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Topic:   Only weeks left before summer slowdown hits property market.

Home Stager Active Member

posted 08 July 2004 08:26 AM          "If you are still on the market by the time the kids break for their summer holidays, chances are it will take you up to another 2 months to even get an offer. " At least that's what the UK's leading home styling and property staging company, Home Stagers, is predicting. "It's true. We've seen it year after year. The numbers of people looking to buy significantly reduces through the summer months, as thoughts turn more to holidays & outdoors than to moving house" says Tina Jesson, property author and founder of Home Stagers. "Currently it's taking 10 - 12 viewers on average, before you even receive an offer on your home and with the number of people available to go home hunting, severely reduced from about mid July until the beginning of September, offers on property will take much longer come in." "Then if you've not sold by early October, chances are you will still be on the market in early 2005." say Tina What an awful thought. So what can you do to prevent your house being left on the property shelf... Tina gives her 10 top tips to get you moving more quickly... 1. Don't sit back and wait until after your own holiday to chase things up - you will have missed the housing market boat if you do. 2. Push yourself and your estate agent to get as many people through your door before the end of July. Chances are you'll only have a trickle of viewers in August, if any. 3. Take the time to visit your estate agent, if you're using one and sit down and work out what they can do for you in the next 4 weeks. Maybe your property could be a featured property in the local newspaper. 3. Revise your sales details with your agent... Are all the pictures up to date and taken on a sunny day. If your property has been on the market a while already, your external photos may look like you've been on the market since spring. Get them retaken. If your internal space could look better, then rearrange a few things and get the internal photos retaken A well presented set of details will bring people in to your home and the more viewers you have, the closer you are to clinching that sale. 4. Put your property on a 'sale by owner' website for a few pounds and get your property more on-line marketing coverage to more potential buyers. (Try www.houseweb.co.uk) 5. Organise an open day or weekend with your estate agent. Promote it through the local newspaper and have escorted viewings done by the experts. A house empty of the family can be more appealing to potential buyers and it takes the stress off you for a day or two. If your agents not keen than there are companies who can do it for you for a fee. 6. Make you house look good from the road side with masses of drive by desirability. Our statistics show that people often drive by before committing to a viewing. No excuses now for not having a tidy frontage, neatly mown lawn and hanging baskets and pots of colour. Make your home stand out as THE one to live in. Your fighting against all the other property on the market for those few viewers still around through the summer. 7. You start to get people through the door, but how can you convince them your house is right for them? Then you need to be prepared... Make sure the property is professionally staged, you only get one chance to make a first impression, so your house MUST look fantastic. Just a quick tidy is not going to be enough if your really want to move this year! Know which order you are going to show your viewers around in. Start with the best room down stairs and finish with the best upstairs. Do a dry run and practice what to say. Focus on the good points and on positive reasons why you want to move. Never talk about the DIY projects you've done or say the house is too small! Know your local area, amenities, shops, bus stops and schools. These are all very important points people need to know about before they move in to a house. 8. Follow up each viewing with your agent. Some are great at getting back to you and giving you feedback. Listen carefully if you're serious about moving. 9. The first offer you get could well be the best one you will ever get, especially in the current market. If its with 2-5 % of the asking price you'd be a fool not to take it. Hold out for as much as you can get and you'll be on the market next spring. 10. Focus on getting your house sold in the next 4 weeks and you too can enjoy a relaxing summer with one less thing to worry about. Home Stagers provide a full home staging day for £397 including their guide for showing viewers around. Their total SmoothMove service is only 1.75% of the final sale price (2.5% inside M25) and includes payment of estate agent fees, the home staging day and managing the estate agent and open day. Call 0800 542 8 952 to find your local Home Stagers stylist or visit www.homestagers.co.uk for more information.

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