hi i'm phil spencer and welcome to the
move iq
podcast home selling series the only
podcast series
dedicated to help you sell your property
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hello everybody and welcome to episode
number one
of season number three i wonder where
you were going though
i think we've already done two seasons
good lord the move iq
property podcast is back who would have
thought phil
three seasons here now well there's
always a lot to talk about chris
there is a lot to discuss it's a really
an interesting time in the housing
market people are trying to make big
decisions and they're
not entirely sure how to go about it and
this brings us on to
what season three about
um selling this um whole podcast series
is all about selling and we're gonna
really um have a bit of a dive into the
different aspects of that the decisions
that people face
and and the complexities of it because
it is it's a big one you've got to get
it right now before we get going however
if you are new to move iq and what we're
all about you should head over
to moveiq.co.uk for all that good stuff
season one was all about buying season
two was all about
renting yes and um this series that you
are kindly tuning into
all about selling deep diving okay so
let's get down to brass taxi
got a property i want to sell it big
decision just like anything else that
we've already discussed together
where do we start where's the thought
process
i think the um the important thing to
establish to start with
is is your motivations why are you
selling what are you trying to get out
of it is it
what's going to be more important is it
going to simply be about the most amount
of money that you can get for your
property or is it about the speed that
you can get
or are you mindful about who you sell it
to or
or how you sell it to are you
having a baby changing jobs getting
divorced or bereavement or probate or
there's a lot of
um there's a lot of things that can
motivate a sale so i think it helps to
start with
just having clear in your own mind in
your experience what is the number one
reason why people usually sell a
property
they've run out of space they want
something bigger they want something
bigger
more stuff or more children or more toys
or more hobbies
or bigger gardens more pets
most people in my experience sell when
they run out of space
which actually and we'll probably get
into it as part of the the discussion on
selling
of course when you run out of space it's
very clear that you run out of space
because you're
jam-packed in your house and it's all
cluttered and that's of course
a big um it's not not something you want
to put across
so i'm assuming very heavily that there
are a good
few different ways to go about
you know the beginning part of this
process of selling a property
what are the two or three ways that we
can kind of look at to begin with
um let's talk about the um the sort of
different methods whether it's high
street or online or
or private in a little bit but i think
to start with if somebody is
considering selling actually before they
ring up a bunch of agents having random
value actually there's an awful lot of
research that they can do in their own
house with with the internet
and indeed the move iq property report
um to put yourself in the driving seat
if you ask
somebody who makes their living and
earns their commission is this a good
time to sell
i mean they're not going to say no
you've got to choose the right time to
suit you you've got to have a think
about time scales and
as i said what you want to get out of it
are you going to be buying another
property do you want to buy that
property in this market or next year's
market
so by all means read everything study
everything learn all that you can
in advance of calling around a bunch of
people
to value your house or actually pressing
the green button and putting it on the
market
um you you look at market dynamics you
can
on the internet um discover how long
it's
how long it's taken to sell a property
what's the length of time
um you can establish whether the agents
or people are achieving what percentage
of their asking price things like that
so
it's i guess my advice here is putting
yourself in the driving seat
inform yourself as much as you can um at
the outset
so i mean obviously every situation
you know is going to be very very unique
right everyone like you say a lot of the
time people are moving
they want to move they want to sell up
because of the fact that they run out of
space but
even in and amongst that scenario
there's different situations right
there's
schools there's maybe something as
simple as broadband and how important
that might be right particularly if
they've got teenagers phil
yeah because we all know the teenagers
with their gadgets um
you know every every situation is very
very
unique there's not necessarily a right
and a wrong path
here but what would you suggest other
than sort of that initial research and
figuring things out a little bit more
where's the next step for people uh and
and sort of
where do you feel they should focus on
when it comes to
selling a property in the early days of
thinking about it
i mean most people will use a high
street agent but there are many other
options
available and there are pros and cons to
all of them
but i think you're absolutely right
where
we read in the press about the the
housing market's doing this
well it's not doing that the global
the the countries market might be doing
that if you look at land registry
but actually as you as you mentioned the
market can fluctuate in a in a very
small area
different price brackets or different
styles of property or different towns
and
um or even just time of the year maybe
even completely yeah yeah that timing is
a big thing
to um to consider because it takes
a great deal longer usually than most
people give it some
give it kind of credit for if you want
to be in by christmas you
if you haven't started by september then
it's
fairly unlikely what is the average
period of time for a house now
across the uk once it hits the market
let's say we go the high street agent
yeah you know rep route how
how long on average does it take to sell
a property i'm going to
i'm going to pluck a figure out out of
the air quest but um it's probably three
months
okay but actually it could easily take
another three months
uh before the deal's actually completed
you get into chains and complicated
arrangements like that then
you know how long is a piece of string
it can get very lengthy and and that is
something that that leads to another
decision
that people should take if they are
selling if they're planning to buy then
they
are going to be looking at getting into
a chain and that brings huge
complications so it's a very
i think valid and important thought
process a decision a question to ask
yourself
is would i move into rented would i sell
just to sell just to sell the most
amount of money get myself out of the
market put some cash in the bank come
back to the market as a
chain free cash stop do many people do
that
traditionally no but i think the market
is so complicated now or complex and so
many chains
are falling through because because they
take time to put together people that
you know we're not in
we're not in particularly certain times
at the moment right
um and the longer it takes to put a deal
together
and the longer it takes for the chain to
complete and all the conveyancing to
take place the greater the chances of
someone
within that change personal
circumstances changing
and and the whole thing falls out of bed
so
arguably i would say actually
it's better in terms of the deals that
you do and the opportunities that you
have
to put your house on the market sell it
for the most amount of money possible
take the money go into rented and then
come back right
right um but you know you've got the
costs and expenses of two moves and it's
quite unsettling and
you might have to be tied into a rental
for a year so there's again there's
everywhere we look in this market
because there's so many variables which
is why it's it's an interesting
um it's an interesting debate yeah and
the feedback that we get from the
listeners of this show
are that we do bring a little bit of
calm to that storm
with the knowledge and and you know the
expertise that you drop
on here based on your obviously very
very varied experience in
industry well i hope so but but um
there's no right or wrong
it is each individual in their own
circumstances
um making decisions as best they can but
there are so many variables
many of which you can't control my
advice always control the ones that you
can which yeah
the the you know the house that you
choose the price that you pay for yes
yes of course i mean a lot of people
will go into this with a
an outcome of it in mind very much like
buying a property as well
i want this kind of house this many
bedrooms this kind of garden etc etc
but i as you well know i'm a fan of
reverse engineering these sort of types
of things
as well how much strategy comes into
play
when we're looking at selling a property
in regards to that and
or that final outcome well at the end of
the day the final outcome is the sum of
money and the length of time it takes to
achieve that sum of money but there is a
fair amount of strategy that goes into
what goes into that and that can be
the price that you pay with the mark the
target market the type of buyer you're
trying to attract
um the method of selling traditional
agent high street agent
private auction part exchange um
so it that that's the kind of where the
strategy comes in and i think it's worth
people considering all of those options
they're all for different things
so other than the high street yeah let's
look at some of the other ways to be
able to sell our
our abode well the one that people have
talked about a lot over the last few
years is the um the online agent
um and explain that a little bit for
those that maybe you're not familiar
with well
if you sell via traditional high street
agent you'll get a negotiator and it's a
it's a
sort of face-to-face real situation and
they will come and do viewings and
handle all the discussions
with the prospective by an online agent
and there are slightly different
business models and slightly different
pricing structures but
between them but actually it's up to you
more often than not to conduct the
viewings and handle the negotiations so
it's a very different price point
um preferably you're going to get more
you're going to get more money in this
way i mean well it's
not going to have to pay as much money
as i can i'm saying right correct
yeah yeah fees are much much reduced but
then levels of
advice and service are also much more
supposed to do so
it's each to their own um and i think
my advice there is actually it's just
very important for people to understand
what they're getting and what they're
not getting
do you see a lot of people taking that
particular route
selling their first property or is it
usually with people who maybe have sold
a property before
and a little bit more adapt to how to
make it happen yeah money's tight
and um uh so fees
these are very relevant um high street
fees
are coming down that's for sure is that
because of the competition brought in by
this online stuff
yeah right right yeah um your house
tends to be your most valuable asset
so um in my mindset it kind of pays to
consider that totally and you want to
absolutely
be sure that you're maximizing the
market and you want as many people as
possible to hear about it and see it
but it's the same as any business um
they have to add value and if you're
going to pay an agent one and a half
percent where you're
going to be damn confident they're going
to get you more than
more than one and a half on top of what
somebody else would have got you yep
totally
um i mean some people in a perhaps not
now but
in a busier market private sales became
popular and they'd stick a board up
outside their house and they'd have a go
and in a booming market maybe that would
work in fact it would work
but um it's also worth considering the
amount of time and effort
that needs to go into that on on your
own part
and you've got to be there to handle
viewings and negotiations and
if you haven't done it before that's
that's quite an important intricate
delicate
um situation to find yourself in are
there any other ways
that people sell their properties on a
regular basis well
i mean pride product does private
selling come into play like when you're
selling it to people that you know
directly and yeah they haven't found you
in another way it does a little bit and
i spoke to somebody a couple of weeks
ago who done a house swap as well
i really yeah how does that even live in
the same village i like your house
better than mine
basically kind of thing right the two
had been introduced
and um and it fitted so
in there's a it's probably a fairly rare
example
right right right um but auctions
uh the benefit of an auction is you it
is a guarantee
there isn't a chain the deal the hammer
goes down 28 days later that deal
completes
so you get the guarantees but people
want to bargain when they go to an
auction didn't they
do you really end up getting what your
house is truly worth at an auction
oh so people buying at the auction want
to bargain and people selling
want the guarantee of no change no
mucking about 28 days later i'm gonna
get my money so you've got to weigh that
up a little bit maybe i'll take a little
less money
but i know i'm not going to be you know
upset
a month further down the line or
whatever which the
the kind of sad truth of the matter is
is 30
of deals do fall through between the
time of agreeing and offer an exchange
because
people change their minds so going the
auction route is a way to make sure that
doesn't happen
yeah yeah um i mean
where do things end up uh i i wouldn't
be surprised if we
will end up seeing more hybrid agents
where they have
a high street or at least a presence on
on the high street it might not be
a kind of walk-in office um in
as well as a decent digital offering
what sort of things
should we be considering
taking on board let's say we go to the
high street for example you say prices
are coming your fees are coming down a
little bit
what should we be considering when it
comes to selecting
somebody on the high street to represent
us in our house um
good question first of all i'd say
invite three agents round
and do your own research look up and
down your high street
check the local for sale boards and
who's selling what but you want to be
confident
that the agents that you're talking to
are accustomed
to selling your type of property in your
area
so that's the first thing you want you
want to choose the right type of agent
for your
your price bracket for your area and for
the type of property
it could be a lengthy process it could
be an intricate process it's likely to
get stressful it's emotional there's
money involved so you
want to be sure that you're dealing with
somebody or you you instruct somebody
that you're going to get on with
through that period you want to be sure
that they're
experienced they're honest they're going
to give you advice
i think many times um people view the
role of an agent just sell it sell it
hi and sell it quick that's your good
agent is that
you're paying for their advice yes of
course um
but we also have to understand that
they're in business
they're a volume business and they need
transactions now with that in
here's a follow-up question to that
point then
i mean we want to sell our property for
as much money as we possibly can get for
it
they as you very clearly pointed out are
in a volume style of a business
where they want to try and sell as many
properties as possible every month
quarter year they've got quotas
they've got targets they need to hit
right um
do you do you know should you stand your
guns a little bit in regards to what you
feel your home is truly worth
or when an agent says to you you're in
la la land phil
you're not going to get that much in
this market for this house and this area
this year you need to bring it down to
this number do you follow suit or do you
stand your guns
well that's why i'd say have three
people round
okay um don't choose the agent simply
who gave you the highest price
um in fact when i last sold the house i
think i had three agents around i chose
um the price that i liked from one and
the expertise and the advice that i
liked from the other one
evaluation is some it's not a science it
is subjective
uh it's very personal at times yes yeah
so i would listen to
to the agent because they're the ones
that need to be motivated to sell it of
course
and there's little point in fact there's
probably no greater way of
um uh demotivating an agent
than he tells you it works x and you put
x plus two
and stick it on the market he's
immediately gone really you think you
know you draw better than me
right um that's unlikely to um to start
things off on the right foot
but having said that
agents in this market there is a
tendency to
to give you an ambitious price yeah
don't worry
um we'll we'll definitely get you this
figure you sign up with them
you sign up with the agreement it's for
three months and a month down the line
they come like well i'm sorry
it doesn't kind of work this has
happened a lot
it doesn't and then you've lost a month
of your
absolutely key marketing yes of course
chances are the best buyers will work
walk through your door in the first
certainly the first three weeks so if
you put it on an ambitious price
particularly in today's market and then
a month later it comes down and a month
later it comes down again you've lost
your best buys you've lost the
kind of splash the launch on the market
which is which is a terrible change
but it's a you know it's a difficult
situation picking the right price
picking the right price picking the
right agent and
preparing your house for sale now i
remember i mean more so when i was a kid
i remember you
used to see a couple of boards outside
somebody's home
two agents trying to sell the same
property is this still still a thing
nowadays is i mean do they even want the
competition are they happy to have the
competition almost you know
there's there's several different ways
that they structure that but
i would just say you you can't have two
for sale boards and posts you can have
one post and you have two boards you
know one on the back one right
okay that that is allowed to have more
agents involved will cost you
a bigger fee unless it's a kind of
unless the agents themselves come to a
an agreement whether it's it's when it
takes all
or it's a split right um
if you choose the right agent i think in
today's market you're absolutely fine to
have
one just one and save yourself a bit but
you've got to choose the right agent and
they've got to be motivated
to sell it if you mock either of those
up you're on a hiding is nothing at the
moment so
this is critical stuff and i kind of
feel
that we're just scratching at the uh
surface here
we're going to wrap up episode number
one right here
on this there's a cliffhanger for them
there's lots more to come on
there's a fill uh we'll be back in
episode number two where we're going to
dive
even deeper onto this very very
important subject to picking
the right agent to help you sell your
home we'll be back at you then
[Music]
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