Tag Archives: Selling

A quick guide to pre-sale surveys

Alongside title issues, surveys result in more property sales falling through than any other factor.

Particularly for more expensive properties, sensible buyers will almost certainly seek the advice of a chartered surveyor and the inevitable conclusion if your property is harbouring some worrying structural secrets, is the buyer pulling out or bargaining for a cheaper deal.

The solution is to get in there first – instruct your own surveyor to become your personal property advisor and get ahead of the problem.

Here’s two good reasons why:

Every day, sales fall through because a surveyor acting for the purchaser spots a defect and the purchaser is scared off. The easiest way to stop this happening? Know what the surveyor will find before he finds it.

Forewarned is forearmed and knowing your home’s detractions, as well as its selling points, will allow you to apply decoration in the right areas, get costings for repair works and even have them carried out if it’s a particular concern.

Our chartered surveyor over in Bristol – Paul Keegan MRICS DipBS MBA MCMI – often does this sort of thing:

“I’ve been around property for decades. I know what types of defects scare buyers and I can help you resolve those problems as quickly and efficiently as possible. That means we can make them disappear before a buyer pulls out and holds up your chain or tries to drive down your price.”

Chartered Surveyors who are part of the RICS valuer registration scheme are considered to be the foremost experts in the subject of property valuation available to the paying public. Naturally, anyone looking to sell their property will ask an estate agent (or several) to give them an idea of what to ask for it, but a valuer will give you an accurate assessment of what it is actually worth – ie. what it will change hands for.

Practically speaking, this means that you might put the property on the market for the price indicated by the estate agent, but have the true value in mind when a potential buyer tries to haggle you down. If they offer below the value, you’d be well advised to hold out for more.

Our expert valuer over in Stoke – Dave Roberts MRICS RegVal – elaborates:

“Without knowing the real value of your property, you can be convinced by what seems to be a good offer, but is actually a real undervaluation of your asset. I often work with clients to avoid this, as well as helping them maximise the value of their home by making sensible investments.”

So if you’re selling your property, budgeting for a short pre-sale survey is advisable. The result can be benefits to saleability and your negotiating strength, whilst having a surveyor working as your very own value consultant can help you maximise the sale price by putting money where it can really be effective.

About the author:

The Right Surveyors are a group of surveying practices based all over England and Wales. We focus on providing a customer service driven, professional surveying service to all sorts of private, commercial and public sector clients in need of surveys and valuations.

You can find out more on the Right Surveyors website here.

If you’d like my help to sell your home more effectively, please answer a few short questions here and if I think I can help you, I’ll be in touch.

It never ceases to amaze me that around 70% of my clients don’t know the commission fee they have agreed with their agent. Given that agents seem to be prepared to negotiate and reduce their fees in order to achieve the instruction, perhaps it’s not the fee that sways the seller, but the overall impression of the agent? As with anything we buy, we don’t usually want the cheapest, but nor do we want to be ripped off. We just want value for money, don’t we? So if all agents were the same, then we’d be obliged to choose based on their selling fee.

However, all agents are not the same! In talking to sellers about their motivation for choosing a particular agent, none of them cited fee as their reason. Instead, they talked about passion, enthusiasm and a genuine desire to help to sell the property. So, if any agents are reading this, please please don’t go in with the lowest commission fee – just listen to the seller about their hopes and needs from your agency, and make sure you portray – and act on – a real motivation to sell their house.

From the moment you engage an agent to market your house, forget location, location, location – it’s communication, communication, communication! Your agent should be talking to you often, even if there isn’t much to tell you. Communication forges the bond of trust you need when the negotiations start with a buyer, and things start getting tough.

So if you’re a seller, and you don’t know what you agreed with your agent, go back and check your agreement. If it states a commission fee of less than 1.5%, and you don’t feel like you’re receiving a good service from your agent, perhaps the two facts are linked! Go find an agent that will give you the service you deserve, and in return pay them the commission that they deserve.

If you’d like my help to sell your home more effectively, please answer a few short questions here and if I think I can help you, I’ll be in touch.

Making sense of the Mortgage Market Review and how it affects us all

I recently sold a house I’ve owned for eight years, but my successful sale at a great price had a sting in the tale….

Although I lived in the house originally, I’d left it rented out whilst it recovered equity (having bought at the very top of the market, as we property experts do). When the tenant gave notice, I thought it would be a good time to finally buy, having rented since I’d moved out.

I went to my lender and asked for half the mortgage I’d originally had for those eight years. They said no.

“But it’s half the mortgage I’ve been paying every month without fail for eight years!” I protested. Not only that, but my income has shot up during that time.

They wouldn’t be swayed. And after a few conversations with friends and on social media, I realised that I’m not alone. Far from it, in fact. There are many, many homeowners who are trapped in their homes because they cannot borrow sometimes a fraction of the mortgage they currently have.

In April 2014, the Mortgage Market Review (MMR – not to be confused with the immunisation) brought into force new rules about mortgage lending. These rules, introduced by the Financial Conduct Authority, were designed to ensure that lenders would be more careful about thoroughly checking how affordable and suitable the mortgage product was to a particular borrower.

I recently attended an event hosted by Experian, at which they explained the ramifications of the MMR, one year on, in their report The Mortgage Muddle, One Year On From the MMR. Here are some highlights:

12% of borrowers can’t get the mortgage amount they want
5% don’t meet the lending criteria
11% have no idea why their application was refused

Not being able to move home can have huge implications for your quality of life; maybe you have children and as they grow, you urgently need more space, but can’t buy a bigger house. Or perhaps your children have grown and left, and you need to downsize, but can’t afford to buy a property outright with your equity.

There is a solution, but it won’t suit everyone. Like I did, you can simply rent your home to a tenant, and rent the home you need. Many homeowners have done this since 2007, resulting in a strong ‘accidental landlord’ market. This is coming to an end now, as property prices in most areas of the UK have finally surpassed the 2007 peak prices, and owners are again able to sell, but like me, will they be able to secure a mortgage? Not only that, but the ‘profit’ you make on your rental – i.e. the difference between the rent you charge and the interest on your loan, plus allowable expenses – is taxable, giving you even less in the pot each month. Evermore complicated legislation for landlords also means that unless you use a professional letting agent, you could find yourself in trouble with tenants who are often more clued-up than their landlords, thanks to organisations like Shelter.

What I learned at the Experian event, was that before you put your home on the market, or accept an offer, taking these six steps can help to make sure your home move has a happy ending:

1. Know what you have to spend – make a list of your available savings so you know what deposit you have to put down.

2. Do your research – use mortgage calculators and talk to your financial advisor at an early stage, to find out the best lending route for you.

3. Assess your spending – look at the last few months’ outgoings. With online banking, this is surprisingly easy. You can simply download your transactions onto a spreadsheet so you can total incomings and outgoings easily. Are you overspending each month, or do you have plenty of month left at the end of the money?

4. Check your credit report – before you take any action, check your credit report – preferably with all three credit reference agencies: Equifax, Experian, and Callcredit.

5. Improve your credit score – Experian advise to take steps early to get you’re your credit report into shape before making your mortgage application. For example, ensure you’re registered on the Electoral Roll and paying down outstanding credit card balances. This handy guide from Experian on Demystifying Your Credit Score l may help you with this.

6. Last step – check every last detail of your credit report to make sure it’s 100% accurate. Name and address spellings, date of birth and accounts – these all need to be shown exactly how you would enter them onto a mortgage application so there are no discrepancies.

Finally, Martin Lewis on his Money Saving Expert website has a great guide to credit scores here.

I’m still working out the best route for me to home ownership again, and I’ll keep you posted.

If you’d like my help to sell your home more effectively, please answer a few short questions here and if I think I can help you, I’ll be in touch.

The UK housing market is at an all time high since 1998 and research by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) showed that on average, 22.700 homes were sold each month since the start 2014. People up and down the country are taking advantage of this “time to sell” and investing money back into their properties through redecorating and DIY.

It used to be that a lick of paint and a few nice light fittings were enough to generate interest in a house but people are getting savvy with their use of space, especially in the cities where converting an attic into a second or third bedroom could increase the average value of a house by 12.5%.

In order to entice people to buy, sellers are taking it one step further and totally revamping rooms in their houses.

Cellars, for example, if large enough can be converted into a second living room or entertainment room. This type of conversion is the most expensive however it yields the highest return on investment when it comes to adding value to a property.

As the “Help to Buy” Scheme increases in popularity more and more younger people are considering property as an investment so sellers need to provide the right incentive to cater for a younger audience in order to achieve a successful sale.

If there isn’t enough space to totally transform a cellar or loft then remodelling other rooms can also prove profitable in the long run.

This infographic by Evolution Money called “The Real Cost of Home Improvements” gives you an idea of what rooms can be renovated, how much you would expect to pay and what the average percentage of value you could expect to add to the asking price.

If you’d like my help to sell your home more effectively, please answer a few short questions here and if I think I can help you, I’ll be in touch.

It’s Friday and the last in my mini-series of learning from Andy Murray to help you sell your house!

However on top of their game Andy is, if he wants to stay there, he knows he has to defer to his coach for advice and, well, coaching! He has to put his total trust and faith in Ivan Lendl, and believe whole-heartedly that he has Andy’s success at heart, wanting the win as much as the player themselves do. It must sometimes take a lot of courage and ability to overcome his own misgivings in following advice that might seem counter-intuitive, but he knows that without this faith, Andy would be on his own and success would almost certainly evade him.

If you’re trying to sell your home and it’s just not going very well – perhaps you’re suffering from a lack of viewings, and maybe you’re trying your best to resist pressure from your agent to reduce your asking price – you may be wondering what on earth you can do. That’s where HomeTruths comes in. think of us as your personal property coach! We ask you to put your trust and faith in us, and in return we will advise and coach you through what can be a very difficult and emotionally-trying time. We’ll be there for the inevitable ups and downs, to tell you what to do when the feedback is less than flattering, or when you get a very low offer. We will do everything we can to get you a sale at the price you want. Sometimes, as I’m sure happens from time to time between Ivan and Andy, you might think we are wrong, that our advice is counter-intuitive, but stick with us, and keep the faith, and together, we’ll get you moving!

If you’d like my help to sell your home more effectively, please answer a few short questions here and if I think I can help you, I’ll be in touch.

Fourth in my five-part series with the shamelessly contrived theme of Wimbledon!

Andy Murray is exceptionally competitive. To him, winning is everything. Coming second is no consolation – it just means not winning. He needs this competitive edge, this determination to win, in order to achieve success. He has to want it enough. Not only this, but he has to know his competitor’s game as well as they know their own. Only by completely understanding the nuances, strengths and weaknesses of Djokovic’s game could Andy hope to beat him by being better, stronger and more creative.

How well do you know your competition? Do you know what else someone looking in your price bracket can buy? You need to know what other homes are on the market that in any way could be your competition. Look at their price in great detail, for example, what is their price per square foot, and how does that compare to yours? What features are they offering? Is your conservatory equal in value and desirability to their pool? Does your garden compete well against their paddock?

It’s difficult for a buyer to compare non-exact features such as these, as it’s like comparing apples with pears. However, compare the houses is exactly what they will do, and they will make a balanced decision on which offers the better value, and the most house for their money. Thus a young family will often choose a home with new fixtures and fittings over one with more space, but dated fittings; an older couple may well decide a home with two bedrooms and more character has more to offer them than a modern four bedroomed home on an estate. Consider carefully what your most likely buyer will look for, and give it to them. And give it to them in spades. Just like the tennis players, your game needs to be better, stronger and more creative, then you’ll beat the competition hands down. Just like Andy did.

If you’d like my help to sell your home more effectively, please answer a few short questions here and if I think I can help you, I’ll be in touch.

Welcome to Wednesday and the third in my series themed on Wimbledon.

In his book, Adapt – Why Success Always Starts With Failure – Tim Harford explains we must adapt—improvise rather than plan, work from the bottom up rather than the top down, and take baby steps rather than great leaps forward, in order to achieve success. Thus our great tennis players are constantly adapting in order to improve their games, often one tiny step at a time. Only by losing a point or a game can they re-evaluate, review, adapt and apply a new technique. In other words, without failure, there can be no success.

If your house is languishing on the market, with no viewers in sight, it is very easy to become disheartened and disillusioned with the entire selling process. It certainly isn’t often easy, especially when you are selling a unique home. Maureen O’Hara once said, “To cope, people need to be certain enough to act and uncertain enough to learn”, in other words, to have the courage of your convictions whilst still being humble enough to accept you may need advice and help. Not an easy conflict to deal with.

If you don’t have any viewings, review your marketing, and make some small changes to effect overall large improvements; if you have plenty of viewings but no offers, critique your home; maybe commission a professional home stager. If you are getting offers but they are below your target sale price, read up on negotiation skills, or even engage a professional homebuyer to negotiate on your behalf. In short – raise your game, and adapt, adapt, adapt.

If you’d like my help to sell your home more effectively, please answer a few short questions here and if I think I can help you, I’ll be in touch.

Day 2 of my series celebrating Andy Murray’s fantastic win and hopefully, the sale of your home!

Andy Murray and the rest of the world’s elite tennis players really are creative in their game. They innovate continually, coming up with new moves, slices, serves and techniques in a constant effort to improve their game.

When you are selling your home, creativity is key. Your marketing needs to stand out from those of your competitors, and at HomeTruths we are constantly looking at ways in which our clients’ marketing can be more innovative. Your brochure, online advert and property photography all need to be exceptional, so look at it with an extremely critical eye, and ask yourself “what could we do better?” Our photographers strive to create new angles and exciting lighting; the brochures we advocate are very special, with unusual formats, lots of pages, and creative layouts. Only by innovating on a continuous basis, questioning and reviewing your marketing, can you ensure that your home really sells itself.

Once a buyer takes the plunge and books a viewing on your home, you need to be absolutely certain that it really delivers the wow factor in every way possible. No matter how ordinary your home, or how modest its proportions, every room needs to really shine to a buyer. In order to be innovative and creative, visit show homes, stately homes and interior design showrooms; gather ideas and tips voraciously and apply the best and most appropriate ones in your home. It may be a splash of colour, a stylish piece of artwork or a sumptuous rug; whatever it takes to really grab your buyer and reassure them that this is their dream home.

Tomorrow we’re going to look at how to adapt to sell your property faster, and for more.

If you’d like my help to sell your home more effectively, please answer a few short questions here and if I think I can help you, I’ll be in touch.

Well done Andy!! I think I speak for the entire nation when I say that I was very proud of our ‘grumpy Scot’ yesterday. I think my whole village heard my shouts of delight when that ball went in the net and the trophy was ours after 77 years!

So as a tribute to our success, I decided to write a series of 5 posts with Wimbledon as a theme for the HomeTruths’ blog! Not such a contrived proposition as you might first think! Today’s post is all about:

Determination

To be seeded in tennis, the levels of determination required are intense. Practice, review, and practice again; repeat ad infinitum. It’s this persistence and tenacity that really sets apart the professional sportsperson and without it, they cannot hope to achieve success.

When you are selling your home, you need to display a dogged persistence in the face of adversity. Viewers will fail to show up, agents won’t call you back, lots of people will make negative comments about your lovely home, and throughout it all, you have to rise above it, and carry on regardless, and try to keep a smile on your face besides. Only by picking yourself up and still making sure your property is looking at its very best for each and every viewing can you, in turn, hope to achieve success. Many sellers fall by the wayside: statistically less than half of sellers actually sell their homes through their original agent, and over 15% just give up. It takes determination, perseverance, and a certain amount of stubbornness to stick to your asking price, and keep your chin up, but if you do this, eventually you will sell!

If you’d like my help to sell your home more effectively, please answer a few short questions here and if I think I can help you, I’ll be in touch.

It was a blustery Sunday at the end of a chilly October afternoon as we crept slowly along the street peering at house numbers. We had been viewing unsuitable properties all day, and were feeling a bit despondent, to tell the truth. This particular house was our last viewing of the day, and we were looking forward to putting it on our “no” or “maybe” list as quickly as possible so we could head home.

“Here it is” said my husband, as he finally located the door number. I looked at our list and sighed out loud. The front photograph had made it look like the kind of home we had spent so long searching for: something rural, with plenty of space and a nice outlook. This was practically on a main road, jammed up against its neighbours, and completely in darkness, looked frankly unwelcoming.

“It says in the details it has an outlook over open fields” I pointed out, looking for the positive.

“He’s late” my husband countered, pointing to the car’s clock.

“It’s 5 o’clock on the dot” I protested. “Surely that means he could still be on time?”

We sat in silence as the green numbers flicked round: 5:01….5:02…

Finally, at 5.03pm a BMW came screeching round the corner, veered across the road and came to an abrupt halt within millimetres of our front bumper. My husband shot me a look. I ignored him, and got out of the car.

The estate agent who approached me looked like a Private Eye caricature: he was around forty, boasting quite a paunch, had slicked-back hair over a balding pate, and was wearing a too-tight suit that had never quite been in fashion. His shirt was stripy, and his tie was floral. They clashed, loudly, needless to say.

He approached me with vigour and an outstretched hand, grabbing mine in a handshake he probably believes is assertive and confident. I pulled back my bruised fingers and stuck them in my coat pocket, making a mental note not to allow him a goodbye handshake.

Ignoring my husband, he instead strode up to the front gate, which was electronic apparently, and punched in some numbers from the scrap of paper he held. The gate started to recede. He marched through it and headed for the front door. At this point he had not introduced himself, nor had he apologised for his tardy arrival. My husband, who is not known for hiding his displeasure, was by now narrowing his eyes and clenching his jaw….not a great start, I thought.

After fiddling with several keys whilst we shivered on the doorstep, the right one was eventually located and we were let in. The owners had mercifully left the heating on, and the warmth was a timely welcome.

Seeing that the carpets were extremely pale cream, my husband and I both reached down simultaneously to take off our shoes. “Oh thanks for that” the agent said dismissively, then walked through the hallway without removing his. My husband nudged me. I nudged him back and followed the agent into the kitchen.

“This is the kitchen” he announced. Very clever. Not sure how he worked that one out. Perhaps it was the kitchen units, the cooker and the sink. But then I’m only guessing. We watched him, curiously, while he started opening units and drawers. “Ah, the fridge!” he said at last with pride.

I peered out of the kitchen window, to where I could just see the field behind. “Is that the Common?” I asked.

“No” he replied. “It’s a field.”

“Oh” I said. We went into the dining room, where the rather large table was pressed up against the wall, leaving no room for sitters on that side. “I think our table is around that size” I commented to my husband. The agent butted in: “Oh, isn’t that ridiculous? Why do people do that? It’s clearly far too big for the room! They should have got a smaller one, or not bothered at all.”

“Quite” I agreed, with a not-so-subtle eye roll…….

In the little study, one whole wall was devoted to the owner’s collection of Wedgewood Beatrix Potter crockery. “Oh how lovely!” I exclaimed. “I used to have these when I was a little girl.”

“Hmm….not my kind of thing” said the agent. I clenched my teeth.

At the end of the viewing, whilst we were putting on our shoes, the agent started telling us all about how his father had been a builder, and built in fact, our road.

“Fascinating” my husband muttered. I stifled a giggle. The agent it seemed hadn’t noticed anyway and was wittering on, regardless.

Finally, we were at the car, with his words “call me if you want to view it again” ringing in our ears. About to pull away, my husband paused, transfixed by the agent’s punching the keypad for the electric gates, which were remaining stubbornly open. He was clearly exasperated, and stabbed at the keypad a couple more times, before giving up, and leaving the gate open, got in his car and drove away.

“Bet the owners aren’t best pleased when they get home” said my husband.

“I’d be livid” I agreed. “Anyway, what did you think of the house?”

“I wouldn’t buy a packet of Polos off that idiot” he muttered darkly, and drove us home leaving me to ponder from the passenger seat, whether in fact some sellers are harming their chances of selling by employing estate agents that are, frankly, obnoxious? Maybe the owners have no idea about the lack of finesse this agent showed us on the viewing, having perhaps only had dealings with the efficient MD and the nice lady in the office, and are, in fact, totally unaware of the nature of the guy on the ground who actually does the viewings.

No matter how much we had loved the house, we just couldn’t get past this agent’s unprofessionalism, and offensive attitude. It completely tainted the house for us.

I drove past the house yesterday morning, and noted the sale board has changed to another local agent. Perhaps a little birdy told them what was going on. It wasn’t me. Honest.

If you’d like my help to sell your home more effectively, please answer a few short questions here and if I think I can help you, I’ll be in touch.