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Top 5 mistakes to avoid when selling a property 

Find out the top mistakes home sellers do, to avoid them yourself


You may be looking to sell your property, but are cautious as you have heard mountains of horror stories as to estate agents, solicitors, things going majorly wrong, or tiny mistakes turning into absolute disasters.


You may have also experienced some of these yourself and whilst you know vaguely what to avoid, you are wide enough to do your research. After all, you have been burnt once, and don’t want it happening again. Especially when it could have been avoided at the outset. 

We go through our list of top 5 mistakes to avoid when selling a property below. Whilst there are many other things to keep in mind, we think these are the most crucial.


Overpricing your property and the having to reduce it down


Obviously, you want the most money for your property. Everyone does. And rightly so. But overpricing it, on the off chance that someone will come along and be happy with the inflated price is very slim. You are just replying on luck, and in a transaction as big as selling your home, strategy will always win over luck.


Estate agents usually overprice and overpromise people in the beginning, getting their hopes up with a value magically plucked from the sky.


But you see, when properties have been on the market for some time and reduce in price, people start wondering – is there something wrong with the property? Why does no one else want to buy it?


Also, for a little nugget of information - most investors and landlords have website trackers and can see if a property has reduced – even when it is completely deleted from the web, and uploaded back up.


To avoid having to reduce the property down, we do things differently. We set the auction starting bid lower in the beginning to generate interest, and when people bid, you can see it soar up and up. So much so, that over 80% of our sellers have received over the reserve price for their properties.

 

Underestimating selling costs


You may think, my property is priced at £300,000, therefore, if I receive an offer of the same, I will get all £300,000 in the bank, right?


Unfortunately not. There are costs associated with selling your property, which can rack up pretty quickly. An average estate agent takes 2% of the value of your property in order to sell it. That is up to £6,000 in selling costs!


On top of this you have your usual legal solicitor fees, moving/transport costs, amongst others.

We don’t believe it should cost so much to sell your house. Here at Smart Auction UK, you can sell your property for free. Yes. Completely free. With us, the buyer pays all the costs, so you can save a whooping £6,000 on estate agent fees. The only fees you would have to pay are your solicitor fees and usual moving out fees. We can recommend a No Sale No Fee solicitor to you or you can use your own. We receive no commission by recommending the solicitor firm to you.


Choosing the wrong estate agent


Everyone has heard horror stories about estate agents. We feel like we have heard them all. Most common complaints we hear include: they are useless, they don’t do anything, they are not even trying to sell my property, they are pushy, they don’t know any information about the property or area, they don’t provide updates, and on and on and on.


Our approach is completely different. Here at Smart Auction UK, we give our 100% to every client and property we have to sell. We believe in being proactive and not waiting around for things to happen. We act and get to work to sell your property. Our dedicated team of experts proactively and pragmatically push our properties to our existing and new prospective buyers.


We do this both online, and offline. Together with our agents, we all actively do our bit to get your property sold. We only get paid when we sell your property. That in itself is a big motivating factor.


Inadequate marketing


Some estate agents sign you up, come and take photos and just put them up on their online – on their website, Zoopla and Rightmove. Some estate agents only exclusively advertise on their website, due to costs associated with Zoopla and Rightmove. They do that and they sit and wait.

Maybe a buyer will come along, maybe they won’t. Estate agents just hope for the best.


At Smart Auction UK, we have a much better approach. We believe in being proactive and doing as much as we can to sell your property fast. On top of the usual advertising on our website, Zoopla and Rightmove as standard, we over 3,500 independent estate agents and 600 partner branches, which will advertise your property locally and nationally.


On top of this, we have built up a vast network of investors and landlords, who we will contact as part of our service. We do not believe in sitting and waiting for a magic house buying fairly to appear out of nowhere. We will proactively look for a buyer to be able to sell your property.


Not preparing your home for sale


People often overlook maintenance, or preparing of their homes for sale, taking photos or viewings. They think that potential buyers will want to decorate and renovate the house to their liking anyway. Whilst this is true, and everyone has different tastes, there are some general and important things to keep in mind.


Tidying the house from general mess and clutter. Making sure hallways are clear, can easily be able to walked through, kitchen tables and countertops are cleared of everyday miscellaneous items, and any smells eliminated.


If there are obvious broken parts or things in not good repair - think whether it will be worth fixing them temporarily or getting a professional to look at it. First impressions count, and you want to set the best impression from the very beginning.


If your property is empty, think whether a home staging service could help you out with presentation to achieve the best impression and price.


Do you agree with these top 5 mistakes when selling your property? Or do you have some of your own that you think rank higher? We would be interested to know! Click contact us below and let us know your thoughts.


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