What are the top 3 tips for selling my property?
The 3 P’s - Getting the Price, Presentation and Promotion correct will provide optimal results when selling your property:
Price
It is essential not to get caught up in predicting your home's selling price; instead, the success of the bidding war comes down to the process. You need to concentrate on what you’re actively competing with in the current market, price your home according to your competition, and know what will entice buyers to come and look at your home.
Presentation
The home's presentation will ultimately draw in the buyers, and ensuring its condition is at its best is incredibly important. If you’re thinking of renovating your home before putting it on the market, you don’t necessarily need to update the entire home, as sometimes it’s the small things that increase the perceived value the most and can be instantly noticeable to a potential buyer. If you do undertake a bigger renovation, then sometimes it is best that you complete the whole house, so it’s all updated at the same time. This can add value to your sale in the long run but will take time and money in the short term. For most people, this is unrealistic, and it’s the simple things that can add the most value to a sale. For example, if you have a messy garage, people may perceive that you don't look after the home very well, and they may think that the purchase comes with a risk of unwanted surprises such as mould or rot.
In contrast, if you remove clutter from all the rooms and present your home well, it gives potential buyers a positive outlook on the home and helps them visualise their life in that space. If the home looks good, it will make the buyer feel good about a potential purchase and get them emotionally connected to the home too. To create this feeling, updates don’t have to come at a considerable expense, and sometimes relatively simple things such as clean ups and organisation, gardening or paint touch-ups will make your home look its best during the sale.
Promotion
Understanding the demographic of the people wanting to buy your home and whom it will suit best will help you target the right audience and reach those potential buyers. Keep in mind that the price and message will need to align with this. Work with your agent to ensure the right marketing campaign is implemented to appeal to your audience. Money spent on marketing can increase the value of your sale exponentially if used the right way.
How important is styling the home for vendors?
This is necessary for 90% of homes, but styling doesn’t have to mean using a styling company, and there are many things you can do with what you already have in the home. That being said, money spent on professional styling is usually money well spent and will increase the sale value by much more than what you outlay for the service. When we get good results, people get emotionally connected to the home and are willing to compete with others for sale. Good photos and marketing will get people to your home; however, the home's styling allows people to visualise themselves living in the space once they are there in your home, which is what sells the lifestyle of the house. The furniture enhances the message of the home, and sells the dream to the potential buyer.
How Important is marketing?
Marketing is extremely important and will add much more value to a sale that most people realise. The scope of people looking to buy properties in the Sutherland Shire has expanded beyond the locals and become a Sydney-wide strategy. People are incredibly time-poor these days, and there is too much choice. People don’t have the time or energy to look for specific houses in the market, so a strong marketing campaign will make it easy for the buyer to find a property that ticks all their boxes, and once they find one, they tend not keep to looking any further.
What is the ideal process to selling your property? What steps would you suggest people take?
Determine your timing for buying/selling a home - what are you going to do first
Start getting organised well before you think you need to
Get finance organised and/or consult with your financial planner in terms of your selling price and buying range
Employ a suitable agent who you think will get the best sale price for you, not just the one who will do it for the cheapest rate (this ends up being an expensive choice if they don’t get you the same result)
Sign an agency agreement with your chosen agent on terms that you agree with
Reach out to a solicitor to facilitate the contract of sale - if you don’t have someone you already use, then your agent can usually suggest a few options
Follow the process agreed to with the agent, whether it is selling by auction or private treaty, as they are approached slightly differently
Market your home, present it well at each inspection and make sure your agent is giving you regular updates on how the process is going
Once a sale price has been agreed on, confirm details that form part of the settlement agreement with your solicitor before signing the contract
Following an auction process helps speed up a sale by putting a timeline on whether people to decide to buy your home or not. Most commonly, a 3-4 week marketing campaign is used before an auction that gives the buyers a strict timeline on when to be ready. On the other hand, a private treaty is offered on a first come/first serve basis but also means that potential purchasers may not feel the need to rush to get ready to buy your home. There is no right or wrong process, and there are pros and cons to both. For the most part, it comes down to what you and your agent are more comfortable doing and the circumstances of the demand on the market at the time of the sale.
Does selling in summer make a difference? What should you do?
Traditionally people put houses on the market in spring/summer; the idea being that this is when people are the most active in the market and looking to buy and also when the home will be presented at its best with the weather generally more favourable. However, putting the home on the market when you're not dealing with as much competition can sometimes be the optimal time. The market used to peak seasonally, although since the covid pandemic it appears that the market now operates at the same pace throughout the year. Sometimes the answer depends on the aspect of the home. For example, some homes have a better feel during summer because of the longer hours of sunlight and are more favourable when the sun is higher in the sky. On the other hand, north facing properties can sell well in winter because they have the aspect the buyer is looking for, which is more noticeable when other comparable properties aren’t as bright and light during winter.
What difference do you get when you sell through Murray Cole?
My owners will tell you that I follow a process, and it works. Everyone in my team knows their role and is experienced in the process, so we have every aspect of your sale covered, and we don't drop the ball because we have worked as a team consistently for so long. You will always know what happens during the sale every step of the way, and it’s not uncommon that I will speak to my owners more than they speak to each other during the sales process! What helps my team is that we can dig into the McGrath network and pull potential purchasers into areas they may not know about, for example some of our niche suburbs such as Dolans Bay and Port Hacking. The difference of reaching out to a broad client base allows my team to find people from outside the Sutherland Shire with a large capacity to buy properties who don't know what they want but will know when they see it and will have the means to purchase when they do. At Team Cole, we need to find the right people for the property, not wait for them to find us. We are not the cheapest option available, but we are the best value in the end because you’ll end up with more money in your pocket due to our work ethic and our ethics, our attention to detail and our passion which ultimately gives you the result you're after. If you’re still unsure, I have plenty of past clients who are happy to take a call to discuss their experience selling with Team Cole.
