When the time has come to sell your home and move on to pastures new, it's likely that you haven't sold a property for quite some time. The average time a person lives in one property is 7-10 years, and if you cast your mind back ten years, our world today is almost unrecognisable; AI and cryptocurrency are now part of our lives, but it's possible that you'd never really heard of either of those things ten years ago and they certainly weren't in our everyday conversations. 

So it's fair to say that, unless you are moving house far more frequently than the average person, you might not be considered an expert in selling property. With this in mind, it's easy for a homeowner to fall foul of these common mistakes as they attempt to sell.

1. Overvaluing. Planning your move is as much about the property you want to move in to as it is about selling your current home. The more money you can sell your home for, the higher the available budget for the onward move. Many sellers make the mistake of marketing their property for sale at a price that is simply too high, falsely believing that the higher the starting price is, the higher the end sale price will be. Instead, a discerning homeowner should market their property for a competitive price, reasonable and researched based on factual evidence collected from the current market. You may think a buyer will negotiate with you when they view, but unfortunately, that is often not the case. Buyers will simply discount the property altogether, and you'll find the number of viewings so low that a sale becomes quite unlikely, meaning that you'll most likely have to reduce the price.

2. Bad pricing strategy. Many sellers mistakenly think that they need to factor in wiggle room to their pricing strategy to allow for negotiation. This often results in advertising prices being quite unconventional and are placed ever so slightly above a round figure. In fact, this has an adverse effect on the marketing of a home as almost 99% of all property searches begin online, and properties are filtered using price brackets. If you market your home at £255,000 to allow £5000 negotiation, any buyer that cuts off their search at £250,000 will not even see your property in their search and might never know that your home is available. Instead, opt for round figures that align with the price brackets in online advertising to maximise the coverage and exposure of your marketing.

3. Being inflexible. The ultimate mistake sellers make is being rigid and uncompromising in their plans. Not allowing viewing appointments at a time that suits the buyer could result in that buyer not viewing at all. Setting a fixed price in your mind could mean you're unsuccessful in your negotiation. Being very restrictive on your moving timescale could result in a buyer choosing a different property that suits their circumstances over yours. Being as flexible and accommodating as possible will ultimately increase your chances of selling your home.

Whilst it is, of course, still possible to sell your home if you market for a little more than it is truly worth, add a little extra for negotiation and stick rigidly to your own agenda and timescale, you are simply reducing your available market to sell to which could result in a slower sale or a lower sale price. 

If you're on the market and wondering why you haven't sold yet, or are thinking of putting your property on the market, contact our team of property experts to ensure that you don't fall foul of any common mistakes and maximise the value of your home.