Sell the Truth Aggressively

A defect stated plainly, with a quote beside it, usually costs a seller less than the same defect mentioned under his breath. Old galvanised water pipes make the point well. Mumbled about at the end of a viewing, they leave a buyer hearing burst pipes in every wall. Set out in the listing, with two plumbers' quotes in a folder on the kitchen counter and an asking price that already allows for the work, they become a known cost with a number on it.

Known costs are easy to price. Vague fears get priced as the worst version of themselves, and buyers are better at sensing something hidden than sellers like to believe. There is a legal side as well. A voetstoots clause protects a seller against defects he did not know about, and offers no shelter to one who knew and kept the defect to himself.

So the honest listing is also the commercial one. It may draw fewer excited enquiries in its first week. The offer it does draw has already absorbed the bad news, which means it tends to survive the inspection, the bank's valuation and the months after transfer, when an unhappy buyer would otherwise be looking for someone to blame.