In this episode, Mark talks to Joe about how he got a great price for his property which he recently sold.
Full of insights, hints and tips about how to go about buying and selling your home in the current property market, this episode is a treasure-trove of information for anyone considering going on the same journey in 2023.
As a mortgage advisor with many years of experience, and a director of House and Holiday Home Mortgages, Mark Stallard really does know what he's talking about when it comes to buying a home -- but this is the first time he's moved in seventeen years.
Tune it to hear what he has to say about this -- and make notes!
Transcript:
So, I've taken over the podcast today.
Well, it's a little bit of an impromptu recording, but you are in the process of moving home and …
And I thought just hearing you talk about it, because you tell me every single day what's going on, which is really boring, not annoying at all.
Yeah. I thought it'd be really good to actually hear your experiences. Cause you haven't moved in 17 years, have you? So, actually we're helping people do this stuff every single day of the week, but you are now going through it yourself.
Okay, well now listen ladies and gentlemen, I didn't know this was going to happen, so bear with me.
The story is, so every year Joe comes up to our house for Christmas and he keeps telling mum and I that we're rattling around and it’s time we move. I think he's after the Stallard fortune, but in January this year. I thought, yeah, Joe, you might have a point actually that we are spending a lot of money on energy as a lot of people are now, and um, that may be the catalyst for this.
The next problem I had was to convince Mrs. Stallard that we actually needed to move because she said, well, I'm not rattling around so we need to convince Mrs. St that we need to move. And, but more importantly, where and to. and I just tended to be, you know, like you do. I tended to leave, flew a few properties across her bows, shake of the head, carry on watching the tv.
Okay, that isn't going to work. And then I chanced on one in a town where Joe's mum and I actually met and married in devices in wheelchair, and I flew this across her and she said, I. So we have to persuade the estate agent, Dan, in Devises to let us look at it because the poor gentleman selling the property had been let down a couple of times and he didn't want tyre kickers, like the Stallards coming down, spending an hour of his time to say whether they liked it or not,
because your house wasn't even on the market at this point. Was it?
Our house wasn't on the market. So there's - in this fun podcast, there are lots of little life lessons hopefully that you'll pick up from me.
So, the first message was, don't give up, because I then wrote a long email saying why Claire and I should go and look at this property. I was very persuasive. And what was, what was in that email? What did you say? Well, I, I basically said, look, we're not going to waste your time. If we like your property, we will go back and we will put our property straight on the market.
Everybody says this, but we do own a very sellable property in a very sellable area in the Cotswolds. So, I was just persuasive and said, look, we're not going to waste your time. We're not going to mess you about. We'll come in, we'll go out, we'll take our shoes off, we'll wander about, the vendor wanted to show us round. And We'll listen to what you've got to say and if you could just give us 20 minutes. Hopefully it'll be beneficial for all parties. Well, it certainly was. We went down to devices, we looked at the property. I could tell because you know, if you're married for a long time, you know stuff. And I could tell that, that, that Claire liked the property very much so we went back to the agent in in town and told.
The agent that we'd like to not put an offer in because we weren't in a position to do that, but we'd certainly be interested and we'd certainly put our property on the market very shortly. So I think the, the, so number point lesson than number one, don't give up. Lesson number two, find out what the other half wants.
And I know that sounds obvious, but I actually didn't really realize that what Joe's mom wanted more than anything else was to be quite close to a town center. You know, we're just turning 65 now and we don't wanna be doing this again. This will be a last move. So, Listen to what your partner wants and really understand.
Um, yeah. Obviously if you can make it, make it work between you, great. So we could, because I'm, I was happy as long as the property was in good order. That was a, another prerequisite of Claire's and also near to a town that we like and a town that we know, and friends that we know. We didn't really wanna move to an area where we knew no one, because that would be a new start.
So this is all about a downsizing exercise. Okay. Interesting. And how's that going? Oh boy. Um, right. So most people of our age, of our generation will understand that they probably have a loft. And the loft is full of stuff. It's full of your stuff, it's full of your children's stuff. Your children are not in a particular hurry to see you.
Come and get it and take it away. Um, so we have been literally, I am now on personal friendship terms with John at the tip. Um, we know each other well. I, uh, um, uh, we've passed the time of day, most Sunday mornings and I sort of look longingly at stuff. I pour into the tip never to be used again. And then I think to myself, well, we're going to a house that's probably half the size of what we live in at the moment.
We cannot take it with us. , will we gonna use it? No. So Mark, get over yourself. Put it in that tip. I just so people don't think you're a terrible person as well. You have offered a lot of this stuff to charity shop. Oh, yes, yes, yes, yes. I'm a friend of Facebook marketing, uh, Facebook marketplace. That's been very, very good.
And we have given a lot to charity. Uh, we've particularly used the door in Stroud, um, a wonderful homeless, uh, charity organization. Young, struggling children in, in, um, young adults in Stroud. So been very, they've been most helpful and taken lots of stuff. Um, I'm a little bit like, you know, the guy on the, on the Great Escape who's trying to get the sand out of his trousers as he walks around the, the compound.
You know, we're trying to find new charity shops, , new places to get rid of stuff. It's quite a challenge, I tell you, but, uh, it's quite cathartic in a way. I, I, I have enjoyed coming home with an empty, empty boot, an empty backseat, um, on those Sunday morning. So that's been a challenge. So, to, to set the scene, you haven't completed yet?
No. But you've got a relatively small chain. Yep. Um, and you're in the, the legal stages Yeah. At the moment. Tell us about listing the property and how you chose your agent. I'm not saying to, to tell us who the agent is and, and don't share anything you don't want to. But how'd you go up making that choice and actually getting the property on the market?
I think. Doing the things that you do. So you are looking for a local reputation. Um, we'd spoken to an agent last year. We were very impressed with that, the way that that agent presented herself. And so it was easy for us because we went back to her. We asked her out again this year. 20. In 2023. In January 23, um, she knew the property.
Um, she was professional in her, um, delivery to us, telling us the kind of marketplace to expect, the kind of price to expect. Um, she asked us to put the price down a little bit deliberately to generate interest. Um, I have a friend who's got a property on at the moment and he's gone high and he's getting not very many viewings and he's saying, okay, that's alright, mark.
I don't really. Because the viewers will all come out at Easter time. My problem with that, Joe, is that, um, and it's a personal, personal opinion. My problem is, is that, um, his house would've been on the market for quite a while. At that stage, I think we hit it hard and fresh. There was one or two much rings locally about, we were underselling it, but actually, Achieved the price or at, to this day, we've achieved the price that we wanted to by generating competition.
Um, we made sure that the house was beautifully presented. Um, Claire spent hours and hours cleaning it and making it. Look really nice. I like how she's good. I think that if we don't sell a house, I must keep her up to that standard cause the house is really nice and tidy now. , you're afraid, man. I'll get in trouble now.
Um, so we, uh, uh, we got I think 11 viewings. We had four offers, a couple of over asking price offers. Um, and we showed the property nicely. We had it properly professionally photographed. We had it professionally videoed 3D videos and you know, we threw the proverbial kitchen sink at doing it. It's only took a week or so.
Two weeks to sell. Yeah, two weeks to sell. Um, good area, good house, but also I think presented properly at the correct price. I think that's really important. Excellent. I think Joe, I'd like to make, to throw in a really big point here, probably tip number three, if you like, as a mortgage broker, I've been doing this for more years than I can, can remember Cause you correctly alluded to it at the beginning of the chat.
I haven't, I've lived in the same house since 2006. Um. Probably every mortgage broker should probably sell their house every five years just to remind themselves of what the client has to go through. Now we haven't, we haven't had to go through anything bad, don't get me wrong, but it is a stressful occasion, the whole physical up to the tip malarkey.
We haven't been going out seeing our friends or playing golf because we'd been running to the tip the whole. Is she, isn't she? Are they? Aren't they? Why hasn't someone throw me back? Um, what will the surveyor do when he comes to look at my property? So you're going through a rollercoaster of emotions and thoughts in your head.
Um, and because I suppose I, it's been brought into bigger focus for me because I have in the last 20. Thought that I've seen every possible, um, situation arise. And I've always told my customers that there's always one or two bumps in the road before they get that magic exchange done. Um, and most of those bumps are sorted.
Um, so they're always bumps in the road. We've had a little bump in the road. I, I will allude to that in a second. Um, but it, it is an stressful occasion because people, um, I think generally are too busy. Or can be too busy to communicate with you, and I'm not having to go at anybody here, but you want people to communicate with you.
You want people to tell you what's happening, et cetera, et cetera. And you are also putting your faith. I've got all my chips now on the sale of this house. I've got all my. Chips are on red, basically, because, you know, we've effectively in our heads, we've moved from STR to devices and that's really important because that emotional side of it.
Has that surprised you? Um, I. Probably not because, um, I'm probably more of a worrier than my wife is, to be fair, uh, than your mum is Joe, to be fair, cuz she just lets you, she just takes the, whatever will be, will be route. But as I say, I probably know too much and I know where these things drop off and I know I've seen people, I've had customers phone me up and say that they've had a survey done on their house and someone doesn't like the fact that the guttering needs repairing and now they're gonna pull out.
So I've heard all that. So that does echo with me. Um, I stress my buyers have certainly not done that. They've been nothing but super. Um, but obviously there's always that worry that they might change their mind or something, or something might happen. So you've gotta be really strong, mentally strong with yourself, um, about this.
And I guess learnings for us as a, as a brokerage, have you seen anything that, from your experience, you think we can be doing better to help people? Going through this? Yeah, it's a, it's a really good question, and I think that it's the old chestnuts that you sometimes forget, don't use jargon. Um, you know, my, my solicitor has certainly said stuff to me, which I haven't really understood and I've had to ask her to explain to me, which.
Done obviously beautifully, but so that's jargony type stuff. So don't use jargon. You know, we talk about ERCs to the customer. What on earth is an E R C? An E R C is an early repayment charge on their mortgage, but don't assume they know what an E R C is. Don't talk about souls because they're solicitors and talk about solicitors, not souls, basically.
Um, and so, yeah, it's uh, um, I think learn that also people want to be treated with respect. They want to be treat. , honestly, um, they want to be treated in a very timely fashion. So it's all the stuff that we know that because we are focused on giving someone a mortgage and getting that mortgage and probably dealing with a lender who sometimes will ask us silly questions, we sometimes forget is actually a customer waiting for an answer or waiting for an update.
Interesting. Yeah, no, I think it's a very. From all that you said. I think it's just that communication is key right across the board, right? Yeah. It's, it's how you got in to view that property. Yeah. And it's what would make your legal process as straightforward as possible and probably everything in between, right?
Yeah. I think tip number five, so this is my little bump in a road here, tip number five. Um, very, I'll give you a very brief synopsis on this. So in 2021, a tree in a wood. My house over the, over the fence, not on my land. A branch fell into my garden. We rang the, um, company that owned the wood and they very quickly and generously sent a man out quickly to sort it out.
I thought he was going to come with his chainsaw, but he didn't. He came with his clipboard and he looked at the tree and he said he's got to talk to the local council about that tree, uh, because there's a tree preservation order on it, and he needs to come back in three. When they'd given him permission to chop the branch down, fine.
No problem at all, man. Arrived back with three other men. Four cups of coffee were distributed. Branch was chopped down, men shook hands and they would disappeared. And I forgot all about it. Only two days ago, um, I've now discovered that the solicitor on the other side has got a note in the searches or whatever that eight be close.
My address has a tree preservation order in our name with a Mr. Davis on it. Well, they said, well, what about this tree? Well, the tree is not mine. It's not in my land. It's just that someone has. Our name on that now needs to be sorted and got rid of and satisfied. It's that kind of stuff that you can't prepare for.
What you can prepare for is making sure, ladies and gentlemen, that you have a drawer full of receipts, guarantees, um, anything you've done to the property. Um, if you've put new patio doors in, have you got a fences certificate? If you put a wood burning stove in, have you got the correct heat task documentation because trust, More than ever now, and that's something I didn't remember happening in 2006 more than ever now the, um, solicitors on the other side will want all that documentation so, you know, be good house managers I think is probably the, the message there.
Cool. Fab. Well, we probably will revisit this when you touch wood. Have completed. Okay. Um, but is there anything else you think would be useful for, for people to hear from your experience so far? No, I, I think I just wanna wrap up by saying, um, be honest, um, be straightforward, um, be organized, um, be kind because that's important as well.
Um, and try and work with everybody on it as much as you. Fab. Good stuff. So a little bit of a change from the holiday, let scene today, but hopefully that has been useful for everyone as ever. Any questions, any, any uh, comments, get involved and, uh, and let us know and we'll certainly be more than happy to help where we can.
Lovely. Thanks Joe.
