Should your estate agent have a key?
There are so many elements to selling your home. It can seem like you have taken on another full-time job sometimes.
But don't despair. There is a simple solution.
There are so many elements to selling your home. It can seem like you have taken on another full-time job sometimes.
You will suddenly have a variety of people that need access to the property to complete all manner of tasks.
There will need to be photoshoots, EPC assessments, viewings, measuring up appointments, surveys and specialists.
And this list is all of the visits that would take place during a fairly average sale of a property.
It can feel like you need to give up work to handle all of these visitors.
If you have to take time off work to allow all of these people to come into your property, your boss would soon lose patience.
And that doesn't take into account the viewings.
We would all hope that the viewings will be plentiful.
We want as many viewers as possible to increase the chance of getting an offer.
But it will be virtually impossible to schedule all of these appointments for weekends.
And if you did, you are essentially giving up your weekends to sell your house.
If all of your free family time is being spent trying to sell your house, when will you be able to find the time to view other properties?
But don't despair. There is a simple solution.
Give your estate agents a key!
The best estate agents know that viewings are more successful when THEY accompany them.
Psychologically you have already decided that this home isn't for you anymore, so it is unlikely that you will be able to point out the very best features and conduct the viewing in an entirely positive light.
Also, when faced with questions about the property or location, many sellers can bombard the viewers with too much information. This can either mean that they overwhelm the viewers with unnecessary detail. Or they end up delving into a less than desirable topic by accident.
Ultimately, your estate agent knows the property.
But they are also in a unique position. They also know the viewer.
When an applicant registers for a viewing appointment, the agent will get to know them. They will then be able to highlight the key features of your property that will most appeal to their needs.
It won't help you sell if you drone on about how amazing your swimming pool is if the viewers' don't swim! This is a key feature of the property TO YOU, but it will not persuade that particular viewer to buy as they would likely be planning to fill a swimming pool in!
Or an 'at home' Bar to teetotallers!
Or a home office to a retired couple.
The list goes on.
There are features of every home that are most likely to appeal to buyers differently.
Your agent will have established the needs of each buyer individually, so they will know what features to point out that will be most important to them.
By the time you have chosen an agent to sell the property for you, you should trust them. They are going to be responsible for selling your biggest asset.
If you are trusting the agent to sell the property for you, you should trust them to be in your property without you being there.
If your agent has a key, they will have it stored in a safe with a code, and the logbook will be kept in a separate part of the office. If anyone were to break into their office, it would be
a) hard to find all of the keys for all of the properties,
b) hard to break into the safe, and
c) impossible for the criminal to work out which keys are for which homes.
Your agent will take responsibility for securing the property after appointments, and they are insured to be in your home without you being present.
Leave the sale to the professionals.
Meanwhile, you continue with your day to day life as usual.
Allowing access to your property without you being present is the best way to sell your home for two reasons.
It frees up your time so that you do not have to make huge allowances or changes to your everyday lifestyle to sell your home.
It also leaves all of the essential tasks in the hands of the professionals. People that you are paying a fee to act on your behalf. They are in the best position to get you the best outcome.
They will ensure that your sale will go as smoothly as possible.
If you don't feel that you can trust the estate agent to protect your home in your absence, then you should perhaps question whether you can trust them to sell the property for you at all?
If you would like to know more about how we ensure the best for our sellers, get in touch.