It would be fair to say that the current property market here in Tunbridge Wells is as ‘unsettled’ as the Autumn weather.
- There is still a shortage of housing coming to the market as increasing numbers of people choose to improve their home instead of moving. It is ‘de rigueur’ in Tunbridge Wells to have a skip and scaffolding outside your house right now.
- The uncertainty caused by Brexit is clearly a factor in people’s decisions not to move at the moment and that has led to a buyers’ market.
- While prices on the portals such as Right Move and Zoopla appear fairly steady in our postcodes, behind the scenes we can see that sellers are having to accept offers where they might previously have achieved full asking price and that over-priced properties are simply not selling.
While house prices in Tunbridge Wells are typically robust, they are showing signs of being more static at present. So, how do we help vendors to sell in a difficult market? One aspect of achieving a sale and getting the best price possible can be the presentation of your home. Here at Belvoir Tunbridge Wells one of the tools we have available to us is to enlist the help of a local property staging expert.
Caroline Pickering of ‘Style My Home’ gives us her view on selling in a difficult market and how sometimes it pays to spend a little more in order to gain more:
If you are looking to get the maximum price for your property and the best return on your investment, home staging will really help and it’s not nearly as expensive as you might think. We aim to present your property at its best, emphasising its best features so that it will appeal to the widest range of potential buyers who can imagine themselves living in this space.
We have staged properties that have been empty for some time and look very tatty and unloved but have great potential. Simple basic decorating and completely furnishing and accessorising as well as identifying or re defining spaces creates rooms that appear styled, simple and attractive.
We can declutter and stage your home even if you are living in it. It can make a huge difference to your home creating a much nicer space to live in.
Case Histories:
· After staging we have seen offers on properties achieved as much as £30k more than the asking price.
· After up to 70 previous viewings on one property the estate agents sold after only four months.
· After staging a property which had previously been on the market for six months empty it sold in one week with sealed bids and achieved the asking price.
Staging is particularly successful for an empty property but we have seen good results in clients selling after staging whilst living there. Some clients have actually admitted to loving their home again!
Belvoir are proactive in pushing through sales to completion. We are proud of our 100% success rate in taking property listings through to completion compared to the industry average where only 70% of offers make it to a final sale. We will talk to you about whether we think home styling or staging would be a valuable additional service to achieve your sale at the price you want and in a timescale that works for you. We will put you in touch with local experts in this field such as Caroline who we know and trust. We will provide a realistic market appraisal, not an over-priced value that raises your hopes unfairly only to dash them when the offers do not follow. Selling your home in a difficult market is not impossible and the process need not be stressful but sometimes it needs a bit of lateral thinking and an agent you can work closely with to explore all the options to sell your home for the price you wish to achieve.
