HOW TO BUY AND SELL IN THIS MARKET Ok, so this is an interesting real estate market, and with its unpredictability there are many mistakes that can be made, so here is my advice on how to get the very best result and achieve your goals whether you are a buyer or a seller.
Advice to Sellers: 1. Don’t fall for the story that the market is so hot right now, you don’t need to prepare your home for sale, as it will sell anyway. Sure, it will, but it’s WHAT it sells for that is important and generally there is a 10% differential between a poorly displayed home and a beautifully presented home. Same home – different perception of price. 2. Whereby an ‘off market’ sale might be attractive to some to save cost and effort, why would you give “carte blanche” to one buyer without finding out what you could have achieved if you had put buyers into competition? In such an active market, getting buyers to compete is the very best way to be sure you have achieved the best price, otherwise you could be leaving money on the table. 3. Don’t market your property as “offers” or “contact agent” as this is a huge turn off for buyers who want
an indication of price to know if it’s in their ballpark and many buyers will just ignore these properties, which limits your market. Imagine sitting in bed on your iPad,10:00PM at night and you glimpse an exciting new listing, and you want to see if it’s in your price range and you get “Contact Agent”. How annoying! 4. Don’t “overprice”!! This also means don’t overquote, don’t over-guide, but basically it means, don’t be greedy, because if you are, you’ll end up starving. If you overprice,
Advice to Buyers: 1. Understand you are going to be in fierce competition in this market so make sure you are prepared! Have your finances sorted out before you go shopping and get a pre-approval for your finance. If you can make a cash offer that is even better, but you need to be absolutely certain that you will be approved for finance as this is a binding offer, which makes it a strong, competitive offer.
Real estate is not exactly rocket science but there are some important principles involved if you are going to succeed both as a buyer and seller.
you will not get an immediate result, and if you don’t get a fast result in this market then people become suspicious of the property and wonder why it’s not selling and the conclusions they will come to is either it is overpriced, or not attractive, or that something is wrong with it, and you’ll end up getting a lot less than you would have if you had priced it correctly in the first place.
2. Don’t try and get a property cheap if you are in competition. Value is personal, so work out what the home is worth to you and put in your very best offer to try and attain it – this is not the market for “cheeky offers”. 3. Act fast – be prepared to make an offer the first day it is marketed. Having a “think about it” will probably lose it for you, so think fast if you believe this is the
property for you, and act on the day. 4. If you want a bargain there is still hope for you. Find a property that has been overpriced, or underpresented, that has been on the market for quite some time, and then try a “cheeky offer”. If it‘s been on long enough, the owners have probably had enough, the salesperson is tearing their hair out and your chance of success if far higher. It is a great way to buy, but a really bad way to sell. Real estate is not exactly rocket science but there are some important principles involved if you are going to succeed both as a buyer and seller. There is a lot of psychology involved in the sale of a home ranging from perception of value, the pressure to perform, the fear of missing out, lack of trust in the process, and worry about committing, and the more that you can do to deal with these processes before buying or selling the more prepared and confident you be when it’s time to make a decision. Good luck! by
Niki Peinke
Real Estate Advisor and Commenter on Life
Disclaimer: I am not a financial adviser. You should consider seeking independent legal, financial, taxation or other advice to check how this information relates to your unique circumstance.
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