Sell Your House Like The Royal Marines

It never ceases to amaze me how many hours are put into selling or buying our homes. We have to spend so much time on researching and inviting estate agents, having them appraise our properties, digest their opinions on value and saleability and then deciding which is the right one to choose. In a flash we are on with the first flurry of viewings, which we’ve specially presented the property for, and then hopefully on to an offer. It’s then a thrashing out of negotiations, which ultimately takes us through to the crucial and often most fraught end-stage of proceedings: from Under Offer to Exchange.

Throw into this combustible mix, an array of additional professionals such as mortgage lenders, surveyors, tradesmen and at least two solicitors, while all the while you have to try and manage the stress of knowing that large sums of your own money are at stake. It’s a high octane emotional blast from start to finish.

With so many opinions and tight timescales to meet, I regularly hear of transactions coming off the rails, sometimes in spectacular fashion. All those valuable hours of time, effort and significant sums of money, lost. So to make sure this doesn’t happen to you, you need to ensure that the team around you is the very best – I take inspiration from the Royal Marines.

Sell Your House Like The Royal Marines

Sweep the house

Imagine you are on a mission with the Royal Marines. You have been ordered to examine and sweep through every room in a house and in every one, there is an obstacle that you need to overcome. In the sitting room, you need to ensure your marketing collateral is outstanding, in the dining room, you have to be certain that all viewings are followed up, and in the breakfast kitchen is where you have to structure an agreeable offer. By gradually working your way over these hurdles and systematically securing all the rooms, you will be in a much stronger position to reach the stairs and ascend to the next floor, where your mission continues as you reach the Under Offer stage.

You may think that when you arrive at this upper level, that you are nearly home and dry. But don’t make the common rookie error of letting your guard down just yet, as this is when you need to be even more alert. It is at this point that other team members enter the fray, putting your whole operation at risk of failure. You need to recruit extra manpower that you can rely upon, such as solicitors and surveyors. It is therefore vital that your growing team is highly capable and razor sharp in key areas such as handovers and communication. If a hidden problem suddenly leaps out at you, your team should possess the clout and pack-like mentality to collectively take it on and resolve it. If one member falters through lack of experience or commercial understanding, then it puts the mission to reach Exchange in extreme danger.

Code of honor

It’s a Royal Marines code of honour to not leave a colleague down in the field. Just like them, you need to ensure from the outset that your team is the very best it can be, on its toes ready to take on the transaction and that the risk to you is minimal. If one person in the process falls, the rest need to instantly and seamlessly pick up the pieces and carry on in the right direction. Only with experience and outstanding communication across all team members, will you win with ease. Anything less than this and you are likely to face an uphill battle with unknown consequences.

Courage, determination and selflessness are the three qualities demanded that each and every marine possesses. So when choosing your top team, ensure each of your members has these qualities and you adhere to the Marines’ most famous motto: ‘99.9% need not apply’.