How to Avoid the 10 Worst Property Selling Mistakes Mistake #3    Not Knowing the True Condition of Your Property (England/Wales)

Haggling over your price becomes possible once buyers find problems raised in the survey.

If you want to avoid this and put yourself in the best negotiating position possible, it’s best to know the true condition of your property (before you put it on the market).

Most owners have a pretty good idea of the condition of their property, however, if you are in any doubt it’s best to commission a Chartered Surveyor to carry out your own “homebuyers report” (if your property is older than 60 years old, a full structural survey is probably advisable).

If the survey does find problems you can either:

1. Fix the faults and avoid having to drop your price later.

2. Get quotes for the work needed. That way you’ll know what a reasonable price reduction would be if you decided to leave the work to the buyer.

Here's the "Catch 22" though...

It’s estimated that anywhere between 60-80% of buyers don’t bother getting a survey on the property they're about to buy. 

This is undoubtedly foolish but the truth is most buyers just rely on the Valuation Survey that’s required by their mortgage lender.

Unfortunately they don’t fully appreciate that Valuation Surveys will tell you little about the condition of a property.

This means that the buyer (who does not commission a “Homebuyers Report”) is susceptible to the very real risk of ending-up buying a “money pit”.

Now, that’s tough luck for them but it does raise the question of whether it’s worth your while spending money on your own survey? Whatever your view on this, in balance we’d always “play safe” & find out the exact condition the property was in.

There are two ways to do this:

1. Commission a pre-sale survey from a Chartered Surveyor. This will cost anywhere from £350 - £1,500 depending on the size & age of your property.

2. Invite two or three local builders to come & give the property an “once-over”.

Builders have an excellent grasp of the common defects that residential property suffer from and so we’d ask them to provide a detailed quote on any work they thought needed doing.

That way you can find out the condition of your property for free. 

It’s not foolproof but it’s certainly safer than leaving yourself open to savvy buyers chipping away at your asking price.

Written by Gavin Brazg - www.TheAdvisory.co.uk

Use these links to view the other 9 Mistakes 

1 -2 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10

At The House Sales Advisory you will find guidance on how to - Sell via estate agents, sell property privately and sell a house fast for cash.  You will also find information on property valuation and the UK conveyancing process.