Harlow property, sell fast and for more
It is a given that when Harlow property owners decide it’s time to sell, they will want to sell fast & for at least what the theoretical value of the property is.
What’s the theoretical value? Well, a property is only worth what a qualified buyer is willing to pay. However, what qualified buyers are willing to pay is NOT all the same! Let’s delve into this:
Estate agents are NOT all the same
True, estate agents all do basically the same ‘stuff’ i.e. marketing, negotiating, building relationships with buyers.
It’s just that some estate agents do this ‘stuff’ substantially better than others.
Experience tells us there is roughly a 10% spread (either side of the theoretical market value of your home) where your sale price can end up. Source: The Advisory (https://www.theadvisory.co.uk/)
How far above (or below) the theoretical market value of your home your sale price ends up, will be directly determined by:
- Firstly, Your choice of estate agent.
- Secondly, The skill of that estate agent.
- Finally, The suitability of that estate agent to sell a property like yours.
Bottom line: A house is never worth more than what a buyer is willing to pay…
…But, what a buyer is willing to pay isn’t fixed.
The right estate agent will get them to pay you more providing it is priced correctly in the first place!
How long is Harlow property taking to sell?
Firstly, It depends on what figures you use. Confused? You should be! Look at the figures below:
| Price Range | Amount of properties | Mean selling time | Median selling time |
| £100,000 to £200,000 | 61 | 83 days | 56 days |
| £200,000 to £300,000 | 101 | 92 days | 40 days |
| £300,000 to £400,000 | 167 | 63 days | 31 days |
| £400,000 to £500,000 | 65 | 96 days | 47 days |
| £500,000 to £1,000,000 | 40 | 106 days | 78 days |
| over £1,000,000 | 8 | 170 days | 111 days |
Some people use Mean & some use Median.
Some Estate Agents write their own blogs (Like Jukes Estate Agents Harlow), while some employ professional property journalists.
When writing about the Harlow Property Market, we like to be as clear as we possibly can!
We use ‘MEAN’ selling times rather than Median.
What’s the difference?
Let’s take the selling times of properties priced £200,000 – £300,000.
101 properties took a total of 9,292 days to sell. Therefore, 9,292 divided by 101 = 92 which gives you a mean (another word for average) selling time of 92 days.
However, when those 101 properties selling times were laid out in a row from quickest to slowest, the property that was the 51st quickest (also the 51st slowest) took 40 days to sell. This is the Median selling time.
SO HOW LONG DOES A £200,000 – £300,000 PROPERTY TAKE TO SELL IN HARLOW?
The answer is actually unanswerable. This is because it depends on price & marketing.
What we do know however, is that if it is priced correctly & the marketing is superb, it will sell fast & for a good price!
How long do individual estate agents take to sell?
At the time of writing this, we can see from top data company home.co.uk that Harlow estate agents have the following selling times:
22 days.
37 days.
45 days.
47 days.
55 days.
61 days.
62 days.
65 days.
68 days.
77 days.
84 days.
92 days.
115 days.
225 days.
Who would you sooner use? It would be remiss of us not to mention that Jukes Estate Agents have not been out of the top three during 2024.
Factors that DO NOT affect the value of your home
- What you paid
- What you need
- What you want
- What your neighbours say
- What your friends say
- What estate agents say
Factors that DO affect the value of your home
- Amenities
- Condition
- Size
- Location
- Market strength
The most interesting statement above is that ‘WHAT ESTATE AGENTS SAY’ does NOT affect the value of your property.
Jukes Estate Agents Harlow totally agree with this statement. Co owner Lee Venables says: “Over pricing of property has been a major factor in Harlow property taking so long to sell. When we get called out to value property, we strongly believe agents should give an accurate estimation of what the owners can expect. We hear & see horror stories of what agents have valued property at. This is simply to get the instruction!”
He continues: “A while ago we gave an estimated value of £300,000 to an owner. The value was based on various parameters. The two main factors were that nothing had EVER sold in that street for more than £340,000. Those properties that had sold for £335,000 & £340,000 were in excellent condition.”
“The property in question needed some modernisation, in particular a new kitchen & bathroom and some TLC here and there.”
HERE’S WHAT HAPPENED:
Firstly, the two other agents called in to value the property valued it at £325,000 & £345,000.
The owner decided to go with the agent who had said it was worth £325,000.
After 6 weeks and a few viewings the agent advised a price reduction to £315,000.
After another 6 weeks and 1 or 2 more viewings they still had not sold and the agent advised another price reduction to £310,000.
8 weeks later, and out of frustration and a little bit of desperation they accepted an offer of £295,000.
4 weeks later…
We got called out to value a property in the same street. On this occasion we felt the property was probably worth around £290,000 and advised listing it as a guide price of £275,000 – £300,000.
2 weeks and 15 viewings later an offer of £308,000 was accepted.
Firstly, by lowering the asking price many more people see the listing. Rightmove & Zoopla have price bandings for people to plug in minimum and maximum prices. The lower the advertised price, the more will see it.
Secondly, the more people that see it means that more will book viewings.
Thirdly, the more viewings that take place means more will like it.
Fourthly, the more people that like it will mean more will offer.
Finally, the more that offer means we can use our skills as negotiators to get better offers.
Accurate valuations are more important than ever.
There are around three times the amount of properties for sale pre the Liz Truss budget.
There are far less buyers than Sept 2022.
Therefore, it isn’t rocket science that there are way less buyers per property listed.
Overprice your property and there is little doubt that you will either not sell or have to reduce the price!
The graphic above is from property market data company ‘THE ADVISORY’.
This shows how an over valued property ends up selling for less than it is really worth.
PRICE REDUCTIONS, just how damaging are they?
The latest Data from Rightmove & Zoopla PROVES that:
- Property that has had a price reduction is 10% less likely to sell at all!
- Property that has had a price reduction and does go on to sell, sells on average for 3.8% less than the NEW ASKING PRICE!
- 40% of all property that sells after a price reduction, sells for more than 5% less than the NEW ASKING PRICE!
- Properties that have undergone a price reduction take at least twice as long to sell (if they ever manage to sell at all!).
FACT:
Only 53 % of properties listed for sale in the last 12 months actually sold! virtually half (47%) DID NOT SELL.
That is mainly down to:
OVERPRICING or POOR MARKETING
If you are thinking of selling or are already on the market but not selling then give Jukes Estate Agents Harlow a call on 01279 295524.
You can read all about how we do what we do & why by clicking the LEARN MORE button below which will take you to our new 28 page brochure.