To Master Patience Is To Master Everything Else

Since Monday we've had the most incredible 3 days for property sales exchanging contracts and not as you might think, driven just because of concerns for the new Government's first major budget and what immediate impact that could have on a current sale.

In the past 3 days we have successfully exchanged contracts on 5 properties and in some cases, conducted a simultaneous exchange and completion. This has ranged from a three bedroom house requiring renovation but with scope for extending at ￡775,000, a two bedroom lodge in the village centre at ￡800,000, a very pretty rural cottage at ￡1,200,000, a large, mid- 20th century house at over ￡1,200,000 and finally a large, Arts & Crafts house on an acre plot in the village centre at nearly ￡3,000,000.

Every sale is different and these have been no exceptions but two aspects which did feature heavily in all these sales was sage experience and patience. One property sadly saw the elderly owner pass away days before a planned exchange which means having to carefully manage all parties through not just an emotionally sensitive period but also a prolonged probate process before the sale could proceed again. In another sale, a cottage was found to have the now dreaded, spray foam insulation in the loft space which necessitated the removal and replacement of nearly the entire roof. It didn't just bring the sale and the entire chain to a shuddering halt but meant the need to negotiate with the buyer to help shoulder that cost, which they kindly did given they were committed to the property and were going to receive the benefit of a new roof. Following a very in-depth survey another property required my colleague to invest time managing expectations and eventually required sitting both buyer and seller around a dining table and overseeing a face to face discussion about agreeing a new purchase price in order to keep the sale together and moving forward.

The point being that few residential property sales are ever simple and in actual fact, now take longer than ever to progress from offer accepted to what everyone desires, a successful exchange and completion. It's an inordinate amount of time to keep everything motivated, happy and progressing. Now more than ever, the role of the agent is far more relationship manager requiring astute emotional intelligence and diplomacy, expert sales progressor requiring diligence and plenty of industry experience to spot and manage potential issues before they become a perceived problem and finally patience.

"Patience," not in terms of sitting back and allowing fate to play its hand but as in knowing when to push and pull, when to crack the whip and get directly involved and inject urgency with a client, a buyer or a solicitor and when to allow messages to sink in and give people the time and space to reflect and come to a more informed decision. That's what takes real skill these days in residential agency, gently and diplomatically steering everyone towards the finish line, genuinely helping all those involved to navigate the process, limiting the bumps along the way by removing incompetence, reducing delay and communicating well at all times.

There can be no room for rubbing people up the wrong way, clumsily not thinking about what exactly you're going to say over the phone before dialling, or likewise considering how to frame a message depending on whom you're speaking to.

We have to take a strategic or long term approach to everything we do, whether that's how we pitch the service we offer, the value we place on that and also our work ethic and day to day working practices. It's certainly not something you can dip in and out of when it suits you, this process runs all day, everyday and until the sale completes. It definitely requires time and as described, a wealth of measured patience, which may or may not come naturally, but has to be mastered.

Alice Widdowson Edwina de Klee Leanne Galbraith Strutt & Parker #pangbourne #berkshire #oxfordshire #residentialsales