How to Avoid the 10 Worst Property Selling Mistakes

(England/Wales)

 This Guide is Brought to You by  www.TheAdvisory.co.uk 

Mistake #6 Not Forming Your Own Idea of Your Homes True Market Value Before Speaking to Estate Agents

We would urge you to get a feel for the market you’ll be selling into and the value of your house before you speak to any Estate Agents.

This is because the word of an Estate Agent when he (or she) is trying to secure your business is far from reliable.

If you rely just on an Estate Agent’s opinion on the value of your property you leave yourself wide open to being taken advantage of.

It is well know in the property industry that Estate Agents often overvalue property. 

A common strategy to gain new business is to tell homeowners what they want to hear (i.e. Flatter them with an inflated valuation), get them tied into a contractual relationship and then start suggesting price reductions a couple of months later down the line. 

We feel that the problem is widespread and please bear in mind that just because an Estate Agent is a member of the NAEA, OEA or RICS it doesn’t automatically mean they are immune from “trying it on” in order to beat their competition to securing you as a client.

A recent report from the consumer group Which? investigated the Estate Agency industry. Researches posed as sellers and invited 56 Estate Agents to value 14 properties across England.

In six cases the highest valuation was 25% higher than the lowest.

The most shocking case of inaccurate property valuation was in Tyne & Wear where The Halifax valued a home at £200,000, while Moody & Co suggested £325,000.

That’s a £125,000 difference in valuation figures!

Being “taken for a ride” by an Estate Agent who isn’t playing with a straight bat is a horrible situation to be in however; it’s easy to protect yourself:

This will tell you:

• If prices are moving up or down. 

• If there are more buyers that sellers active in the market (thus making it a “sellers market”). 

• What percentage of the asking price sellers are actually selling for. 

• How many viewings & weeks it should take you to sell.

2:    Search for the prices that property like yours (in & around your street) recently sold for.

A record of the selling price of every home in the UK is held by the Land Registry and this data can be accessed for free again at sites such as OurProperty or Nethouseprices.  

If you can find property like yours that has sold within the last 4 months then this little exercise will give you a very reasonable indication of what your home will sell for.

3:  Look on Rightmove (the largest of the UK's property advertising sites) and pretend that you're buying your current home all over again.

Search for property in your area that’s just like yours and see what kind of prices vendors are asking.

Doing these 3 things will quickly give you a realistic idea of:

• The state of the market.
• The value of your home.

With this knowledge you are then ready to get the opinion of Estate Agents.

Any inaccurate valuations will be immediately obvious.

Use the links below to see the other mistakes

Mistakes 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10

At TheAdvisory you will find guidance on how to – Sell via estate agents, sell property privately and sell a house fast for cash. You will also find information on property valuation and the UK conveyancing process.

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