It's Tough at the Bottom

It's Tough at the Bottom

Anthony Wood of Samuel Wood & Co looks at what it takes to reach the top in property.

It's been a tough season in the football Premier League. As if the fight for top position wasn't enough, the scrap to avoid relegation was just as frenzied a cliff-hanger. Being dropped to a lower division is always painful and it comes at a heavy price too. Not so many people want to come and see you play and so the value of your club goes down.

Property is just the same. Those flats and houses in the best locations, in the best order and offering strength-in-depth features and benefits are in the premier league and fetch the best prices. Those that offer less drop down the divisions losing value all the way.

The best football clubs attract the best players and the best properties attract the best buyers. While one can't change a property's location, one can certainly make the most of all those attractive features that make such a difference to a sale and the eventual price received.

Creating a premier division property is all about understanding what a discerning buyer is looking for, how he or she wants to live and then providing just that. This requires imagination and experience. It means not letting a property become dated or down-at-heel, and it means suppressing the urge ever to be idiosyncratic with décor. Above all it means ensuring that a property is relevant in style and specification to modern tastes and lifestyles.

This is where working with your estate agent comes in - or at least an estate agent with the experience and local knowledge to provide all the advice needed to ensure your property is in the top division. So ask your agent questions about how to give your property more kerb appeal, how to help make the interior give a great first impression and what practical measures would help your property reach its full price potential. Work with your agent to get the top price. No football manager ever made the top grade without the collaboration of everyone around him. No property made top price without a team effort.

Gaining Premier Division status does take time, effort and some expense. But the alternative isn't a very attractive option - as any relegated football manager will tell you.