barely a flicker of interest, it is quite likely that your estate agent has overpriced your home. There is always a natural instinct to want to make as much money as possible, but you have to consider the current housing market and adjust your price accordingly, or risk being overlooked entirely. Most people are savvy enough to know when something is priced too high.

Consider allowing several different estate agents to value your house. If you get 3 or four different valuations, it is likely you will have a scale to work with, one probably being too high, one a little too low, so choosing somewhere in the middle is often the wisest option.

Making your Estate Agent Work for You

Once you have chosen your estate agent then make sure that you get the most from them. After all, they will be receiving a slice of the pie, so make them work for it. (Estate agents take a percentage of the house sale and this can vary between agents) Ask them to be totally honest with you. It is in their best interests to ensure that your house is sold.

They will know which properties are moving and at what prices. Ask them which houses they themselves have sold in your area.

Pictures of Your Home

Make sure you have an agreement on all the particulars and all the information regarding your home is correct before circulation. For example, the photographs of your home on the estate agents website! The power of these pictures cannot be underestimated.

When buying a new home, most people now use the internet as part of the process, (in fact more and more properties are being sold online) looking at properties that are available and viewing the external and internal images of each property.

Of course, it is your responsibility to dress the home appropriately but a badly taken picture, that gives a false impression of your home will, without doubt, put buyers off.

If you are not happy with the pictures, ask for them to be done again, remember the estate agents are working for you at this point. Make suggestions if you think a picture would look better from a different angle etc. Badly taken photos can make rooms look smaller and generally misrepresent your property.

More is better when it comes to the pictures. Too few, and buyers will become suspicious of rooms that are perhaps not featured, or wonder why there are no images of the garden.

House Viewings

Your estate agent generally has an obligation to at least offer to conduct the viewings of your home with prospective buyers but you may want to eschew this and do them yourself. Why? Well, you know your home better than any estate agent ever will. You have lived in it; you know its intricacies, its qualities and in many ways will be able to “sell it” better than your agent.

So, assuming you have done your part by dressing and preparing your home for sale, the tips above should put you in a more knowledgeable position when it’s time to deal with your estate agent.
Julian has diplomas in freelance journalism (with distinction), copywriting and proofreading. He is also a creative writer and poet who writes both professionally and for pleasure. Julian has written articles for an internet marketing company and although this medium is often restricted by topic, his writing still maintains a unique and often humourous style, with many of his articles achieving good results on search engines. He has found the discipline involved with this kind of work to be a great writing exercise and believes it enhances and improves other areas of his writing. Julian is becoming an established freelance writer and many of his articles here at searchwarp are a showcase of the variety and quality of his work.

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