The Key to Selling and Getting A good Price (How to sell a house)

Member Name: rosiesmum

Product:	How to sell a house
Date:	24/04/08 (124 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Avoiding the pit falls

Disadvantages: Be wary of Estate Agents

My hubby and I have sold five houses in the last fifteen years, we are always on the look out for a bargain to do up and sell on.

We have managed to pick up a few tricks on the way especially on how to deal with estate agents and yes we have made a few mistakes along the road and regretted not playing the game slightly differently.

I am not going to harp on about presentation too much, because that has been said so many times before, and to be quite honest if you really want a good price you would know all that anyway.

Selling your house is not a simple task and of course you want the best possible price, so I hope this review is of some help to you.

Preparing your home:

Don't go mad with air freshener it just alerts prospective buyers from the outset, the old tip of freshly brewed coffee is also a no no.

Clean your home and concentrate on the bathroom and kitchen, put away all the clutter on your work tops and put a nice clean mat down in the bathroom (keep one just for viewing times.)

Clean the cooker it is important especially the oven, all women like to look inside an oven if it is in with the sale of the house and if you open the door to show her the size she will be impressed that it is gleaming.
If she likes the kitchen she will want the house no matter what the husband thinks and you know women usually get their way when it comes to buying the family home.

A lick of paint here and there can freshen up the appearance but do it a few weeks before you put it on the market, the smell of paint is not good it doesn't only stink it smells of a cover up.

Study the front of the house does it look neat and tidy it is one of your main selling points.

Tidy the garden and put all kids toys in the shed gardens must be shown off to their full potential.

If you have a garage get rid of the junk you may not use it for the car but a potential buyer will want to know if they can get their car in so make the effort it needs to look as roomy as possible.

Thats all on presentation, now for the more important points......

Value your home:

It is important to know the true value of your home before you even approach an estate agent, in our experience it is best not to just rely on their valuation.

When they come to valuate it is just their opinion and if you accept this opinion you could be getting ripped off, Estate agents are quite often under or over valuating for their own gains.


They over value to win business, and then you sit for months with no offers and end up having to reduce your home to probably less than you could have got in the beginning.

They undervalue at times to get a quick sale and their commission quicker.

It is best to have a good idea how much your home is worth before they come round.

First step is to find out which properties like yours have sold recently in your area; The Land Registry records all this information, or have a look on line Ourproperty.co.uk

Your property is worth exactly what someone and their mortgage lender agrees it is worth to be quite honest, and this is determined by other similar properties in the area that have sold and those that are on the market.

Thinking that you will get what you paid for it plus the amount you have spent on it and the price that you want for it is not always the way, it is all really a guessing game nobody knows what you will get until it is actually sold.

If you find your house has been on the market for more than six weeks and you have had no viewings then it has been over priced.
If you have had lots of interest but no offers then there is something wrong with the presentation (have you left the garage cluttered? Or does it need a quick make over for a good sale?)

For an easy sale and to get the most for your home it would be wise to sell when the market is strong, present your home as best you can, and most of all price it competively with other properties in your area.

I hope this is of assistance to you and I wish you luck in getting a good price for your home.

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