Sell it or Make it Saleable

What has traditionally not been a go-to in years past, more particularly in some markets than others, has really come into its own since the arrival of this dreadful pandemic.

Dene Tucker* is a firm believer in the saying ‘when people want to do something, they’ll find a way – when they don’t, they’ll find an excuse’.

He reflects on how the pandemic has enabled the auction market to come to the fore in real estate markets right across Australia and New Zealand. Ironically, it has not been the real estate industry that has driven this change, but the desire of sellers looking to capitalise on the price growth in their respective communities. Dene has always maintained that it was the industry not the market that was getting in the way of auctions. He says the past two years have vindicated that view.

Many things have aided the change - from very low housing stocks to record low interest rates – but we have experienced a phenomenon that has seen record results in real estate markets across the country. In simple terms, the basic economic principles of scarcity bolstered by competition have created some of the most interesting and exciting sale price results in many decades. He’s questioned why sellers have not attempted to capitalise on these two basic principles in the past. His experience has proved that doing so works in any type of market - a seller’s market, buyer’s market or balanced market – buoyant or in a slump. Competition drives prices up, not down.

AS A STRATEGY, AUCTION HAS NO PEER.

It delivers the opportunity to capitalise on strong marketing, ever-present competition, and an unconditional contract on terms that give sellers certainty, along with the option to sell prior to auction if desired. This is teamed with the option to go to the private treaty market post-auction.

SELLERS HAVE A THREESTAGE STRATEGY TO ‘SELL IT - OR MAKE IT SALEABLE’ IN ANY MARKET, IN ANY COMMUNITY.

Dene points to results of a recent realestate. com.au study, which highlight a danger he says many have fallen into in recent years: people have elected to sell their homes ‘off-market’ through an agent who has buyers ‘up their sleeves’. Whilst this may look like an attractive proposition to avoid perceived marketing costs, the study unveiled that this path can end up ‘costing’ the seller instead (around 2.7 per cent of their potential realisation) on average. Based on a sale price of $600,000, that’s a loss of more than $16,000. At $1,000,000 it equates to $27,000. An initial investment of $1,500 to $5,000, or more, may have resulted in a sale price ten, twenty, thirty thousand dollars more if competition forces were allowed to participate. Dene has personally witnessed a figure in excess of $200,000. So, what does ‘sell it – or make it saleable’ mean? We do everything we can to ensure every potential buyer knows what we’re selling, puts themselves in a position to buy it, competes against other interested parties and pays an amount they wouldn’t want to lose it for rather than an amount they would love to pay.

This can occur prior to auction, on auction day or post auction.

Dene says the key is to retain leverage in the process without sacrificing opportunity along the way. A successful execution comes from good management not good luck. It takes an experienced agent to get the best outcome; and getting a result that you’re happy with, that harbours no regrets, is about having a strong strategy.