Wembley Overview
The highest sales value recorded by the Land Registry over the past 12 months was £738,185 for a flat and £1,310,000 for a house.
34.6% of homes currently available to buy have been reduced in price since they were first listed for sale.
There are currently 944 properties available to buy in Wembley. Based on historic sales rates, this represents around 14.52 months of supply. In addition, 54.8% of homes listed to sell in the past 12 months were flats.
Over the last five years, there have been 5,853 new homes built across Wembley, averaging 1,171 per year.
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:
a. The property will remain on the market for an unusually long period of time and become stale.
b. 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 obviously inflates the vendor’s expectations, and they become convinced that Agent X is the one who can achieve that price — even though the market may not support it.
What vendors often fail to realise is that as a result of overvaluing the property, you face the same problems 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 have already meant signing a long (16-week) sole selling rights agreement, which allows the agent time to slowly whittle away at the asking price.
The Ellis & Co Approach
At Ellis & Co branches, 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 keep your property realistic and not 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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Do some research on 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 was a book we could look at and tell you exactly, “This is the value of your property!” It certainly would make all our lives easier — but unfortunately, it isn’t that simple.
What I would ask potential vendors to do is check 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 of your property, please call your local office of Ellis & Co, and see how we can help get you moving.
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