10 Reasons To Stay With Your Chosen Christchurch Agent
October 14th, 2022
THE PROPERTY MARKET in Christchurch HAS CHANGED – YOUR MARKETING PLAN IS NO LONGER VALID
There is no doubt that the property market has changed over recent weeks and it is likely to change further before the end of the year.
For the last few years, we have operated in a SELLER’S market:
- There is a shortage of properties
- Buyers are led by their heart
- They make snap decisions
- Higher prices are achieved by sellers
It’s now on the way to being a BUYER’S market:
- More choice of properties on the market
- Asking prices are being reduced
- Buyers are led by their head, common sense and logic
- Buyers take their time to make decisions
- Lower prices are agreed
If you instructed an agent more than a month ago, your appraisal and marketing plan is no longer valid and needs to be redesigned immediately to accommodate the new market we find ourselves in.
Is this your agent?
I write letters to sellers who are on the market – much like this post today. I’m happy to give advice to people who are struggling to sell and whose listing seems to have gone stale – sometimes they use the advice to sell, sometimes they don’t.
A lady called me this week because I wrote to her asking about her property sale, she had been on the market for 6 weeks, and in the first week had a lot of interest, two offers and accepted one of them.
A week later, the buyer withdrew due to their fears about the market.
Since then, she has heard nothing from her current agent – no viewings, no calls, no marketing report, no advice on how to sell or what to change in order to get it sold.
I’m meeting her next week to discuss what she can do to get her home sold and achieve her dream which is to move further north to be closer to her family.
This is a motivated seller who wants to move as soon as possible but is getting no help from her chosen agent.
A plan to secure a listing, no plan to get the property sold.
The problem I see above is that her agent had a great plan to get her property on the market, but NO PLAN to get it sold beyond being lucky when they put it on Rightmove.
Many agents is that they have no experience of how to operate in a changing market.
Over the last ten years we have seen a rising market, aided by a shortage of properties to sell and most properties have sold within days rather than weeks. Selling properties has been easy.
Indeed, over the last two years, most properties have sold within a week and on the first viewing with no real marketing (don’t get me started on how wrong that is).
Many agents have been in their profession for less than 5 years so have seen nothing more than the ‘good times’.
As Bob Dylan once sang…”the times they are a-changin”.
We can now see that some asking prices are being reduced on a daily basis, some properties have been reduced multiple times in a matter of weeks.
Property sales and chains have broken with the almost daily bad news on mortgage rates, inflation and financial market issues.
But the advertising on many properties has not changed – at all. Still the same bland, lazy adverts, stock images – nothing to grab the attention of the buyer and make them feel like they have found their next home.
So how do you know if your chosen agent was the right one?
At the time of choosing them, you probably had two or three valuations and chose the agent with the most boards up in the area or the one who gave you the highest price, and to be honest, six months ago they may well have done the job for you and would have achieved your asking price.
But has your marketing got a little stale? Maybe you’ve not seen a buyer for a few weeks and received little or no feedback from your agent.
Here is my list for deciding if you should stick with your chosen agent:
10 Reasons To Stay With Your Chosen Christchurch Agent
- You are still dealing with the same person who appraised your property and not the office junior.
- Regular viewings and interest from buyers.
- Feedback immediately after every single viewing with comments and observations from the buyer.
- Buyer follow ups and weekly update from the agent.
- Regular update of photos.
- Updates of marketing description and effectiveness of lifestyle portrayal.
- You have an accurate floorplan, 360 virtual tour and social media marketing.
- You’ve had a face-to-face review of marketing to date and ideas on refreshing the advert.
- Your agent has given you ideas on improving saleability and appeal of the property.
- You have had a conversation with your agent about current market conditions and how it affects your move.
As I said earlier, if you have been on the market for more than four weeks then your marketing plan is out of date and needs to be reassessed.
What can you do?
If you can, give your agent notice, get rid of them and go with a more proactive agent.
Check your contract with your agent – can you give them notice?
If you are tied into a long contract, ask them to release you and get it in writing. If they won’t, ask them to provide you with a detailed marketing review and advice on how to get your property sold (this might scare some of them away anyway because they won’t know what to do).
Insist on a face-to-face meeting at your home and be firm, they must have a plan based on facts, figures and detailed market activity outlining what they are going to do to sell your home in the next few weeks.
DON’T JUST LET THEM REDUCE YOUR ASKING PRICE.
A marketing plan is much more than just reducing the price until it sells – you can do that yourself on Facebook or Gumtree. They must also detail what they are going to do to change your advert, marketing plan and sell the lifestyle your property offers.
Speak with me
I can help you with all of the above. I’ve worked in all kinds of property markets over 22 years of being an estate agent.
I provide detailed marketing plans on each property I sell and can give you a full review of why you are not selling.
Call me but don’t just take my word for it.
This is what a previous client of mine said when I contacted him after finding him in a similar situation:
“You are a magician. You have done more in a week than three agents have done in a year. What did you do differently?” Oliver, Bournemouth
If you like to find out how I work differently than other agents locally in Christchurch & Bournemouth, give me a call.
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