Ask most estate agents why a house hasn’t sold and they will usually say the asking price is the main cause. But is that the whole picture? There are many other factors that determine whether or not a property will sell, how quickly and for what price?
On average, premium properties (those over £700,000) in the Lake District take a patience-testing 468 days to sell. And the average price reduction to get to a successful sale is an eye-watering £95,474.
We know we can do better.
We are Sam Ashdown and Phil Jones, the directors of AshdownJones. Individually and more recently, together, we’ve sold hundreds of premium properties over fifteen years throughout the UK. In that time, we’ve learned exactly which marketing techniques sell houses faster, and for closer to the asking price.
If you decide to sell your home, these three questions may be on your mind:
1. When will it sell?
2. How much will it sell for?
3. How much effort will it be for me?
We know that the quicker your home sells, the higher price you will ultimately achieve. After all, nobody wants a house that nobody wants to buy. If a house sells in the first 12 weeks of going on the market, the chance of achieving a final sale price within 5% of the asking price is much higher, (around 97%). This probably means less disruption for you and your family, and less nail-biting waiting for you too.
What stops a property selling quickly?
Often, there is no single element that stops a property from selling. However, If the marketing –- photography, brochure, written description and promotion strategy – is not all at 100%, then no one can really be sure what it is that is preventing your house from selling.
A sad story of the house that wouldn’t sell
There is a large family home in Grasmere – a beautiful 19th Century Lakeland property, overlooking the lake. Mark and Michaela lived there, with their young son, Owen. Originally valued at £1.2 million, the property had languished on the market. Despite several estate agents trying to sell it, this stunning house remained unsold.
As a result, Mark and Michaela reluctantly dropped the price, again and again, eventually achieving just £865,000 for it. It took a staggering seven years to sell the house in total.
During those seven years, the strain of not being able to sell and move on (in every way someone can move on) irreparably damaged the couple’s relationship, and eventually they divorced. Unable to afford to move out, this poor couple were stuck living together for two long years before they finally called us in, and we were able to help them. It’s distressing to have your home on the market, and be unable to move on with your life. Your plans are on hold, you may be restrained financially from doing the things you want to do, and you may even have lost that home you wanted, as you were not able to buy it in time.
So what magic wand did we wave to help Mark and Michaela move on?
Introducing our Home Saleability Checklist.
This checklist will walk you through some simple questions and help you make an informed decision about your home’s saleability. And of course, if you’d like for us to pop round and see your home in person, we’d be delighted to tell you what we think, over a cup of tea.
Who else has this worked for?
Some recent clients of ours, Tom and Claire, were undecided about moving, but wanted to see how the saleability of their home would score on our Home Saleability Checklist. They had a free Home Saleability Consultation and discovered that, whilst their home was rated higher than average, there were a few small tasks they could take care of to improve their saleability considerably. A few weeks later, they decided to sell and achieved their asking price is only 5 days. They were absolutely delighted and Claire commented,
“We weren’t sure about selling our house, mainly because we had seen friends’ houses stick on the market for months, and to be honest, we couldn’t be bothered to go through that kind of hassle. When we saw that Sam and Phil were offering a free Home Saleability Consultation, we thought it would be good to know how saleable our home was from an independent expert. They came to see us and we were really impressed with the Report we got. After taking their advice we decided to sell after all and we’re so glad we did! Now we’re in the home of our dreams, which we could only afford because we got the full asking price for ours so quickly. I can’t thank them all enough.”
Being in the dark about the saleability of your home can be a worry, and the fear of unknowing may mean you miss out on that perfect buyer who would be prepared to buy your home for the price you’d like.
Visit www.ashdownjones.co.uk/ right now and if you’d like a chat, we’d love to hear from you on 015394 88811.
Alternatively, if you’re ready to book a consultation with us, free of any charge or obligation, just go to www.ashdownjones.co.uk/saleability and tell us a little about your home.
Really looking forward to meeting you very soon.
With warm wishes
Sam, Phil and the team at AshdownJones Estate Agents
015394 88811
