Attracting buyers for your property
October 8, 2008
If you have been trying or even thinking about selling your home over recent months you will already know what a tough time you could be facing. Property sales have plummeted over recent months, and the situation has been fuelled by falling house prices, which is putting potential buyers off due to the risk of falling into negative equity, and also by tighter credit conditions, which is resulting in many would be buyers being unable to get the necessary funds required to purchase a property due to the global credit crunch.
This has resulted in a bleak outlook for sellers, many of whom have seen the value of their homes plunging lower and lower whilst they wait for any sign of interest from would be buyers. Property values have fallen for eleven months in a row according to recent reports, and officials have said that the average home now takes around eleven weeks to attract a potential purchaser and has around fifteen viewings before any acceptable offers are made on the home.
Industry officials, however, have said that there are a number of steps that homeowners can take in order to increase the chances of cutting back on the time it takes to sell the home, get a reasonable price for the property, and get the property sold within one or two viewing rather than go through the rigmarole of having a dozen people or more view the property.
Officials have said that it is important that the property is in as good a condition as possible, with all repairs having been seen to and the property clean, tidy, and possibly as neutral as possible in terms of décor. Also, the situation can be helped by factors such as being secluded, having private parking, etc. although these are things that are not always within the vendor’s control.
Another important factor that has been highlighted is to put the property on the market at a reasonable price to attract attention from buyers, as a high price will simply put them off right away and they will often skip to the next property.
One estate agency official said: ‘We’re in a price-led market and it was on at the right price to create interest. In the past 12 weeks there’s been a sea-change among vendors - they know the market is bad and they’re insisting we value properties realistically. We’ll walk away from sellers who ask high prices.’
Industry officials have also suggested a number of other tactics in order to try and increase the chances of a sale, such as open houses, where potential buyers are able to enjoy two hour viewings, a change in estate agents if the property has become stagnant on the books of your existing agent, and decreasing the price in order to entice buyers, who may then end up haggling with one another over the price, resulting in the vendor eventually getting the asking price or above.
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