One door shuts, another opens – that’s how it is this time of the year. 

The main holiday season is over. Stand by for the property market to get a second wind. Soon as the schools go back, buyers return to the fray. Happens every year. 

“It’s not all doom and gloom,” insists estate agent Nik Keegan.

“The present market is a great opportunity for buyers looking to move upmarket either to a bigger house or better area. Generally the larger the house, the greater the discount.” 

Keegan knows what he’s talking about. For two years running, in 2017 and again this year his company Keegan White won the gold award for the best agent in Wycombe at the British Property Awards. Last year he and his business partner Lennie White went on to scoop the top title for the southern region.  

Too early to say how they’ll fare at regional level this year.
He points out: “The house market has two seasons, the school season from January to July and the Christmas season from September to November. This year the volume of sales dipped a bit in August but numbers will pick up after the new term starts.”

Even though interest rates have crept up slightly it needn’t mean mortgages will be  correspondingly more expensive, says the agent. “Lenders are offering incredibly good deals on fixed rates.”

His advice to sellers is be realistic about price. “In 2015 when there were three buyers for every property you could afford to say ‘it’s worth £400.000 so lets put it on for £425,000  and see how it does’.

Then came 2016 and the changes in stamp duty for buy-to-let and second homes.  The effects of that have now trickled through.

“Previously 77 per cent of properties at the bottom of the chain were owned by investors. There are still investors about but the majority of properties at the bottom of the chain are now owned by first time buyers and they don’t have limitless funds.

“They can only borrow a certain amount. You could say it’s returned to a normal market.

“Estate agents and sellers need to be realistic about pricing,” he emphasises.

“The days of prospecting are over. I always tell vendors the market value of their property, explain the reason and how I’ve arrived at the figure and strongly advise them to put it on the market for that.”

This was exactly the message he gave the owners of two cottages within 100 yards of each other on one of the approach roads into Wycombe. 

Result: Both sold for the asking price within three weeks of being put on the market.

One is a two/three bedroom semi in Hughenden Road for £325,000.

The other (pictured) is a two bedroom mid-terrace cottage in Temple End for £315,000.

“It’s the highest price achieved by any cottage in the terrace,” says the agent.

“The price was fair but it was also very well presented. The interior is like a show home. The owners have made the ground floor open plan, there are split levels that add character but essentially it’s one large space - it’s what buyers are looking for.

“Every room is beautifully finished. Contracts were exchanged on Tuesday this week.

“We had a stream of buyers for each of these cottages,” Keegan adds.

“It wasn’t as though the owners struck lucky after a single viewing finding the one couple who wanted it. Both houses attracted a lot of interest because neither price was over the top.”