With so much pent-up demand for housing at the moment, there has never been a better time to sell your property and achieve a strong sale. While people’s priorities have changed – being close to the sea or green spaces supersedes proximity to social, retail and sporting outlets – vendors are not sitting tight and adopting a wait and see approach to house-hunting, according to Tony Deane, director of Moovingo.
Now, they want to get on with it. But to hit that valuation and go beyond it, it’s important to create the right conditions for selling your property.
With our easy to follow checklist from Moovingo, split out across preparation and presentation, you’ll be signing on the dotted line and handing over the keys in no time.
The prep steps:
Tips to make the process flow as smoothly as possible.
1. Appoint the right people
Some sellers will have figured out where they want to move to next, while others won’t. But the most important thing to do at the start of the process is to appoint the right people, including your estate agent and solicitor, Deane says.
“If you go sale agreed and you haven’t appointed a solicitor, waiting for the deeds slows down the whole process and you’re running the risk the buyer is going to look elsewhere. Having all your ducks in a row with the banks, finance and legal is vital. If you rush things there is also a higher chance you’ll make a mistake, so preparation is key,” he says.
2. Set the budget
Working out a realistic budget is very important. Sellers often don’t consider this, and halfway through the process they may notice what can be described as hidden costs.
“Make sure you know about all fees upfront,” Deane stresses. “With the estate agent, ask them to the dot how much everything is going to cost in euro, and not as a percentage. For example, ask what the total fee is in euro, and does this include marketing and VAT. Often sellers are not aware of these two items, which can add an additional 23 per cent to the total fee.”
3. Add up the fees
"At Moovingo, our USP is that our fees are fixed and flexible, it's not a percentage of the overall sale, so people know exactly what it will cost. You can find all of our fees on our website, where there are three options to choose from, including Pro which costs €1,500; Performance for €2,500 and M-Pack costing €4,250. If a vendor prefers to mix and match, we can customise a package," he says.
“Our Performance package is our most popular,” Deane advises. “This offers everything you would expect from an agent when selling a property. Everyone is entitled to a free valuation and once instructed we start preparing the property for sale. We advise on how best to present and stage it and work with our professional photography team on shoot day. Once the seller is happy we list it on all the major channels including Daft and MyHome and push it out across our network and other marketing channels.
“We then host viewings and negotiate the best price for the vendor while our dedicated closing team sees out the process with solicitors. Our Pro pack is preferred by those looking to save a little extra – they host their own viewings – while the M-Pack suits vendors who want to spend a little extra on marketing.”
It's all in the presentation:
How to make your home perform for an efficient sale.
4. Ace your photos
It is true that first impressions last and buyers, more often than not, see the property for the first time online. Therefore, excellent photos must create the right lasting impression.
“We’ve seen first-hand how a poorly presented property can put buyers off,” Deane reveals. “The majority of sellers put the effort in for the photoshoot of their home and are generally rewarded for it. On the day of the shoot we will work with the photography team to capture the best shots, but the owner should make sure to have the property decluttered, clean and tidy.”
“These days everyone is influenced by nice interior design images on social media, and have high expectations when on sites like Daft.ie and MyHome.ie. Buyers will stop on these sites for properties that look really nice. You want your property to look clean, tidy, with just the right amount of furniture and lighting,” he adds.
5. Make it great for viewing
Equally, when it comes to buyers viewing the property in real life, it must be neat and decluttered.
“When the vendor appoints us, we give a three-page document to them to help them get the property ready for viewing. It contains a checklist that will include tidying the outside of the property, the back garden, and if it’s an apartment, the common area also,” he says, adding, “often a day’s manual labour with the power hose and a skip bag or two will do lots to improve the look and feel of a property.”
[To book a free valuation visit www.moovingo.com or call them on 01 516 999]
6. Well-presented properties sell faster
Anything that is well-presented moves quicker, Deane says.
“People who lead busy lives – like those working in the tech industry here – are more likely to purchase well-presented properties,” Deane says. “That’s because they might not have the time or know-how for a ‘fixer upper’ and they want something that is ready to walk into. They are also more likely to bid a little higher on the properties that are really well presented.”
7. Think about additional marketing
Some vendors are eager to look at additional marketing, including spend on premium adverts on Daft.ie and MyHome.ie, and often this can generate better results. With savings made through choosing Moovingo, more can be spent on this type of promotion.
“It keeps your property at the top of listings for 30 days. People often jump on to see what’s new, so your property will always be up there at the top. We also use digital marketing platforms to target specific types of buyers on the internet, and virtual tours are also excellent ways to grab their attention,” he points out. “Other additional marketing we may recommend depending, on your property would be an additional for sale sign, a newspaper advert, a press release or property staging. Once we see the property, we provide our recommendations.”
8. Get the price right
Listing at a fair price will attract buyers.
“If you list too high, people just don’t show up for the property, and we need people to work with,” Deane says.
“The sellers that list a little lower than the valuation are more likely to get a better result and expectations are generally exceeded when you go in with a fair price,” he advises. “This is true at the lower and middle end of the market; when you go over a million a different strategy may be needed. Depending on the property, you might want to list at a negotiation-level price because you might only be left with one interested party. For example, a rural country manor has far less interested parties than a four-bed house in Dublin,” he says.
9. Have a bit of patience
If there is no quick offer, you may need to be patient as some buyers wait for another one to make the first move. “As soon as we get an offer in we notify everyone who has expressed an interest in the property, and that might be the trigger for others to bid. It’s a big decision for anyone to make and buyers may be thinking about things for a while, so don’t fret if it takes time. If changes are needed we will advise along the way,” Deane says.
10. Don’t pay more in fees than you have to
“The typical agent’s fee for a property worth €500,000 is 1.5 per cent, or around €9,840 when you include agent's marketing and VAT,” he says.
“With Moovingo you would make a saving of €7,340 on that property,” Deane says. “If the fee is 1 per cent, you’ll save €4,265. In terms of negotiations, we aim to generate the best outcome for all our sellers as we know the value of referrals and are keen to get them. We also make it super easy for buyers to bid giving them the option to bid online or directly with the agent if they wish. Either way, we are aiming to provide the best possible experience to all parties.”