When trying to sell the worst thing that can happen is for the property to sit on the market for too long.
This sounds obvious but it does happen more often than it should.
When a property is on the market too long it starts to flirt with one of the worse adjectives in the game for a seller and that is the property has gone “stale”.
The problem when a property is “perceived” to have gone stale is that buyers and indeed some agents start to assume that there must be something wrong with it.
Suddenly everyone has a negative opinion about it and that’s the mindset the buyers or tenants take with them as they walk in the front door – clearly not the mindset you want from buyers who are viewing your home.
So, the key here is to speed up your sale or rental. Here are my 5 best tips to do that.
1. Choose the right estate agent
Your choice is crucial, you need to have faith in their ability to lure suitable buyers quickly.
Who are the agents and are they well known in the locally?
What do the agents specialize in?
If they predominantly deal in different types of property to yours, they might target the wrong sort of buyers.
When selling your home, it’s not the time to take a flyer on a jack of all trades but rather one who is experienced in selling your type of property.
2. Agree to the right asking price
This is something I could talk for days about and I will go into more depth regarding this at a later date, but in short, this is the reason the vast majority of properties stay on the market too long.
Pricing too high in the beginning “just to see” or “test the market” is generally a fruitless exercise that puts off the potential buyers and probably the best buyers at the best time to attract them.
I often talk about opportunities coming and going in a very short space of time and missing the pricing window from the outset is something you do not want to get wrong.
3. Photographs
Get the highest quality you can.
Most agents will offer professional photographs, low light shoots and drone for a sole mandate so that’s a good place to start.
One study said the average time a buyer looks at a thumbnail property portal advert is 3 seconds so clearly you need to grab that purchaser’s attention very quickly and ensure they want to take a closer look.
On the day of the photoshoot make sure your house is spotless, decluttered, have flowers on display, the pool net and creepy are out and be ready for the shoot.
4. Presentation
Even more important than the photographs is to make sure that the property presents well during viewings.
You actually do not need to go overboard for 3 hours before a visit but make sure the beds are made, the surfaces are clean, the entrance is tidy and the clutter is hidden away.
Another study reckons most buyers have already ruled out a property within the first 10 seconds of walking in!
It must have a warm feeling as soon as you walk through the door and having everything neat and tidy before viewing is the key to that.
If you have to rent storage space for your clutter then do it.
Most people move because they run out of space, you don’t want your new buyer feeling that they will also run out of space in your property so make it looks as spacious as possible.
Ideally the presentation of your home should match the type of buyer you are trying to attract.
For example, if your unit suits a bachelor then having baby toys everywhere might not be selling the dream.
5. Don’t stop viewing
Once a buyer or tenant has been found you should not down tools, sit back and pop the champagne… well not just yet.
Keep the agent viewing until all conditions and suspensive conditions are met.
One of the worst things in a sale is finding out that the buyer cannot actually perform to the conditions set on the sales agreement only to have stopped all active marketing for 4-6 weeks where other quality buyers could have been found as backups.
With all things being equal in the market, if you follow these 5 principles, your property should be sold or let before it falls onto the dreaded “stale” list.
