Ealing Overview
Over the last 12 months, the average sales price in Greenford and Hanwell was £471,616. The total value of sales during this period was £158,875,200.
31% of sales in the past 12 months were flats, achieving an average sales price of £316,652. Houses recorded an average price of £563,538.
There are currently 439 properties available to buy in Greenford and Hanwell. Based on historic sales rates, this represents 11.44 months of supply. In addition, 42.7% of homes listed to sell in the past 12 months were flats.
The highest value recorded by the Land Registry over the past 12 months was £645,000 for a flat and £1,920,000 for a house.
What Is The Real Value Of My Property?
Having been in estate agency for over 20 years, I am still astounded at the number of times I go in to see potential vendors where they are actually telling me what their property is worth.
As estate agents, we live and breathe property every day, so I like to believe we do know what we are talking about. Just as you wouldn’t tell a plumber, solicitor, or any other professional how to do their job, how is it that when it comes to property, everyone’s an expert?
This is even more common in property hot spots — particularly in areas where there is large-scale redevelopment, such as Wembley, Stratford, and Watford, to name just a few.
This is all driven by the fact that we are the only industry in the world that works for “free” until the property is actually sold — and sometimes it doesn’t even sell. The sad truth is that if you have the property on your books, you have the opportunity to sell it at some stage. Consequently, there are many agents going with the vendor’s prices on the market simply in order to win the instruction.
The Consequences of Overpricing
The consequences of this are:
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The property will remain on the market for an unusually long period of time and become stale.
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People will keep seeing the property online regularly and begin to feel that there must be something fundamentally wrong with it.
On the other side, we have agents that “buy instructions” — a term we use in the industry where an agent has gone in and valued a property £30k–£50k over and above other agents’ appraisals. This inflates the vendor’s expectations and convinces them that Agent X can achieve that price — even if the market cannot.
What vendors often fail to realise is that overvaluing the property leads to the same issues mentioned above. Agent X is paid commission on winning the instruction, and will then gradually convince the vendor to reduce the price over time. This may involve signing a long (16-week) sole selling rights agreement, giving the agent time to slowly whittle away at the asking price.
The Ellis & Co Approach
At Ellis & Co, we only get paid on the actual sale of the property (exchange of contracts/completion), not for simply winning the instruction. We are motivated from the outset to sell your property — not to keep it on our books for months on end.
My Advice When Selling Your Property
So when thinking about placing your property on the market, I would suggest that you:
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Research the agent (are they local? have they sold much in the area?).
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Shortlist three reputable agents — ideally NAEA and ARLA registered.
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Don’t go for the highest valuation.
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Don’t get tied into anything above an 8-week sole agency agreement.
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Choose the agent you feel most comfortable with.
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Don’t go for the cheapest — if you pay peanuts, you will get monkeys!
This comes down to the simple point that in order for an agent to afford a low commission level, they often have to cut corners elsewhere.
Final Thoughts
I wish there were a book we could look at and tell you exactly: “This is the value of your property!” It would certainly make life easier — but it isn’t that simple.
What I recommend is looking at websites like Rightmove, Zoopla, or OnTheMarket, which show actual property sales and what has sold in the past six months in your area. This should give you a good indication of what your property is worth.
Property valuation is far from an exact science, but it will give you a guide. If you want an honest and true valuation, please call your local office of Ellis & Co, and see how we can help get you moving.
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