Secret Agent strikes again

Secret Estate Agent, Phil Spencer recently visited Andrew and Jenna in the exclusive Duchy area of Harrogate to work his magic to help them to sell their property.

Andrew and Jenna’s three bedroom semi-detached house should have sold without any problems but they had problems enticing anyone through the door to view their property.

What did Phil advise to increase viewing numbers?

Think about your target demographic

As Harrogate is geared towards young professionals, Phil advised Andrew and Jenna to tone down the amount of toys, storage and climbing frames in the house. They also redecorated any childlike areas to make them more sophisticated and neutral to meet young professionals’ needs.

Smarten the en suite

The en suite bathroom was looking a little worse for wear with duck tape masking cracks on the shower floor. Luckily, Andrew is a plumber so he stripped the bathroom out but did not replace it as Phil had advised. Instead he decided he would fit the bathroom to the buyer’s specifications allowing them to choose their own tiles and finish.

Fix the damp

An obvious bare patch of damp in one of the bedrooms was one of Phil’s main points of concern. It is important to correct problems like this as they undermine viewer confidence in the property as well as reducing the valuation figure.

Review the house valuation

Most properties that sit on the housing market for a long time are overvalued. Even if a house needs some work, this can be reflected in the price. It is paramount to get an accurate house valuation or your property will either take a long time to sell or it could lose you a considerable sum of money. For more advice on house valuations, please click here.

What was the outcome?

Andrew and Jenna decided to take the unusual route of ditching their estate agent and going with a PR stunt to try to sell their property. As Phil predicted, this didn’t help them to reach the widest possible audience and get viewings booked in. Eventually, they put their property back on the market with an estate agent at a reviewed asking price so, whilst it hasn’t sold yet, hopefully it will have a sold sign outside its door now soon.

07/02/2012 03:36