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Top Tips to get the best price for your house

In what is seen by many as a buyers’ market, it can be difficult to achieve the asking price for a property. Catherine Greaves reveals some tips to help achieve your asking price.

Choose your agent carefully: Every Estate Agent offers something different. Whether that be coverage, local knowledge, high street presence, accessibility, or dedicated team members to assist with every step along the way. Be sure to choose one that you can work with and who sells property like yours all day, every day.

Establish your motivation: Your chosen agent should work with you to try to achieve your goals. You need to work out your motivation and let your agent know. Are you motivated by price or by time? Do you need as much money as possible from your sale or do you need to be moved by the school summer holidays? Whatever it be, let your agent know so that they can deliver!

Take your agent’s advice: Usually, a property will gain the most interest within the first few weeks of marketing. If you haven’t had many viewings or an offer within a sensible length of time, take advice from your agent, that’s what they are there for! The market will dictate a property’s value and if you are not getting viewings, it is likely price-related. If you need to amend the price don’t do it too soon, but similarly, don’t wait too long or the property might seem ‘stale’.

Asking Price: Ultimately, a house is worth what someone is prepared to pay. However, you still need to make sure you put your property onto the market at a correct asking price in order to attract enquiries.

Enquiries convert to viewings and viewings convert to offers! If the property is overpriced, it can be detrimental and often vendors end up accepting less for their home compared to what they may have got, if they launched their property to the market at the correct price in the first place.

Use a mixture of property websites and word of mouth from local estate agents to find out what the house next door sold for, as well as similar sized homes further afield. Don’t fall into the trap of comparing your price with other guide prices. Not all guide prices are correct so don’t base your research on them!

Tactics:The first offer might not be the best one. Always instruct your agent to ask for an increased offer and wait. At the end of the day, you have the property they want to call home. A good agent, in most cases, can get an increased offer from your prospective buyer.

Let the agent negotiate: Sometimes getting personally involved becomes a bit too personal. Your estate agent will have done it hundreds, if not thousands, of times before and will have your best interests at heart. You should have appointed an agent that you trust and respect, so listen to their advice.

Find the right buyer: If your property is launched onto the market at the correct price, you can sometimes find yourself in a situation of having more than one offer on the table. Your agent has to inform you of all offers and will ‘vet’ them all to measure their strength. Your agent will find out everything about all potential buyer’s funding and chain details etc which will then allow you to make an informed decision. Not always the highest offer is the best offer. For example, you may wish to consider £5,000 less for an offer from a cash buyer looking to proceed quickly compared to £5,000 higher from a buyer who still needs to find a buyer for their house. It all comes back to what your personal motivation is.

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