Selling Your Home Fast In Aberdeen? 10 Dos And Don'ts.

If you want a fast house sale in Aberdeen, or Scotland in general, and you are currently using a solicitor firm to sell for you, please read this...

Worried about getting your Scottish property sold and not sure which solicitor to choose? You are not alone!

We are all sold the idea that we have to use the solicitors to market and sell our homes... but what if they aren't the best bet for you?

I use the word 'bet' advisedly because there are absolutely no guarantees when selling through a solicitor.

A recent example I came across was a young couple selling a 2 Bed flat in Aberdeen.

A large local solicitor firm took on the case, failed to sell it after four months and charged them 400 up front (This was before the Home Report came in causing even higher upfront costs!)

At this stage the couple decided to take their property off the market and rent it out.

Having received verbal agreement that their account was now settled they were upset when two months later the solicitor firm began hounding them for another 197.

They couldn't justify the expense other than calling it "miscellaneous" but were happy to proceed with a court summons when the couple disputed this unallocated fee...

A senior partner of the firm who had dealt with the case refused to speak to them, despite having personally misquoted them an offer by 20,000 in an email at an earlier stage!

I don't relay this tale to suggest all solicitors are this bad.

Most soliciors are only adequate, and just a few I could name as excellent, at their role in property.

I simply want to emphasise that they may not always be the ideal route for selling your home, although they will present themselves as your 'only' option!

As someone who has seen the house sale process from both sides, it has occurred to me...

As a group, and this is not just my experience, solicitors are not effective marketers or negotiaters for our homes!

So I issue this warning to you, and challenge to them, if they would care to answer:

1) Don't assume the solicitor knows best how to market your home - if you need this proved to you, ask them what their online marketing strategy is for example!

2) Don't assume naively that they will always be acting completely in your interest - they will sometimes run down a property or even criticise you the seller personally during viewings in my experience!

3) Don't assume you have to pay the Home Report and legal fees involved in the sale of your house - some buyers will pay all this for you, and still give a reasonable price.

4) Don't assume your solicitor is a good negotiator and will get you the best price.

They are often horrendous at negotiation!

A client of mine, while trying to purchase a lovely Edinburgh property found himself paying 30,000 over what he needed to secure the place against phantom competition because his Solicitor (who he assumed would negotiate the best deal possible for him), just rolled over and agreed to the first number that came up.

5) Don't assume that you couldn't do a better job of marketing, showing, negotiating and selling your home... in reality it is quite hard to do a worse job than an average solicitor firm... and at least you won't be charging yourself big fees for the privilege!

Ask yourself this, if they don't even take down the names and numbers of people calling, how effective are they at capturing customer interest?

In my experience perhaps 50% of selling solicitors do this, and that's in the current tough house selling market. Two years back, it was more like ten percent in and around Aberdeen.

Surely this is a pretty basic rule of selling anything?

Without leads you don't have options, a qualified lead is crucial and someone who has called enquiring about a property is always a hot lead!

Can you imagine putting off potential house purchasers by neglecting to ask for their name and number?

House buying is a very emotional business and so surely it will pay to treat the buyer with courtesy?

1) Do consider all the fees and costs that selling through a Solicitor will involve before ruling out other ways of disposing of your property;

* 1.5% - 2.5% Commission is 3125 on a 125,000 Home.

* Home Report 400-800.

* 6 Months Mortgage payments while you wait and hope, another 2000 (approx.) based on a 3% Mortgage.

And that's not including the lost opportunity cost of not being able to move on with your life in the meantime!

Perhaps even think about renting your property out and or utilising equity from the place to fund a deposit for your next purchase for example.

2) Do consider reading basic books on negotiating and marketing - very few of THEM seem to have bothered!

If you don't believe me, ask your Solicitor how he honed his negotiating or marketing skills? Then decide who you would like to sell your home (you or them)?

3) Do think about how long a solicitor will take to get a sale, and how much attention any one deal gets from them. Unless you are a big money spending and regular client you are going to be very lucky to get much in the way of one to one attention for your house or flat sale.

4) Do consider that how your home looks and smells has a massive and even emotional impact on surveyors and the - hopefully - potential buyers.

Get a cleaner and painter in - invest a little to push the property value up by thousands.

Do consider that all sales are about 'people'...

* Introduce yourself to viewers and everyone present.

* Offer them a cup of tea, allow them to feel at ease.

* Ask what they are looking for in a home.

* Then, actually listen to their reply!

* If you can provide any of the things they say they want, point this out in a non pushy manner.

Even if you decide to use a solicitor to sell your house in Scotland remember to:

* Be proactive, keep in touch with them and ask how it's going.

* Ask to see the contact sheets and lead list.

* Push them for their marketing strategy.

* Feel free to come up with your own methods of advertising or promotion.

Our home is for most of us, our biggest asset, so let's take responsibility and positive action to make sure we get the most out of it.