For the second year in succession, Rural View has been recognised for our outstanding customer service by the ESTAS, the largest and longest running award scheme in the UK residential property industry.

THE ESTAS determines the best estate & letting agents in the country through research carried out amongst customers. This year’s competition saw 25,000 surveys completed and Rural View have been shortlisted to receive an award for Best Estate Agent in the Southern Region of Wiltshire and Gloucestershire.

We are thrilled to be recognised yet again for all our efforts and quality of service. Last year we scooped ‘Best Agent in Wiltshire’ and it would be tremendous to be able to repeat this success in 2015.

We sell, let and manage village, rural and market town property over a wide area and have become well regarded for our success. The criteria for shortlisting is high and we have been selected along with six other Agents to represent the whole region.

It just shows that you don’t have to be a large multi-office agent to do the job well. We provide a very good, lean and efficient service and we are delighted that our clients feels the same way.

After careful consideration you have selected the right estate agent to market your home, they have produced a lovely brochure with lots of well taken photographs and a floor plan, advertised it in the local press and displayed it on a wide variety of websites. Now comes the key part in selling your property, the viewings!

Although ultimately the house should sell itself, when it comes to viewings get it right and you can hook a buyer, get it wrong and they can be put off irretrievably. To succeed, there are a number of points to consider.

Firstly, before the phone starts ringing off the hook with appointment requests, take a look around your home with a critical eye and put yourself in the shoes of a prospective purchaser, is there anything that would obviously put you off buying it? Seek advice from your agent and ask yourself whether it needs de-cluttering, have you done those routine maintenance jobs that you have been meaning to do since last autumn or is granny’s old disused caravan with the mouldy green roof still languishing in the drive?

A fresh lick of paint here and there using light, neutral colours can help to brighten up a home and make it more welcoming particularly in dark rooms such as Suzie’s bedroom when she was going through her maroon phase before heading off to uni. It is important however to know when to say stop and sometimes new decoration in one area can emphasise how dowdy another might be. I also would not advocate spending a fortune on titivating your home, the new kitchen cliché comes to mind and sometimes one has to accept that a new owner will see your home as a project.

Prior to a viewing, it is only fair to expect a reasonable amount of notice to have time to tidy up, make the beds, put the washing away and mow the lawn etc. before visitors arrive. Although this can involve a couple of hours of hard work, it will help to create a good first impression but do remember that it is still your ‘home’ and that most buyers do not necessarily expect to see five star hotel standards.

There are a few basic ‘tricks’ that you can employ. Although it is not necessary to go to the lengths of baking bread or percolating coffee, make sure there are no unpleasant odours by opening windows before the viewing whilst scented candles or reed diffusers are to be encouraged. What lights to have on really comes down to the individual property, time of day and the weather. Avoid having every light blazing away but a few strategically placed lamps, particularly in dark corners can be helpful.

Turn off televisions, radios and Motorhead playing on the music system. Quiet classical music in the background is fine but the best sound if one lives in the country is simply birdsong in thegarden. Make sure the house is neither too hot nor too cold, just pleasantly warm. We may be a nation of dog lovers but our furry friends can get in the way or jump up so it is normally best if they are taken out.

It’s not often that we blow our own trumpet but we are thrilled to announce that we have been shortlisted out of scores of firms to receive a coveted ESTAS Award for best regional Estate Agent’s Office (Southern England). The industry equivalent of the Baftas will be held at the Park Lane Hilton in May and we are looking foward to it with great excitement!

The pertinent thing about these estate agent awards is that they are categorised specifically for exceptional service, as voted for by both vendor clients and buyers that we had the pleasure of dealing with in 2013. Mark and I are so grateful to all customers who took the trouble to cast their vote and to all the wonderful testimonials that we received…and are rather embarassed!

Watch this space…even if we don’t get to make a speech we are delighted to have had such a positive impact on the sales that we have handled and the people that we have helped  over the year and we aim to continue this with enthusiasm into 2014 and beyond.

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