FAQs

How do I start marketing my property with you? Just call our office and one of our team will arrange for a consultant to visit you. Same day appointments are nearly always possible, up to 10pm, 7 days a week. Why should I use SmartMove? 1. To save money. The average customer saves around £3000 on their moving costs when they sell with SmartMove. 2. To get your property sold! Our property marketing is second to none. 3. Our efficient service. Our staff consists of dedicated admin personnel along with experienced sales consultants. We ensure that your property is marketed efficiently at all times. 4. To save even more money. We offer exclusive discounts on other property sales related services such as conveyancing and removals. 5. Flexibility. You are not tied to us at any point. You have the freedom that most traditional estate agents will not grant you. 6. Because estate agents fees are RIDICULOUS. Why is part of your fee 'up front'? Our initial fee is for the marketing and administration of your property. In order to keep the fee so low, it is essential for the marketing costs to be covered. If you were to advertise your property privately, two or three adverts in the local press would soon mount up to a few hundred pounds. Yet for just two payments of £345 + vat, you get a complete estate agency service, from the moment the board goes up, through to handing the keys over on completion. Will I be 'tied in' to SmartMove for a number of weeks/months? Not at all. With SmartMove there are no 'Tie in' periods at all. You are free to use other property services at any time. When is the second payment of £345 + vat payable? This is payable by your solicitor to us once you have exchanged contracts on your sale. This payment only applies upon the successful sale of your property, and should you not move for any reason, you will owe us nothing. Once I've paid your initial fee, do you have an incentive to sell my property? Your initial fee of £345 + vat in most cases will just cover our marketing and administration costs, so it is vital that we complete the job in order that we earn our selling fee on completion. There are many other reasons why SmartMove will always work hard for you. Our main incentive to sell your property is our next customer. We certainly would not have lasted this long as a credible business if we didn't actually sell our customers properties. Despite this, all customers receive our 'Customer Charter', which lays down everything you should expect from us in writing. It is your 'insurance policy' that we actually do what we say we will. More importantly, we undertake to market every customers property 'continuously until it is sold'. We therefore have a strong interest in making sure it sells sooner rather than later, as the longer we have to advertise it for, the less money we will make. What do you do to market my property? Everything you would expect a top High Street agent to do. Initially we will assist in finding the correct asking price, and then will take measurements, photos and details of your property in order that we can produce a brochure. This brochure is then sent via post or email to all buyers registered with us looking for your type of home. Within a day or so a for sale board will pop up. We will then arrange adverts to appear in the local press, and will prepare other adverts for upload to major property internet sites, such as rightmove, fish4 and hampshire homes and lettings. We then take enquiries, send out more brochures, book viewings and accompany them if required. We will then negotiate offers on your behalf, liaise with solicitors and surveyors to make sure the sale goes smoothly, and finally hand over keys to your buyer on completion day. As you can see, 'everything you would expect a top High Street agent to do'! Most estate agents want thousands of pounds for their services. How can you provide your service for such a low fee? What makes our service possible is the way the company is structured. Our previous experience tells us that very few customers actually visit estate agents offices these days, as the majority of enquiries come over the telephone or internet, from the local press or 'for sale' signs. Today, the High Street branch is unnecessary, yet it is the cost of running these branches, with highly paid salesmen and expensive company cars, that make estate agents charges so high. By eliminating much of these costs we are able to offer our service. We operate a central admin/sales centre which deals with all enquiries in the same way you would expect a traditional estate agency to, and our property consultants work in the field, linked to base through a computer network, similar to many modern companies. We are, in effect, running a multi branch estate agency, but with a fraction of the usual overheads. The savings are passed to you, the customer.