7 Things Every Property Seller Should Know

When it comes to selling your property there are a number of factors to take into consideration before taking the plunge.  Often many of these are overlooked or misunderstood, but your consideration of each factor can dramatically influence your result.

Overpriced Properties are hard to sell

Frequently seller’s price expectations can really get in the way of an effective marketing campaign and result. Let me explain.    Firstly, the market is changing constantly; it may be buoyant for a period, flat or even declining for another period. But one thing is for certain, nobody can really predict the exact price you are going to achieve. In fact even trying to predict a price range can be dangerous.  This often involves tremendous bias and guesswork.  There is often an emotional bias on behalf of the Seller who has more at stake and more emotional value in the property than anyone else.  This of course is understandable, but the reality is most buyers do not share the same memories and attachments to your home as you do. Secondly there is often bias projected onto your property from other parties. For instance this could be a neighbor who wants to “preserve” prices in the street. They will have an optimistic view of the value your property. Then there are “expert” friends and relatives who of course want to look good in your eyes. Unfortunately however overpriced properties are very hard to sell and the only opinions that count regarding price are from those who are prepared to write you a cheque.

Under priced Properties miss out.

Of course it stands to reason that if guess work or even an educated approximation of the price of your property is too low, then you will most likely undersell your property, missing out on potential profit. While it may seem more likely in a flat market to overprice a property, one can never discount the possibility that someone may come along who just falls in love with your property. Such ‘emotional’ buyers if they have the capacity will always pay more than your garden variety buyer. There are other categories of buyers who will pay more also, for instance someone who is time poor and simply doesn’t have the time to shop around a large number of properties is more inclined to pay for the convenience of getting the deal done on a property that suits their needs.  Also buyers who own properties nearby – even next door – often have more incentive to purchase and pay more.

Lack of marketing gets poor results

A common mistake of sellers is to take a conservative or soft approach to marketing their property. What they fail to understand is that at any one time there are only a limited number of people looking for the specific features and location of your property within the offered price range. Further accentuating this challenge is the fact that there can be plenty of options and choices competing with your property in the same market. This makes it essential that your property not only stands out from the crowd via high profile marketing, but that your property is also consistently marketed leaving no gaps or opportunities for your active or passive buyer to miss seeing your property. Remember the time poor buyer – he certainly won’t waste his time looking at every insignificant advertisement but will only be attracted to the most noticeable marketing.

Size does count

Taking the cheapest option for your marketing campaign will most likely result in being the most costly option in the 

long run. Not only do smaller ads lose impact and have a higher probability of being missed by your marketplace altogether, but smaller less significant ads have also proven to convey to prospective buyers that the quality and value of your property is less than other comparable homes marketed with larger advertising. Under-marketed properties sit unsold far longer and take bigger hits to their eventual sale price than those that have been marketed properly in the first place. Don’t cut corners. Particularly with the marketing of your most valued possession, an extra twenty or maybe even fifty thousand dollars on your sale price is worth the effort and marketing investment.

Time is of the essence

 We often hear sellers say they are not in a hurry to sell their property, but what is often overlooked is that the first 40 days of coming to the market is the most important. Like any product launch the peak of a consumer’s interest is aroused when the product is new and fresh and presents a contrast to what else is currently on offer. Once the freshness has gone, so do buyers’ motivation and interest.  This is frequently referred to as a property going stale. A half-hearted approach to the launch of your property to the market will frequently result in the property remaining on the market for an inconveniently longer period of time and as a consequence the market’s perception of your property’s value will dramatically reduce. You may have to watch with anxiety as the well marketed listings around your property appear with Sold stickers, while your property remains left on the shelf.

A Deadline removes procrastination

If your property goes to the market with no specific deadline for buyers to take action, a frequent outcome is a lack of motivation on behalf of the buyers. This procrastination can be overcome by using well known psychology which tells us that human beings fear the risk of loss greater than the potential for gain.   Just imagine this – when a buyer finds a property he/she likes but there is the possibility of it being taken away from them (ie purchased by another) as the deadline looms they will often make a decision to buy much more quickly.    One process that helps this happen is the Auction process which funnels interest in a property to a certain auction date and presents to the buyers the risk of losing the property to a competitor either on or before the auction date. It is a proven fact that properties that are auctioned are sold much faster than properties using all other methods.  You might hear that these properties sell for less – this simply isn’t true, and don’t forget every auction property has the reserve price set by the seller, that is, the minimum price the owner will allow the property to sell for. So if more properties are sold via auction and the sellers prices have been met,  it’s a proven, strong method of sale that may just suit you.

Any agent won’t do

While most sellers will interview a few salespeople to choose who they want to sell their property, it is vitally important to understand that you want more than an individual selling your property. Certainly you will wish to make sure that the lead selling salesperson is competent and capable of negotiating the very best price for you in a convenient time frame. But it is also vitally important to realize that selling property is not a one man band operation. The company and team behind the face you are dealing with can make or break deals. You need to be assured that you are dealing with a well resourced company that has in place systems and infrastructure that will enhance and streamline the process. You need to make sure that when you list your property the whole sales team of that company gets behind the sale and engages every buyer they are working with; that the team is in fact a team; and to ensure that team will work for your best interests. The best way to see how well a company is doing is to check out their results, A track record of success is the only gauge.  If you want a team that you can rely on, who is professional, standing by every commitment they make with a track record that is second-to-none, then call R&W Noosa, the award winning team with all the record sales.