The housing market remains difficult for sellers

With financial executives the world over clinging to any evidence that the worst of the credit crunch is behind us, the first signs of a recovery are sure to receive wide exposure in the press. The man in the street can be forgiven for taking these messages the wrong way, although news that causes swings in stock markets can take a long time to filter through normal business channels. Markets react to news as predictions of future events and trade accordingly, but for something like the housing market, fundamentals are very much tied to reality.

Consider the current state of the UK housing market. Things have been virtually stagnant for over a year with real estate transactions at a forty year low. There must be many people who wanted to move house but viewed the current situation cautiously and decided to postpone any house move. That means there could be a large backlog of potential trades waiting to flood in once the market starts to move.

More recently, it seems that the banking industry has uncovered all its skeletons and reports of toxic debts now seem to have aired. So lending should start to pick up, however with base rates still extremely low, mortgage lenders are unsure how to price their products and are acting cautiously as well.

You may have noticed an increase in the number of boards for sale outside the home in the last month or two; however, completed transactions are still very low. There are a number of possible explanations for this.

Sellers may not realize the drop in home price levels that has occurred over the past two years. Some experts claim that valuations are on average 20% lower than the previous high, so if sellers are waiting for offers close to those highs, then sales will not occur. That could create a situation where there are many sellers but only a few determined buyers, which in turn makes it very difficult to please those buyers. With such a wide variety of properties to consider, the home that is sold will have to be better than many others on the market, a very different situation than in recent years, when buyers increasingly struggled to climb the property ladder. faces. The days of simply putting your property up for sale and finding a buyer within a week are gone.

Now, properties that are selling quickly have been very well prepared and accurately priced. The seller will have worked hard to remove any potential roadblocks to the sale. Any overdue maintenance work will have been completed, perhaps the property has been redecorated where necessary, the gardens and outside areas will be tidy and there might even have been some overdue renovations such as a kitchen makeover.

Sellers are generally reluctant to spend a significant amount of money on a property they are about to abandon, but sometimes a little careful investment can pay dividends. Obviously, there’s no point spending money on something like a conservatory that some buyers may not appreciate, but improving one of the central aspects of the property can be a worthwhile investment.

Updating an old bathroom is one of those fixes most buyers will appreciate, as is making a garage safe and usable. Rotten windows need to be replaced and things like roof repairs are definitely a must. In the case of a tired and dated kitchen, there are several options to consider.

A messy, dirty kitchen will put off most buyers, so sellers should at least make sure theirs is fresh and tidy. The next stage would be to repaint the walls and ceilings and consider a new floor covering if necessary. Good looking floor surfaces can now be purchased and installed at a reasonable price without too much hassle. Aside from dismantling and replacing an entire kitchen, a stopgap measure would be to change doors and possible work surfaces.

Style and fashion in kitchens change rapidly and what might have seemed a modern look twenty years ago can now be downright unappealing. Changing all the doors and drawer fronts in a kitchen might seem like a big job, but it’s actually surprisingly easy these days. Specialized companies can custom build any size and style of kitchen door or drawer front on short notice. Orders can be placed online, and with just a few hours of work, a tired kitchen can be completely transformed.

So when competing with a large volume of other properties for a few discerning buyers, a property must be near perfect to win the battle. A few hundred pounds invested before putting a property on the market can make the difference between achieving a sales price or having to make a significant discount to achieve a sale. Spent wisely, that money can be easily recouped and avoid a lengthy sales cycle. null