Our client works for a major, global bank and travels frequently. Consequently, she did not have the time to undertake either the necessary due diligence to find her ideal home or understand valuations, even though she was looking in a very small area close to the house she was selling.
She wanted a larger home to accommodate her teenage children and she also preferred a property that required updating as she doesn’t like bland, developer finishes.
Early in the process, we found her an exceptional opportunity – a wider than average house that needed work and which the owners needed to sell quickly. Unfortunately, the sale of our client’s house was not progressing as swiftly as she would have liked, so she was not able to proceed.
We then found another large home but, when we sent the details, she was unimpressed. Nevertheless, we persuaded her to view it and she was pleasantly surprised:
The house has fantastic proportions with large rooms and high ceilings. In addition, it has lovely, open views to the rear which is rare for properties in Notting Hill that aren’t on communal gardens.
The house did require some updating but also had the added benefit of planning permission to extend and improve it.
The negotiations were complicated for various reasons including the fact that one of the owners was less motivated than the other to sell. We devised a negotiation strategy to neutralise this issue and achieved a price that was considerably less than another offer they had accepted previously and also less than other offers they had rejected.
Most buyers tend to focus on price per square foot arguments when negotiating. While these will work some of the time, there are far more effective strategies and tactics you should use to achieve much lower prices and generally be more successful in negotiations.
“We were keen to progress the negotiations quickly. However, they devised a negotiation strategy which they felt would give us the highest probability of achieving the lowest price possible. This involved moving more slowly than we would have liked but they managed to secure a significant reduction of £500,000 from the asking price which in hindsight we would not have achieved if we had tried to secure the property quickly.
This proved that they had our best interests at heart because they could have secured the property quickly at a higher price and received a higher fee. Instead, they had the confidence and professionalism to give us the best advice.” Mr P Murphy
Would it be a bad use of your time to discover how to negotiate the lowest price and best terms possible on your ideal home or investment?
To do so, you can request a complimentary Strategy Call to discuss your plans by clicking here, calling 02034578855 (+442034578855 from outside the UK) or emailing dee@mercuryhomesearch.com
