Selling a house can be difficult, especially at the moment with the coronavirus crisis showing no signs of abating, but it seems that if you price your home correctly when you first put it on the market, it could actually boost your chances of selling.
New research from Rightmove has just revealed the average time it takes to find a buyer if a house is priced correctly is currently 21 days, but this climbs to 47 days if the price needs to be dropped.
The study looked at 300,000 newly listed properties over the course of a four-month period, finding that if prices had to be dropped homes had a 32 per cent chance of finding a buyer within that time frame, compared to a 63 per cent chance if priced right from the outset.
Tim Bannister, Rightmove’s director of property data, observed that these results indicate just how essential it is for sellers to listen to their agents when they give recommended asking prices before putting homes on the market.
Starting with an asking price that is too high could result in unnecessary delays and even potentially make it less likely that they ultimately find a buyer at all.
“The temporary stamp duty holiday means more sellers are in a hurry to get a sale through conveyancing, and with this also taking longer at the minute a realistic asking price could soon end up being the difference between completing in time or losing out on the savings,” he observed.
Mr Bannister went on to say that there are numerous reasons as to why prices may have to be dropped, such as because the local area has lower demand than supply.
Sellers should listen to agents and take their advice, perhaps, since they take into account various factors before valuing a home, such as comparable properties and the overall condition of the property.
Further Rightmove research also recently found that homes with south-facing gardens are priced at £22,695 higher on average than properties without, which represents a seven per cent national asking price premium.
Interestingly, Yorkshire and the Humber saw the highest asking price premium of 14 per cent, homes in the region with south-facing gardens selling faster than those without, with a difference of eight days. Taking the UK as a whole, homes with south-facing gardens sell two days quicker than those without.
If you do have a garden, make sure it works hard for the house and you showcase it at its best if you are trying to sell. Spruce up the exterior of your property and you may find that it sells quicker, as a result!
For help with house sales in Forest Hill, call Alexander Charles & Brown today.