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More in our occasional series of “Ask the Expert”.
Q. I read that there are green shoots and that prices have stopped falling. Is this true? (Jane Smallman)
A. It depends who you ask. Those with something to sell including estate agents and mortgage brokers are paid when deals are done. No one wants to hire a pessimist and to encourage new business and to keep their clients happy, talking the market up or at the very least suggesting that it’s not as bad as you thought is an understandable reaction from people who need to eat! The official statistics say that the number of sales is down about 70% on the spring of 2007, house prices are down 25% and the number of homes being offered for sale is down by around 30%.
Q. Is the price I see on a website what the seller wants to get or is he expecting to get offers below this? (Red Devil - I'm guessing not his real name)
A. The guide price or asking price is just part of the marketing. It’s as important as the photograph, the description, the tidy garden or the smell of fresh coffee as you walk in. It’s there to get you to see the property and should have been set to encourage you to arrange to visit a house that has everything you think you want.
The greatest compliment that I was ever paid when I was selling homes was “I hope I can get it for less but that’s the sort of price I’d expect you to be asking”. It suggests that the vendor is realistic and serious about selling. It no longer means “this is what the vendor wants”.
Q. We have been trying to sell our house for nearly a year now. What can we do to find a buyer? My husband is ill and we have to move somewhere more manageable. (Mrs Swift)
A. Sadly you are one of thousands who would like to sell but for whom there isn’t an easy market. The clinical answer is that there is a market for everything and an auction will almost certainly guarantee a sale but the price you achieve may be far from palatable.
Until the market stabilises, you can only appear to be realistic, ensure that price, presentation and the house itself stands out above all the others and in doing so, you may attract the few buyers that there are to come and see your home rather than someone else's.
Q. How much should I expect to pay an estate agent? (Brian Harris)
A. The National Association of Estate Agents say that the ‘average fee’ is 1.4%. In towns up and down the land I know of agents who will do it for under 1%. Agents are killing themselves to get the few new instructions that there are coming onto the market. However, I have always taken a rather more positive approach when selling.
Your biggest problem is not finding an agent to sell your house for a bag of sugar, it’s finding a buyer and you need to do everything you can to ensure that it’s you home that the agent wants to sell. Motivate him.
If you pay him an extra 1% you only do so if he finds a buyer and the extra cost will be wiped out by the fact that you have actually sold and moved on with your life. It’s much more expensive to motivate an American broker since he is already used to getting an 8% fee so swallow your pride and bribe your agent with an extra incentive to concentrate on selling your house.
