Property markets stifled by Agents

The practice of over inflating property values as a way of enticing a property seller to agree to sell through one estate agency over another is an age-old game. It is very easy for an owner of a property to be drawn into believing their house is worth more than it is. Firstly, there is always an emotional connection, plus an owner will always rightly want to get the most value from their property as they possibly can.

It’s no secret that property agents take full advantage of this, and in the markets that we operate in – Portsmouth & Chichester, it is very apparent (especially in Chichester).

A property is brought to market by an Agent that entices the seller via over inflated valuations, rather than through speed and quality of communication and a robust and effective marketing plan. Speed and quality of communication seem to be overlooked at every customer touch point with local agents, and it just seems that over valuing is the easiest (laziest) way to win property instructions. And then over time, the owner is convinced to drop the price because “the market has slowed down” until the price reaches market value, and then it sells. Agent wins for now, but not in the long run.

The compounding effect of multiple Agents over valuing multiple properties is very negative in the long run. If you’re an owner of a property and you see your neighbour has just marketed their property for £X then quite naturally you will believe your property is worth a similar amount, which then makes it very difficult for an agent that comes to value in an honest and open way as they’re fighting against an over inflated market price.

This has stifled the Chichester market which is now very stagnant and slow moving. Fortunately, the Portsmouth market trades with a much higher volume of property and speed of sale is much quicker. Plus, the values are considerably lower and therefore affordability is much less of an issue. And, it supports a population of 250,000 people.

Agents are too often too lazy and driven purely by winning instructions instead of the ultimate goal which is to sell real estate. This method is short sighted and in fact works against them in the long run as this methodology creates negative market sentiment through poor / misleading professional advice and a slow and stagnant property market.

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