Selling Your Home

Selling your home is one of the major events in your life.

With some preparation work beforehand, you should be able to get a great price in the least amount of time.

There are a variety of reasons for selling your home. You may be looking to upgrade, expand, move location, or release funds.

Whatever the reason, you want to get the best possible price for your property. It is therefore important to do your homework and familiarise yourself with all aspects of the selling process.

What’s Your Home Worth?

If you are using an agent to sell your property, they will give you their opinion of the value of your home. This will be partly based on recent house sale prices in your area, which they should have access to.

By doing some research yourself, though, you will be able to spot an agent that states a high price in their market appraisal – this may simply be a “trick” to get your business.

An inexpensive way to do your own research is to purchase inexpensive postcode reports available over the internet. These give a good idea of historical sales prices in your area.

However, the best way of knowing the true value of your house is to have an independent valuer give you a valuation. They are skilled professionals who are legally liable for their services and have no financial interest in the sale. Whilst this will cost a few hundred dollars, it means that you have a good benchmark to work with.

Selecting An Agent

Most sellers will engage the services of an agent to help them sell their house. So how do you select a good one?

You can start by asking family, friends or trusted advisers whom they would recommend. You can also determine who is an active agent in the area by their signboards, local advertising, etc.

However you draw up the shortlist, you should meet with at least three agents face-to-face. This will enable you to compare their:

• Professionalism, qualifications and accreditations,
• Local market knowledge and expertise,
• Suggested marketing tactics and sales methods,
• Previous successes - ask to see testimonials and speak to one or two of people quoted, and
• fees and charges.

Most importantly, you must feel comfortable with them and be able to trust them. After all, you want to be honest with them about why you are selling, and what the most important aspects of the sale are to you. The more information you can give them, the better they will be able to help determine the best way to sell your house.

You can decide to have one agent selling your home on an exclusive basis, or choose to use the services of two or more at the same time. By giving an agent an exclusive arrangement, they will normally devote more resources to selling your home than if they are only one of a few agencies all trying to “make the sale”. An exclusive arrangement can be limited to a fixed time period so that, if the agent is unsuccessful, you could decide to use another.

Marketing

Listen to the advice of the agent, but don’t necessarily agree to a hugely expensive marketing campaign - after all, it’s your money. A good agent should be able to do some “smart marketing” by using cost-effective strategies that focus on the more likely buyers. Let's look at a few examples.

Your home may appeal to a certain, well-defined segment which can be communicated to in a focussed manner. For example, does the home offer something unusual (eg self contained unit, large home office facilities, closeness to a golf course or select schools).

Your agent should have a database of potential purchasers that they can contact, people who are in the market for a property like yours.

A letterbox flyer campaign in the local area can be very useful. Many properties are bought by friends and families of people who already live in an area. If your house lacks “street appeal”, a picture signboard showing the interior can help immensely.

Local newspaper advertising can still be very cost-effective, as is a listing in one of the property portals.

The agent themselves should be approachable and available after hours to buyers who are busy during normal office hours.

“Open for Inspections” are often a good way of showing the property to many interested parties in an efficient manner. Your agent should have a system for collecting contact details and following up with the people who attend.

Presentation

Part of a successful sale is to present your home in the best light.

“You must be able to trust your agent.”Minor cosmetic improvements cost very little, but can make a big difference to the impression given to a potential purchaser. A fresh coat of paint, a tidy garden, a clean and tidy home can all give the impression of a well cared for property.

Whilst you may be thinking of doing some more substantial renovations prior to selling, this needs careful thought. Unless the new asking price will be significantly more than the cost of doing the upgrade, it usually isn’t worth it.

A better approach may be to simply factor in the renovation cost to the asking price. Also, just having a few renovation quotes on hand will help potential purchasers to understand what’s involved and may encourage them to make an offer.

Moving On

Ultimately, the successful sale of your home comes down to presenting your home in the best light, using the skills and experience of property professionals in partnership with your own abilities, and knowing what the market is likely to pay.

Once you've decided to sell, you'll also start to seriously plan your next move. And part of this planning will be to organise a suitable home loan for your next purchase. It is never too early to start planning for this, so if you'd like to investigate your options or simply talk it over, please get in touch.