Why do you need a for sale board?

For sale boards are often the least popular aspect of bringing a property onto the market in Ipswich and Suffolk.
Many people don’t want their neighbours to know their house is for sale.  Some object on security grounds because, for instance, their road may be on the direct route from Ipswich town centre.  Drunken pranks of some teenagers on their way home from a night on the town have included removing orrepositioning for sale and sold boards.I’ve only ever worked one New Year’s Day and I remember it well.  It was so quiet that I vowed never to open on New Year’s Day again,  despite the fact I took over a dozen phone calls.
On New Year’s Eve or early in the morning of New Year’s Day some pranksters had moved one of our for sale boards from a front garden and repositioned it outside a well-known toilet block in the Ipswich area.
Each and every one of the phone calls was a joker ringing up to find out how much the toilet block was for sale for!
Others don’t like a for sale board for security reasons, particularly if the property for sale is empty or is occupied by elderly people etc.
Some people simply think that it’s free publicity for the estate agent, and estate agents already charge enough as it is.
Another old favourite is that someone lives at the end of a cul-de-sac and no one ever comes down here anyway, apart from the postman and others who live there.
However, there are a few things to bear in mind.
Even in today’s hi-tech world of internet searches, websites, and portals such as Rightmove and Zoopla, the good old for sale board is still one of the best methods of attracting  potential purchasers that a property can have.
There are many advantages to having a for sale board.
The first thing is that a board can attract somebody who wasn’t previously thinking of buying a house right now.  If someone isn’t thinking of buying a house currently they are unlikely to be going on Rightmove, Zoopla or any of the other property websites searching of properties to buy in Ipswich.
Neither are they likely to be registered on the mailing lists of the estate agents in Ipswich or Suffolk generally, nor are they likely to be looking in the windows of estate agency windows in Ipswich.
Over the many combined years that my highly experienced team and I have been in the business, we have sold many a property to somebody who wasn’t currently thinking of buying a house there and then.
I have a very good recent example of one of my friends who had absolutely no intention of moving and was quite happy living in their current house.
They had frequently driven past a particular property and had often commented how nice it was. My friend stated that this was one his favourite houses of all time.
One morning they were driving into town, only to see that a for sale board had been erected outside the house.  They got straight onto the estate agent about the property (in the north of Ipswich just near Christchurch Park), to get more details and to arrange a viewing.
The long and short of it is that their property has now come onto the market  and they are now in the process of buying that house. So two house sales in the Ipswich area have come about from absolutely nothing, bar the for sale board.
A similar situation happened to my niece and her husband earlier on this year.
I was chatting to them about buying homes in Ipswich and the houses and bungalows that are for sale in the Ipswich area.
They actually stated that they were looking for another house in the same village they are currently in, in north of Ipswich.
They were very happy in their current home and would only move if one of four other properties in the village that they had identified were for sale as these were in the position that they were looking for.
Low and behold, the arrival of a for sale board on one of those four properties resulted in them moving in May, having quickly put their own property onto the market and sold (needless to say via Jonathan Waters Estate Agents!)
I am currently looking for a property to buy in the Ipswich area myself.
I am ideally looking in the villages to the north or east of Ipswich.  When you look at a property on Rightmove or Zoopla you get a map with the location marked from the postcode.  In most cases this postcode covers a variety of properties.  In Falkenham, between Ipswich and Felixstowe where I used to live, our postcode covered the entire village of over 20 houses.  Therefore the icon on the map is not necessarily exactly where the property for sale is.
When driving out to have a look at the outside of properties as most buyers of houses do, being able to quickly locate the property that is for sale from a for sale board saves a lot of time and trouble.  For instance, in Falkenham, properties with the same postcode could have been over a mile apart.
Furthermore a board is an advertisement 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for your house.
It keeps buyers on their toes knowing that other people are aware the house is for sale in Ipswich as well.  It’s a sign to serious buyers that you are also a serious seller.
I know once again from my own personal experience as a buyer that you tend to have slight reservations about a seller without a for sale board – are they really serious?  Do they really want to sell?  Is it likely that I may view this house and like it, but then never be able to get it, or have to wait for ages because they are not in any rush or particularly serious about selling?
With regard to one of the arguments about the fact that “no one will see a for sale board” I have never ceased to be surprised by this one.
It is amazing, even the most quietest of cul-de-sacs or remotest of locations that you genuinely believe no one will see brings forth multiple enquiries.
I once sold a house to a postman who was delivering letters to a house where a for sale board had gone up – he may have been the only visitor to that house in a week apart from the owners!
Friends of friends and friends of neighbours are also another good source of potential buyers being created out of nothing that can come from a for sale board being erected.
Remember, a for sale board outside a property is one of the oldest and most traditional forms of letting potential buyers know your house is for sale and, in my opinion, it is still by far the best.
Jonathan Waters at Jonathan Waters Estate Agents use a professional board contractor who will ensure that the for sale board will be smartly presented and enhance the appearance of any home.  The board will be securely fastened and certainly not easy to remove.  I know this only too well when my board man went on holiday one week and I tried to manually remove a for sale board that he had erected – I couldn’t do it!
If you would like a valuation on your property, or are thinking of selling either now or in the near future, why not contact one of our valuation staff at Jonathan Waters Estate Agents?  We deal with the sale of properties in Ipswich, Martlesham and surrounding villages and would be only too happy to visit your property without obligation to provide you with a complete, free market appraisal and unlimited pre market advice. To find out more about houses for sale, Ipswich, contact Jonathan Waters Estate Agents today.

625 Foxhall Road, Ipswich, Suffolk, IP3 8ND
01473 721133
jonathan@waters-ips.co.uk

35 Buttermarket, Ipswich, Suffolk, IP1 1BH
01473 281188
jonathanwaters@jonathanwaters.co.uk

Bristol Court, Betts Avenue, Martlesham Heath Business Park, Martlesham IP5 3RY
01473 620222
jonathan@waters-ips.co.uk


or visit www.jonathanwaters.co.uk