There are three key mistakes to avoid when selling a propoerty:

Not knowing the current market value

Most of us think our property is worth more than it probably is, which is entirely understandable.

Buyers can readily assess the worth of a property as there are multiple websites providing recent sale results and estimations of a property’s value.

Where the asking price is too high, buyers are unlikely to spend time investigating the property further. It becomes stale in the market and buyer enquiry falls away.  Once this happens, the vendor must lower the asking price to find a buyer.  Time and advertising money will have been wasted.

In a period when property prices are rapidly increasing (yes it does happen), people can get out of touch with values. An easy mistake is to have a long term ‘wish price’ in mind and not realise that the current market has exceeded that price. Unless it is properly marketed, they can miss out of achieving its full value. 

This happened to a friend – some years ago. He was approached by a prominent Melbourne estate agent to ‘name his price’ on his property.  He nominated what he thought was a high price. The agent quickly came back with a buyer at that price, and my friend felt morally obliged to complete the sale (notwithstanding my advice to the contrary).  To my friend’s dismay, the property was on-sold by the agent prior to settlement giving the purchaser a significant profit. I shall leave you to decide on the agents’ morals.

We assist vendors to arrive at a realistic price expectation for their property, based on recent comparable sales in the area and what is currently on offer.

Using an ‘out of area’ agent

We always say it’s best to ‘go local’ when choosing an estate agent to sell a property, rather than a ‘fabulous’ agent in a different area.

Often our clients have a connection with an out of area agent who they think is terrific.

We obtain marketing proposals from at least two agents active in the area selling similar property to our client’s property. We also may include the vendor’s nominated agent, but rarely find they have the best marketing submission.  The benefit of using a local agent is that they are dealing with more buyers in the area, and you get the indirect benefit of the marketing of other similar properties by the agent and should be familiar with recent comparable sales.

Not staging a property for sale

Sometimes vendors are reluctant to spend the $3,000 – $6,000 on having their property professionally staged with hire furniture.  Unless the property is land value only, staging it will assist in maximising the sale price.

In our view, (i) a house looks bigger and more inviting with furniture; (ii) strategically placed furniture can cover up minor blemishes such as marks in the carpet, wall cracks etc;  (iii) buyers will like a property if they can imagine living in it as furniture improves the appearance;  (iv) display homes are always furnished, which tells you what the professionals believe; and (v) other similar properties will probably be furnished which puts an unfurnished property at a disadvantage.

An attractive and appealing property will always sell faster and for more than one that isn’t.