Aggressive sellers. Lousy letting agents. Nightmare neighbours. These are just some of the biggest deal-breakers highlighted in a new survey.
Data from a poll of UK adults by property guide website SellingUp.com reveals that 42% of potential home buyers would pull out of a deal due to a rude seller. 28% said that they would punish the vendor by reducing their original offer.
Costly cause
An unpleasant or annoying estate agent was found to be as costly for sellers, with 35% considering this a reason to call-off a deal, with 19% this represented grounds for making a lower offer.
The stereotypical neighbour from hell was a large for making would-be buyers pull out of a deal, with 70% citing this as the case.
However, this was not top of the list. 77% said poor security was the main potential deal-breaker.
The top-ten reasons by percentage for potential deals falling through were found to be:
- Poor security (77%)
- A bad energy rating (75%)
- Noisy neighbours (70%)
- Bad mobile phone signal (53%)
- Pests (44%)
- Messy garden (42%)
- Rude seller (42%)
- Aeroplane noise (41%)
- Being next door to a cemetery (31%)
- Located on an embarrassing street name (25%)
Informed decisions
‘The aim of the survey was to remind sellers to think like a buyer when marketing their property and try to sort out as many flaws as they can,’ remarked Oliver Lewis, SellingUp.com’s research manager ‘Also, we wanted to help buyers make better informed decisions when purchasing, especially for investment and think about the less high profile issues that could affect resale value.’[1]
‘When sellers are getting ready to put their property on the market, they are always being told to tidy up and make the place presentable, but there are many more factors they need to consider if they want to attract the widest number of buyers,’ he continued.[1]
Lewis also said that, ‘clearly with some ingrained issues like aereoplane noise and a bad mobile signal there is little or nothing the vendor can do. They simply have to hope that the buyer doesn’t notice or care.’[1]
‘On other points like evidence of mice, badly overgrown gardens or poor home security there is much greater scope to take action in advance. Hiring a pest control company, a gardening firm or a security specialist to resolve any problems might cost a few hundred pounds but could save them thousands when selling.’[1]
[1] http://www.propertyreporter.co.uk/household/could-noisy-neighbours-be-a-property-deal-breaker.html