News of my demise has been greatly exaggerated

It seems to me that with all the talk of certain journalists and property ‘experts’ predicting, Nostradamus like, the fall of all things property and estate agents in particular, it was time to throw some facts into the mix. In simple terms; I (my career) is not dead yet and nor are the chances of you selling your property and buying again at a fair market price.

First, let me deal with property sales volumes. No matter what is said or what the market conditions are; people will and do always need to move home. Whether it is for job, family or financial reasons, it is a fact as almost certain as the sun rising in the morning or my Dad getting a far away look in his eyes when Felicity Kendal appears on the telly. Take a look at The Land Registry site http://www.landregistry.gov.uk/ and look at their reports for volume sales in your County. I used Cornwall, naturally enough. What you will discover, I am sure, is that if you compare volume sales for a ‘bad’ sales year, with volume sales for a ‘good’ sales year, there is not a great deal of difference in the numbers of transactions when you average out variations across the County (the largest variation I found was estimated at less than 10 more sales per town in Cornwall over a quarter). From an estate agents point of view, this is equivalent to maybe another 2 or 3 completed sales per year. Which leads me on nicely to sales reality compared to sales activity.

To explain this further; what people see in a ‘good’ market, is much more ‘churn’; houses having sales agreed, the sale collapsing (often due to greed on the part of a buyer or seller somewhere in the chain) and then being re-sold a few days later to someone else. It gives a great impression of activity but it doesn’t greatly affect how many homes are actually sold (i.e. exchange and complete contracts); just the perception. Conversely, in a ‘bad’ market, people involved in chains tend not to play so fast and loose and (some) agents work a damn site harder to keep sales together. The end result is the same. those who actually need to move home ensure that they adapt to market conditions to achieve their goal. It’s quite Darwinian. But what about prices?

House prices are all relative. 5 minutes in time, is just 300 seconds but, how long it actually feels depends very much on which side of the public toilet door you are standing! In ‘good’ markets, I receive calls from the media asking me to be a talking head about how awful it is to see first time buyers being pushed out of the market – nasty estate agents pushing prices up. In a ‘bad’ market, the same journalists ring me and ask to justify the cutting of asking prices of property owners homes who have bet everything to get onto the housing market – nasty estate agents pushing prices down. Apart from the wry smile it gives me when this happens, I will be so bold as to say there is no such thing a ‘good’ or ‘bad’ market as it is usually expressed. It all depends on which side of the door you are standing. But there is more to it than that.

House prices DO matter but; ONLY if you are a) a first time buyer or, b) are getting out of the housing market completely (moving into a different/ more expensive/ cheaper area doesn’t count and I will explain why in a minute*). Remember; the only point when the majority of home owners see the value of their home in hard cash is when the time comes to downsize or they get out of the home-ownership game completely (sadly, not always voluntarily). It is at this point that you release any capital you may have in your home and it drops nicely into your bank account. World cruise time; if that is your dream. For those who are simply moving home within a given ‘good’ or ‘bad’ market, it really doesn’t matter what your home sells for (unless you have serious negative equity issues), as the person you are buying from will be affected by the same percentage rise/ fall in prices as you are. So a notional 30% drop in house prices means you will sell your £100,000 home for 30% less (£70,000) but you will be buying the house that would have cost you £150,000 for just £105,000 (meaning, in this example, you are £15,000 better off moving up-market in a so-called ‘bad’ market). Result! Whilst moving down market in a ‘bad’ market can have the reverse effect, it is also worth noting that in a bad market, sadly, some people are very glad to take a lower than market value offer if it means clearing their mortgage debt so, it may be possible to pass on some or all of any loss you may have suffered by moving down market. A good agent will always be happy to negotiate up and down the chain to help everyone within it arrive at a deal they are happy with.

At over 900 words already, it’s probably time for me to shut up but, let me conclude by saying that in over twenty years of agency, I have had ex-staff, journalists, IT specialists promoting ‘sell it yourself sites’ and many other property experts decrying estate agency and making predictions that the property market as about to resemble The Norwegian Blue Parrot (Monty Python for those reading this with furrowed brows ) but the facts speak for themselves. I, along with scores of other agents who try to do a good job for our customers within the outdated and ridiculous selling Laws of this land, are still here and are still selling homes for people who, in the most part, appreciate the job we do. A good market, is the one with the least amount of cowboy agents around ready to do damage to their customers mental well-being and their wallets. A good market is now!

*If you are moving areas then price can make a massive difference but, it is not whether it is a good or bad market for selling/ buying it is the local market conditions that matter. Just because you want/ need to move to a new area that is 20% more expensive than where you live now, doesn’t mean that someone is going to pay 20% over the odds for your home. You’d be amazed at how many people tell me “I know my home isn’t worth that much but I NEED to sell at that price to get the property I want.”