They had the good sense to price their home strategically, and almost immediately received a decent offer from a solid buyer.

But they turned the offer down believing it came too quickly and that better offers would be sure to follow.

The better offers never came and the buyer went and bought something else.

Now the sellers are kicking themselves because no one else is making them an offer.

…Sadly, these sellers didn’t understand how the market really works.

They didn’t know you get maximum interest (from the best buyers in the market) when you first come to market.

I’m not suggesting you should accept the first offer you get – certainly not! A buyer’s first offer is rarely their best offer.

What I am saying is, don’t discount the buyers that make the early offers (especially in hot markets)…

“Early offers are often from the best buyers and a quick sale is usually the best sale”

…There are 1,000’s of fantastic estate agents in the UK.

But there is also a dysfunctional relationship between the estate agency industry and the public that you need to be aware of.

Sadly a large proportion of estate agents have been conditioned to believe ‘telling the truth’ will not win them new business.

As such, ask a bunch of estate agents round to give you a free valuation, and it’s almost guaranteed that one (if not all) will deliberately overvalue your home in an attempt to win your business.

As such, the conventional wisdom to get 3 agents round and go with the middle valuation is not so wise.

In fact ignore it completely, because all that’s likely to happen by following it is you end up going to market at the 2nd most over-inflated valuation.

Deliberate ‘overvaluation to win the instruction’ is endemic in the UK

No home seller is immune from this because it happens in all markets, at all price points, and with all types of estate agent (high street, online, hybrid, family run independents, and large corporates).

What’s more, it’s so effective that some ethical estate agents have simply given up trying to tell the truth when it comes to the free valuation…

…They just can’t compete with the lies from their less ethical competitors.

There are of course some exceptional agents out there standing firm, but how long they can last (while losing business at a time of falling transaction levels) is anyone’s guess.

Essentially, many (but not all) agents are scared to tell the truth, just in case the truth is not what you want to hear.

Please don’t let any of this worry you unduly.

I’ll shortly be giving you proven simple techniques that will allow you to get truthful accurate advice out of almost any estate agent.

How do you work out what this is?

What buyers will be willing to pay for your home; in today’s market (i.e. what they think it’s worth) will be determined by comparing your home to the others for sale right now.

In other words…

Today’s competition determines today’s value of your home

…Which when you think about it makes perfect sense, because no buyer can purchase a property that has already been sold…

They can only purchase a home that is currently for sale.

You already have first-hand experience of this

When you bought your current home, how did you establish it’s value?

Think back:

• You probably had a budget.
• You probably had an idea of the kind of property you needed.
• You probably had an idea of where you wanted to live.
• You probably got out there and viewed all the properties that looked interesting within your affordability range.
• You probably (consciously or unconsciously) compared all these properties against one another, and ended up buying the one that met your needs and gave you the most value for the price paid.

Does all that sound familiar?

I hope so because I’m happy to report nothing has changed. House buyers still behave in exactly the same way today.

And if you think about it, this means selling your home is basically a competition…

…A competition (of both price & attractiveness) against the other homes your target buyers are also looking at.

Bottom line: Your home is worth no more than what buyers are willing to pay…And what buyers are willing to pay today is based purely on comparing your home to others currently on the market for sale.

To get the truth out of them, many estate agents need to be given permission to be brutally honest.

If you want the absolute best result from your sale, you need absolute truth from estate agents.

And the easy way to get it is to have a quick discussion with estate agents before they offer their thoughts on what they think your home is worth.

Here’s the dialogue to use:

You: “Before we talk about price, I want you to understand that I don’t want you to tell me what you think I want to hear.

I want you to tell me the truth.

I need to know what you honestly think I can sell this home for in today’s market and how you came to that conclusion.

I want you to know, I’m not basing my choice of agent on who tells me the highest price.

I’ll be basing it on who can justify their pricing advice and prove it’s the right advice.”

The 3 magic questions

In addition to the dialogue above, also make use of the 3 magic questions below.

Again, take the lead and ask these question before any estate agent has had a chance to tell you what they think your home is worth.

Q 1. “What other properties will the likely buyer of my home also give serious consideration to?”

Q 2. “How does my home compare to these properties in terms of price and attractiveness?”

Q 3. “Where do we need to price my home against the competition to make mine stand out as the best value for money?”

Key takeaways:

A verbal free valuation from an estate agent is simply an informal opinion of value. The agent is under no obligation to give an accurate (or honest) opinion.

All pricing advice from estate agents should be considered incorrect until backed up with facts and evidence of current and historic sales.

Never tell estate agents what you think your house is worth (most will be too scared to disagree with you).

Make it clear you want brutal honesty on all matters relating to your sale.

A good estate agent will then give it to you.

A great estate agent will have given it regardless.