Work With the Market Rather Than Fighting It

There are times when sellers become fixed on the asking price and find it difficult to consider anything below it, but an asking price is not a guarantee of what somebody will pay.

Particularly in a buyer's market, some flexibility can make the difference between agreeing a sale and sitting on the market for months.

Negotiation is an art, and your estate agent should be negotiating on your behalf. That does not mean accepting any offer that comes along. Far from it.

It means recognising what the market is telling you.

If buyers repeatedly view the property but will not offer at the level you hoped for, that information matters. In my experience, once around ten potential buyers have viewed a property, you start to get a reasonable idea of what the market thinks it is worth.

Leaving a property sitting on the market can create another problem.

Buyers begin wondering why it has not sold. Is something wrong with it? Why has nobody else bought it?

The property itself may be perfectly good. The problem may simply be that the price does not match the market - and remember, once you have agreed a sale, you become a buyer yourself. If you are selling into a more difficult market, there may also be an opportunity to negotiate on the property you are buying.

Make sure to genuinely work with the market, not against it...

The market is not always kind, but it is never wrong.