`Sold` Isn`t The End Of Your Estate Agent`s Work!

Date Published 05 May 2025

It's a great feeling when you accept an offer on your home. Seeing a 'For Sale' sign changed to 'Sold' or ‘Spoken For' can be quite a relief for you and it also shows your estate agent has done a good job... so far...

It's a shocking statistic, but in 2024 around 30% of property transactions 'fell through' and didn't proceed to completion. This can happen for many different reasons, some of them are totally unpredictable and to be honest quite impossible to avoid.

However, in many cases it simply comes down to your estate agent taking their foot off the pedal and not seeing things through to completion with dedication and more hard work!

Stale properties

Facing going back on the market to try and sell all over again can be tough to deal with. What's more, it often leads to missing out on the new home you wanted to move to yourself
. Even worse, your home might now look 'stale' to potential buyers who might think there is a problem with the property itself.

We believe that one of the key things that separates a good estate agent from a bad one is the effect that 'Sold' sign can have. A big chain that has a multitude of properties 'on the books' might simply mark it down as 'done' and move on to the next.

When you choose an independent local business like ours you know that we will do our very best to make sure your sale goes all the way to moving day. It's something we think our clients should expect us to do.

It's also worth remembering that the work we've put into getting that 'sold' sign up doesn't earn us anything - we don't get paid until the keys change hands!

Sales Progression

So there is a lot of work that still has to take place and it's known as 'sales progression'. It is as important as any other aspect of what a good estate agent does and we place a very high value on doing it well.

The first way we can minimise the risk of a sale falling through is by advising sellers on which offer to accept. We make sure we weed out buyers who do not have the funds or might be in too difficult a position to be serious contenders. A complicated property chain is one of the biggest reasons for the fall through rate being as high as it is.

Solving problems

Few things in life are totally problem free and selling homes is certainly not one of them!

A buyer's survey can often cause a hiccup by bringing to light an issue. However, there are few things that can't be solved with a little negotiation and experience. That's one of the areas where our knowledge that's been built up over a quarter of a century of selling homes in the area really comes into its own.

A slow solicitor or a local government search can sometimes hinder proceedings, but these are also things we're highly experienced in looking after on behalf of our clients.

In fact, most of the things that can crop up usually have simple solutions, but you need an agent who is looking after your interests and is really on top of their brief to make sure a small drama doesn't become a full blown crisis.

We're here for you

We think it's heartbreaking that almost a third of people who think their sale is done and dusted have to suffer the added stress and pressure of a fall-through.

One of the reasons that we've built up such a strong reputation in West Worthing, Goring and Ferring is because people know we care - and we see things through.

Call 01903 501 105, email us or visit us at our office at 325 Goring Road to find out why choosing an independent local estate agent is the best way to minimize the risk of your sale falling through.