How Can I Sell My Property or Get It Let Quickly?
One thing you can try is to have an open day when you get would be buyers or prospective tenants round.
Keeping a house tidy for viewings by potential buyers can be a real pain.
Washing up, putting away toys, chucking old papers and anything else that detracts from having the house looking like a show home just has to be done.
And if you are doing viewing on a let property where the old tenants are still in situ, keeping a place tidy can be a real pain for your tenants too.
Most landlords don’t want to be bothering their tenants every evening and whilst some tenants may be kind and make an effort to tidy up the first night, they are under no obligation and after a few evenings will probably come to see the effort as being just too much.
Therefore there is a lot to be said for having an open house day where potential tenants or buyers can come round altogether.
The open day is actually an “open hour” (or two hours for bigger houses) and they usually take place on a Saturday with the big advantage being the sense of competition between the viewers that is engendered.
With an open viewing you can really make the effort to have the property looking at its very best as it will be seen by a number of interested parties.
You can offer viewers some wine and nibbles and try to give them a sense of the lifestyle that they will be buying or renting into.
Of course, it helps if the property is a good one and reasonably desirable. Also, it helps if the market is buoyant and there is lots of demand from would be purchasers or tenants.
If parking is a problem, an open day may not be a good idea. Always make sure that prospective viewers know where they can and cannot park as you don’t want to fall out with the neighbours. If getting there by public transport is possible, have a sheet prepared and email this to them with the journey options and times.
If your existing tenants are still in situ agree the open hour time with them. They may want to be out of the house at the time which is fine, but if you want to move things around to better present the property, ask them first.
Having less people around can in itself help to “de-clutter” the house and give an added sense of space.
However, if there are just one or two tenants and they can be relied upon to rave about the house, then it may help if they are around and viewers will appreciate the possibility of asking them questions about the property and the local area; questions that you may well struggle to answer.
Don’t do the open house too early if you have tenants in situ. Some tenants can struggle to get up on a Saturday and their best intentions of tidying up and clearing away the old pizza may fade in the bright light of the morning.
All prospective viewers should be checked out. Don’t feel guilty about asking for a land line number and always call them back to confirm the viewing. Don’t let people wander out of sight. Follow around discreetly (which means if you have a busy open house you may want a few people to help you) All valuables should be put away out of sight, just in case.
Ideally, space the viewings about 15 to 30 minutes apart as you don’t want too many people at once – just enough to create a sense of demand and competition.
To find out more ask us at the property investment and buy to let advice consultancy Letting Focus. I’m the author of “Successful Property Letting – How to Make Money in Buy to Let” the UK’s top selling buy to let book and which has also been Amazon.co.uk’s top selling property title for the last 6 months.I’m a speaker, I contribute to newspapers and a host of property websites, write a property investment blog and am a media commentator on the residential property market.
You can read about my networking, advice, telephone consultancy and property investment seminar and mentoring programme on my website www.lettingfocus.com.
What’s unique about lettingfocus.com is that we are unbiased and independent, because unlike most people in the buy to let and property “advice” business we are not linked to a property company, developer, agent or bridging loan financier and do not receive commissions from any of these sources.
If a property investment is lousy – We’ll tell you straight and we will tell you all about buy to let and property investment - the good and the bad.
Copyright Lawrenson 2007
Keeping a house tidy for viewings by potential buyers can be a real pain.
Washing up, putting away toys, chucking old papers and anything else that detracts from having the house looking like a show home just has to be done.
And if you are doing viewing on a let property where the old tenants are still in situ, keeping a place tidy can be a real pain for your tenants too.
Most landlords don’t want to be bothering their tenants every evening and whilst some tenants may be kind and make an effort to tidy up the first night, they are under no obligation and after a few evenings will probably come to see the effort as being just too much.
Therefore there is a lot to be said for having an open house day where potential tenants or buyers can come round altogether.
The open day is actually an “open hour” (or two hours for bigger houses) and they usually take place on a Saturday with the big advantage being the sense of competition between the viewers that is engendered.
With an open viewing you can really make the effort to have the property looking at its very best as it will be seen by a number of interested parties.
You can offer viewers some wine and nibbles and try to give them a sense of the lifestyle that they will be buying or renting into.
Of course, it helps if the property is a good one and reasonably desirable. Also, it helps if the market is buoyant and there is lots of demand from would be purchasers or tenants.
If parking is a problem, an open day may not be a good idea. Always make sure that prospective viewers know where they can and cannot park as you don’t want to fall out with the neighbours. If getting there by public transport is possible, have a sheet prepared and email this to them with the journey options and times.
If your existing tenants are still in situ agree the open hour time with them. They may want to be out of the house at the time which is fine, but if you want to move things around to better present the property, ask them first.
Having less people around can in itself help to “de-clutter” the house and give an added sense of space.
However, if there are just one or two tenants and they can be relied upon to rave about the house, then it may help if they are around and viewers will appreciate the possibility of asking them questions about the property and the local area; questions that you may well struggle to answer.
Don’t do the open house too early if you have tenants in situ. Some tenants can struggle to get up on a Saturday and their best intentions of tidying up and clearing away the old pizza may fade in the bright light of the morning.
All prospective viewers should be checked out. Don’t feel guilty about asking for a land line number and always call them back to confirm the viewing. Don’t let people wander out of sight. Follow around discreetly (which means if you have a busy open house you may want a few people to help you) All valuables should be put away out of sight, just in case.
Ideally, space the viewings about 15 to 30 minutes apart as you don’t want too many people at once – just enough to create a sense of demand and competition.
To find out more ask us at the property investment and buy to let advice consultancy Letting Focus. I’m the author of “Successful Property Letting – How to Make Money in Buy to Let” the UK’s top selling buy to let book and which has also been Amazon.co.uk’s top selling property title for the last 6 months.I’m a speaker, I contribute to newspapers and a host of property websites, write a property investment blog and am a media commentator on the residential property market.
You can read about my networking, advice, telephone consultancy and property investment seminar and mentoring programme on my website www.lettingfocus.com.
What’s unique about lettingfocus.com is that we are unbiased and independent, because unlike most people in the buy to let and property “advice” business we are not linked to a property company, developer, agent or bridging loan financier and do not receive commissions from any of these sources.
If a property investment is lousy – We’ll tell you straight and we will tell you all about buy to let and property investment - the good and the bad.
Copyright Lawrenson 2007
This entry was posted by lettingfocus, on
Tuesday, July 17, 2007.
