You have made up your mind , you want to sell! So now you feel very impatient to find a buyer. Today you can expect to sell in less than 4 months. With Carmen Immobilier, 90% of our sole selling rights agreements are sold in under 3 months. So how do you sell your house or flat in the shortest possible time and the best conditions?
Find below a few advices to sell as fast as possible and in the best way.
1st step: sell when you are ready to sell!
It is not as obvious as it seems to be. You have a several things to check before you put your property on sale. Does it need some maintenance work or remodelling? Do the colours of your interior or the paintwork need a refresh? Is it clean and tidy? Try to put yourself in the shoes of a new visitor who discovers the property for the first time. It is not an easy task because with time you get used to the little imperfections of your home.
So if it is too hard, ask your friends to give you fresh eyes on the matter to find out what needs to be done. Don’t be offended by their thoughts, view their comments as constructive and potentially fruitful ideas…
A few small maintenance ideas before you sell
We are absolutely not encouraging you to begin major works. We are only talking about small interior finishers. An important fact is that most buyers make up their minds within the first 90 seconds of the visit, you realise how important the appearance of your home is.
Don’t object to refreshing the colours in the living room, changing the backboard in the kitchen, replacing the shower enclosures etc…
If there is a swimming pool in your garden, this is an advantage but it must be as blue as can be, and the installation must be looked after: no missing slab. When you sell a house, be especially careful with the frontage and the garden aspect, it is the first thing the visitor will base their opinions on.
Clean and tidy up
A potential buyer needs to be able to imagine a new life in your house, so help him the best you can to conceptualise it! Don’t let him see dirty windows, oily work surfaces in the kitchen, dusty carpets or mould in the bathroom etc.
Put everything in the appropriate place, everything ought to be neat and tidy: beds done, dishes in the cupboard, the dustbin should be thrown away, etc. Go through your closets and dressers and get rid of unnecessary things, you don’t want your potential buyer sees overstuffed cupboards and therefore lack of storage?
If you feel a little helpless, don’t’ be! You can take advantage of the services of a cleaning company or why not try a home staging agency? It is not as expensive as you could imagine.
2nd step: Estimate of a fair value of your property
This is a difficult task to do. You live this place because you have been living in it for many years and have created many unique memories in your special home. It has a particular emotional value for you… this is even more commonly seen if you have in mind a property you want to buy after the sale. Those two things may encourage you to over valuate its price…
Be aware: the prices displayed on the web sites and even in some of the estates agencies are not the actual sales prices.
Houses and flats with a fair market price will be sold on average within 3 to 4 months.
Looking around at what is being done
The first thing to do is to ask around you if somebody has any insight into the local real estate market. You can also look on website with similar housing advertisements: accommodation, district, size, number of bathroom, year of construction etc. This will give you an appropriate price range within 20% of the real market price in which you should choose your property’s value.
When looking around take into consideration the date of the sale offer. If it is older than 3 months, bear in mind that it could very well be an overestimation of the actual price. Many private individuals are not really sellers and are simply offering their house or flat at a certain price just in case they find a buyer willing to cough up more than the market price…
Online property valuation:
On many real estate agencies’ websites and Internet portals you will find tools to help you estimate your house’s or flat’s price. Whilst some a paid service most of them are free. Nevertheless should you trust such tools?
We have compared a number of these online valuations and actual market prices. The online estimations are a difficult activity that needs to take into account a number of criteria that are not necessarily taken into consideration such as: the most recent sales, the general state of the building, the market tendencies, etc… At the same address, you could have a flat facing the sun and an apartment on a busy and noisy roadside. The online tool cannot make the difference between the two but the buyer will!
Valuation done by a real estate professional
We encourage you to take advantage of the experience and knowledge of a real estate professional before you start your selling venture and advertise your house or flat over the current market price. A failed sale is often the result of a higher than normal price…
A real estate agent knows perfectly the local market and demand; you ought to favour an agency close to your property so that they will have an even more in depth expertise of your neighbourhood. As professionals, they will provide you with a free reliable valuation which is free of commitment.
The real estate expert can also give you useful recommendations in order to better showcase your house or apartment. He will additionally give insight on the amount of property in stock. Indeed, competition is another factor that should be integrated into the market price. If there lots of property opportunities, a buyer will shop around and compare. The need to differentiate will be present.
By now, you should have a good idea of the final fair price of the asset.
3rd step: Releasing your property on the market
Whether you use the service of a real estate agency or you decide to market on your own your property, you will need to pay special attention, when creating your sale advertisement, to present: good and clear photos and well written ad. You can find more information on our page: How to write an effective ad.
Taking good photos
This step should not be put aside or seen as inconsequential. Photos are the first aspects that appeal to potential buyers. Wait for a nice sunny day to take photos of the exterior but be careful to take into account backlight that might darken rooms. Put away all personal items and make sure your animal companions are out of the room. Anything that is too personal will make it more difficult for the buyer to imagine your home as being theirs. Take well-cropped photos, put forward high quality photos and try to take horizontal ones. The more photos available, the less the buyer thinks there will be hidden defects or problems. So don’t hesitate!
With CARMEN IMMOBILIER’s 6 month sole selling rights agreements, we award you with the possibility to have a professional photographer come and better promote your house or flat and offer you the mandatory diagnostics.
Writing an effective property advertisement
While adding more photos has a positive impact on the effectiveness of the ad, there is difficult balance between enough description and too much.
In essence, a too long text can discourage potential buyers; they review so many ads when looking for the perfect piece of property that they end up skim reading in order to find the important information. It is therefore essential for this decisive information to be visible and not lost amidst long description. Be clear, concise and accurate. Take care of the title and do not hesitate to integrate factual information. You can find more information on our page: How to write an effective ad.
4th step: Selling your property fast
Understanding seasonal timelines
It is a known fact that that there are more sales in spring and autumn than in winter and summer. In summer, everyone goes on holiday whilst in winter the night falls earlier. It is not easy to promote rooms’ brightness when its dark outside by 5 pm. Make sure your property is on sale in spring. But be careful of presidential election years’. During those years, because of the fear of potential tax reforms, the number of sales decreases substantially. It advised to sell prior to such years.
Choosing a sole selling rights agreement
If you decide to sell with the use of a real estate agency, you will be given the choice between a simple agency agreement and a sole selling rights agreement. Please note that 80% of sole selling rights agreements are sold in less than 6 months compared to 55% for simple agency agreements.
On one hand, with a simple agency agreement you are free to take advantage of multiple agencies to sell your house or apartment. This will allow your property to have greater visibility and viewed by more individuals. But this might lead to an overexposure of your house or property: the potential buyers might think that your property is not selling because of unseen problems as a result of this overexposure. Moreover, prices may vary from one agency to another. The future possible owners might become suspicious…
On the other hand, with a sole selling rights agreement, you intrust a single real estate professional with the sale of your property. The agent will be motivated to sell your asset as she or he is the only one to be able to complete the sale.
Be careful to choose an agency that belongs to the Real Estate professionals’ Sole Selling Rights Agreement society (AMEPI in French). This network allows real estate professionals to share their sole selling rights agreements with one another. Thus, even though you signed with one agent your property will be shared amongst the real estate professionals belonging to the society hence giving your property a broader visibility. You can now choose the agency that offers the most adequate services for your venture. (Find out more about Carmen Immobilier’s sole selling rights agreement).
