There are a number of legislative changes that come into force from August 1st 2007 which affect the home selling process. Rightmove is currently in the process of comprehensively updating our website information to ensure our content is as accurate as possible. Please come back soon to see our brand new Selling Guide.
The ultimate price for your home is based on what someone is willing to pay for it. The more prospective buyers you can attract, the better your chance of getting a higher price.
Websites
According to Rightmove's Home Movers' Survey 2004, 75 percent of home buyers use the Internet as one of their primary means of searching for property. For you as a seller, that means if you don't advertise your property on a well-known website, you'll be missing a huge and hungry audience.
The web is much more effective way to search for property because usually sites are updated daily, if not more often, and can display photos and descriptive text better than a newspaper advert. A home buyer can find exactly what he or she is looking for just by typing in a location and clicking a button.
Which website should you be on? Some would say the more the better. If you sign up with a Rightmove agent, you'll usually have your home listed on that agent's website, as well as on Rightmove, the largest property website in the UK, with over 50 percent of properties available in the UK appearing on the site. Find a Rightmove agent
Advertising
Many agents advertise in local and national newspapers, yellow pages, and other trade or speciality press. Do your homework. Find an agent whose name you see everywhere, and whose properties are similar to your own.
Presentation of your home is important. Choose an agent who cares about details:
- Takes high quality digital photographs of your home
- Creates floorplans that can be viewed electronically as well as in printed material
- Writes flattering but honest words about your home
- Prints high quality brochures, with easy to read layouts
How else does your agent spread the word? Does he call, text or just send mailings to all his prospects who've expressed interest in your type of property? Does he push prospects for viewings? How wide is his net?
Prominence
Where is the estate agent located? Is his firm on the high street next to the other estate agencies in town, or is it placed in an outlaying area where fewer people might see it? Are his For Sale and Sold signs all over the neighbourhood, or are they a rare sighting in the area?
Local or national
The vast majority of people move locally, so an agent with extensive local knowledge will be the most appropriate choice for the majority of sellers. However, to get the maximum exposure for your property, you may want to select an agent who advertises on Rightmove to ensure that buyers who are relocating from outside your local area, are able to view its details.
Consider this story from one person searching for a home outside her local area.
"We live in Sheffield and want to move to Cornwall. You can just imagine how difficult that would be to do, when you do not know anyone at all in the South West. Anyway, a property came on the Rightmove website on a Tuesday that we liked the look of, we booked to view and drove down there to see it on the Thursday morning, put in an offer and bagged it up before the ad. in the Cornish Guardian got a chance to circulate. What hope would we have had of competing with people already in the area, without this service?
"We are now waiting to exchange contracts, and could not have done it without Rightmove - Thank you!"