My vendor called from a leaflet she’d received from us.   It had mentioned that we offer a reduced rate fee if the owner is happy to show buyers around.


This worked especially well for her, because she explained she worked at home a large portion of the time.

When we met, she told me about her plans to move out of London and the fact she needed a great price to facilitate this.  She’d already been on the market with another agent and was frustrated at the fact they had found a buyer, however it all collapsed at that point and she felt they hadn’t really checked the buyers finances properly, so she’d removed her property from the market with them.

A major high street brand had valued her property far lower than she believed it to be worth, and more in line with the ‘going rate’ for a similar sized property.  However, it was quirky, and it DID have a rather unique roof terrace, and I figured that had to be worth something to the right person.


The previous agent had listed the property high at £965,000, and I felt that was too high to attract good levels of interest.  I also believe this was the reason she’d had just one serious buyer, although I don’t know the reasons for what happened or why a sale didn’t progress.

I stuck to my principles, and whilst the owner wanted a higher listing price, I convinced her to list at offers in excess of £900,000 rather than the previous listing price.

We managed 31 viewings, far more than she had previously and that resulted in 5 offers from different buyers.

And that for me, is what you ought to ALWAYS aim for when marketing a property.

You see, the one offer she’d had previously didn’t work out, and because there was only one offer, the door was now closed.

BUT, if you get multiple buyers interested, you now have options with a choice of buyer, and it’ll become clear who stands out as the most suitable/passionate/favourite buyer.

We both agreed on our favourite buyer and we proceeded with a sale at £940,000.

The property has now completed at £930,000, mainly due to the banks surveyor valuing the property a lot lower than the agreed sale price.

However I knew we had the right buyer, as they previously had a ‘roof terrace’ in their last property and this was a key attraction for them.  They knew it was worth stretching for, and they wouldn’t find another house locally like this one.

Our client now has moved to the Kent Coast for the peace she’s been craving.

If you’re not happy with your current agents marketing of your property, please get in touch for a chat and I’ll put together an ‘action plan’ of what you can do to improve your chances of finding a buyer.  I’m passionate about property.  Call James on 020 8432 1505 or email me at james@fishneedwater.com