Let good traditional estate agents save you time

I ACTUALLY enjoy running a business in an industry where timing is very important to every aspect of our work.

It is also a business which is time consuming.

We as agents need to ensure we allocate plenty of time for all customers we deal with.

For example we need to allow enough time for homesellers on a consultation with us to find out how they want to market their property and enough time to our potential buyers to listen to their requirements and then on viewings to absorb a property’s benefits while on site before offering.

Just the other day a gentleman came in the office who some time ago had instructed an online agency who although would charge only a small upfront fee, in return it was up to him to conduct his own viewings.

He told us that over the last few months he had already personally carried out 44 viewings and was desperate for us to help him from then on.

Although on average you can expect a first offer within 10 viewings on your home as often as not it can sometimes take much more time to get the right buyer for your home and at a fair price within a Stroud area well known for its delightfully varied housing stock.

Current market statistics are suggesting that the “viewing to offer ratio” we look at has become greater recently as buyers want to ensure they are paying the same right price for the right property and in doing so are viewing more properties to compare.

If we think about this on average a home owner could spend 30 minutes on a viewing on his home and in the gentleman’s case he had already spent around 22 hours conducting viewings with nothing to show for it at the end.

We are due to be taking his instructions to sell his house in around a fortnight’s time so we are confident his fortunes will change.

All this hard work even before a sale is agreed, I hear you say and although there are a good number of home sales that go through without too many problems at all, it can be reassuring for our customers where we can assist with complex conveyancing and survey issues and will willingly spend literally hours on phone calls between all parties to eventually gain that much desired exchange of contracts.

The average sales progression can take about three solid working days and most people are not in the position to be able to give that amount of time needed to see their sale through especially as working with solicitors for instance has to be done when you are probably at work and unable to make those longer important calls we can make for you.

To take a property on the market, photograph it and produce a high quality detailed brochure for you takes some hours of concentrated hard work but we believe our thoroughness pays off and we sell a good proportion of our homes to sell or rent.

We often find ourselves doing a good number viewings and whilst travelling is a factor, we try hard to be just a little early before an appointment to ensure the house is properly presented and lit.

With any luck we will then receive an offer and will then negotiate the interest received to the point of a sale.

We are then often asked to carry out two further re-visits to the property with the buyer to measure up but by then our dedicated sales progressor ensures you receive regular updates throughout the 8-12 weeks that it can take until the sale reaches completion.

Believe it or not an agent can easily spend up to and well in excess of over 40 hours of time specifically spent on your property from beginning to end.

Most people lead very busy lives, commuting, or pleasure time taken up with children, dogs, grandchildren, work or even cleaning; the list goes on but why not reflect on your past week and then add to that the need for you to carry out just eight viewings on your house?

Exhausting on top no doubt.

One excellent reason therefore to find a trusted agent not only to make your week easier but because good agents are trained to show customers around professionally, they often bring about the best results you could have wished for despite charging a reasonable fee on completion.

“You may delay but time will not” Benjamin Franklin.