MARKET CONDITIONS REPORT: SPRING 2007

What a fabulous year 2006 was; Dudley Singleton & Daughter had just the right mix - instructions taken on fabulous country property from delightful vendors with sales to great purchasers. The Autumn market proceeded strongly into winter, right through to Christmas and, as is historically normal, the market slows down from Christmas until January.

It is always a time that property owners look at carefully before putting their property on the market - storms, gales, rain, snow, bad weather conditions in general, govern the thinking and we hear from vendors placing property on the market with us, 'we do not want to go on the market until the Spring'. Everybody understands wanting to get the outside of the house looking nice and the gardens looking good, but of course as soon as the Spring is really in by May, everybody puts their house on the market. So there is a lot more competition for vendors at that time, whereas in January, February, March and April, especially the earlier months of January, February and the beginning of March, a scarcity of property on the market creates the law of supply and demand, so placing a property on the market at this time will gain much more attention.

There are plenty of purchasers in the market place sitting waiting with properties under offer or are in rented accommodation who can immediately step forward. They have been frustrated in their efforts to buy last year and they are just waiting to pounce. Very often an owner of a property is more sensitive, as is understandable, to the condition of the garden and the weather, than a purchaser desperate to get out of rented accommodation and move their family into a new home. This type of purchaser has probably been through a number of sales and purchases in the past and will know if they like the property in winter, they are going to love it in summer.

So be bold, put your property on the market now.

The agent must be conscientious and you must be satisfied of their continual aggressive marketing and that it does not tail off just because a purchaser is not found in the first few weeks of marketing. Aggressive and persistent marketing does pay dividends and certainly at Dudley Singleton & Daughter we never relax, we never stop advertising, we never stop showing just because a property has not sold immediately and we continually keep in contact with our vendors, advising them of market conditions and also of applicants who have viewed the property and their comments. This type of interactive dialogue and communication not only installs confidence in the vendor, but also allows the vendor to build a picture of what the market place thinks of his property, whether he needs to make any improvements or adjust the price. It is absolutely no help to a vendor if the agent instructed does not constantly keep in contact with the vendor concerning marketing conditions and the accumulative result of feedback to give an opinion as to whether a price change should be made. Just to labour on week after week, month after month, with a price on the property that the market in general does not agree with, certainly does nobody any good and can seriously damage the sale prospects of the property if allowed to go on too long. It must be apparent within the first month of marketing whether or not the price is right in a market that is strong. There should be not only people viewing, but offers being made; if there are applicants viewing and no offers being made, then immediately a price change should be discussed, but how is a vendor to properly evaluate whether or not the price is right if the agent has not bothered to feed back information from the viewing public. It is a common fault in agency - lack of communication. In some agency cases it is just a lack of care and in others the fear of losing the instruction because they are telling the truth. It is our opinion at Dudley Singleton & Daughter that truth is always the best policy with constant feedback creating a rapport and trust between agent and vendor, which inevitably will lead to a sale at the fullest possible price in the prevailing market.

On a number of occasions recently Dudley Singleton & Daughter have been instructed by a vendor who is disillusioned with their present agent. They have received no feedback; they feel left out in the cold. Lack of communication breeds dissatisfaction. Dudley Singleton & Daughter will take over the marketing, advise properly, bring excitement back into the marketing, re-launch the property and, as can be seen on our website, our properties do sell.

Very often the comment from applicants coming into our office, having looked at the window and our website, say it appears all your properties are sold. Well, that is probably right, good marketing does get results and you do not have to have your property on the market for years if you have the right advice and the agent cares enough to keep in constant communication. We are, after all, a family firm with nearly 35 years of trading from the same office in Pangbourne, a dedicated team of mature professionals who know their business, no badly trained youthful staff here, no patronizing pompous attitude, no egos larger than the care and consideration for both their vendors and their applicants. It does appear some agents believe they are doing a favour to a vendor taking on your property and selling your home and the agent is more important than either vendor or applicant, almost to the extent both vendor and applicant appear to be a bit of a nuisance. We are the opposite, our vendors are put first, our applicants treated with consideration and care, that is why we have been here for 35 years and that is why we are still instructed by clients we sold to 30 years ago. We are in a service industry; we remind ourselves constantly of this fact and maintain an up to the minute informed and professional attitude, coupled with care which eases for both vendor and applicant the trauma of selling and buying.

We now look forward to the building of the Spring market for 2007; we know it is going to be busy and it is going to be an exciting year.