Browse Forums Real Estate 1 Feb 25, 2010 1:29 pm I guess its no secret that I’m about to go into real estate very soon, next month if possible. I would just like to point out why I am doing this. It became quite clear to me while I was looking for a house to buy 9 & ½ months ago, that my real estate agents had no idea how to sell a house to me. Maybe because I’m a decorator it put them off, but you can’t sell a house to a decorator or designer, the house sells itself to us! My advise to all those selling if you want a quick sale get a consultant in to help you showcase your home for potential buyers, don’t rely on the agent to help you with this. I’m off to showcase and style a home for sale of an ex real estate agent next week, what’s that tell you??? Love her, she’s great and I’m looking forward to working with her. I’m leaning heavily into this part of my skills now and welcome questions from anyone who thinks a room in your home may need a “quick fix” or your home in general, and let’s not forget the all important gardens, they help to sell a home as well. Post photos here if you would like some help. Internal and External Building and Colour Consultant Online - Worldwide http://www.denovoconcepts.com Re: Selling your home? Ask advise here. 2Feb 26, 2010 9:36 am Hi Michelle, Couldn't agree more. Don't have a room to post for help but agree with need to present well to sell. In 2009 having just retired from full time teaching my project was to get our home ready to sell. I had the time and organisation skills but if not would definately have hired a consultant to help. We set a budget, made a must do list and a maybe list and set to work. At the same time our reno/rebuild was a project in itself - selecting builder, certifier, battling council etc etc. ( started 22/2/2010) 9 months later (Nov 2009)the house sold $50,000 over anticipated price( we got full asking price) not due to the agent but the house sold itself due to presentation. We went through the house over the nine months room by room repainting where needed and simplifying and styling. Fortunately all our kids had left home. We hired a storage locker and moved everything out that was not needed but may be used in future, to stream line the rooms - still leaving them welcoming. I worked hard on garden, simplified and hired help to add new mulch and upkeep lawn in last month before sale. The money spent we more than got back. I spent time on the web looking at houses for sale and presentation and was appalled at how some sellers were presenting and wondered why agents hadn't helped more as price would be better. I also spent a lot of time looking at well presented houses and magazines to get ideas to modernise and simplify. We had a good agent but they had little to do. The house went on sale Friday with 3 visits and open house set for the Saturday. We had an offer Friday night and said no and same buyer offered full price, paid deposit and signed contract before open house!!!! open house went ahead but the sale was done and went through - luckily I had found us a good rental before we went to market and we moved in 4 weeks!!!! ( Now rental presentation is another story and tenant value!! - first time we have rented since 70's) So I agree presentataion sells and when people ask why did't we just sell as was (which was very nice but not polished) and not spend time and money we say the proof is in the bank It pays to present well and get assistance where needed to make the property shine". Good luck with the new venture. The agent said he should get me in to help with presentation ( joke) but I thought when resettled I may look at this area and training and approach local real estate agents - but now the building takes my time along with various other projects and family. Hope you get lots of rooms to style, will watch with interest Re: Selling your home? Ask advise here. 3Mar 01, 2010 4:06 am Thanks Goodyear. Sounds like you had fun. Internal and External Building and Colour Consultant Online - Worldwide http://www.denovoconcepts.com Re: Selling your home? Ask advise here. 4Mar 03, 2010 9:54 am Here’s a tip when selling your home. Distance yourself from your home, in theory, it’s no longer yours, you’re selling it! So don’t make renovation decisions and purchase goods, on the thought that YOU like them. Cater to the everyday person, do not cater to your likes. Internal and External Building and Colour Consultant Online - Worldwide http://www.denovoconcepts.com Re: Selling your home? Ask advise here. 5Mar 07, 2010 9:32 pm I look at lots of houses and am continually surprised that people selling a house wouldn't even spend a weekend tidying up. I looked at a unit that had been painted and new carpet. They put a few paintings on the walls and a bed with a pretty girly bedspread. Not much else but first homebuyers were offering over asking price when they could have bought the same without the paint for $20,000 cheaper. Crazy. A friend got a house VERY cheap because all the rooms were gaudy colours. They just painted before they moved in. Some people cannot see past little things. It reminds me of that show unsellables. They just spend a small amount of money sometimes to make an enormous difference. I could send you a photo of my study but you'd have nightmares. Re: Selling your home? Ask advise here. 6Mar 30, 2010 6:04 pm If you're going to sell it, make sure to take the best photos of the house and decide with your agent which part of the house is the "main attraction" of the house. Maybe this way, it can help catch some clients interested to buy the house. Another note, we are still experiencing some economic slow down, that is why it is really difficult to even have a closing deal of property today, but we hope it will get better after few more months... Re: Selling your home? Ask advise here. 7Mar 30, 2010 6:40 pm chloe26….I totally agree with the photos. I have seen some woeful photos of homes for sale, I can’t believe the agent would even use them knowing they are the one trying to sell the house! Internal and External Building and Colour Consultant Online - Worldwide http://www.denovoconcepts.com Re: Selling your home? Ask advise here. 8Mar 30, 2010 7:32 pm We sold our home last year in anticipation of the new build. I might be biased but my photos sold the house, the agent just had to tag along when they wanted to view in person. Record price for the area -house 15yr old sold higher than new homes (not comparable in quality of fitments though) Declutter. Tidy Repair any defects no matter how small - obviously depending on price point. Take photos across the diagonal of a room if possible. Remember depending on your lens you will only photograph a proportion of the room (I climbed inside the wardrobe to get the main bedroom). A fresh coat of paint in high traffic area's will improve the image enourmously. Re: Selling your home? Ask advise here. 9Mar 30, 2010 7:41 pm All set for next time now. Internal and External Building and Colour Consultant Online - Worldwide http://www.denovoconcepts.com Re: Selling your home? Ask advise here. 10Mar 31, 2010 7:01 am Hi Michelle First of all congraulations for getting your realestate licence. I have no doubt what so ever you are going to be fabulous and very successful! Now just a question for you Are you actually going to tell potential clients that their house is not ready for open day or it is not presented nicely? The reason I am asking that this will often offend as most people are prickly and defensive when it comes to any critisism (sp) of their own personal space. Also....on a different topic....one of our realestate agents was telling us that people are actually brutally picky to the point of being downright rude when inspecting another person's home. What he found ironic is that most often they live in much worst accommodation themseleves and feel the need to make personal comments about the much nicer property. Mrs B Re: Selling your home? Ask advise here. 11Mar 31, 2010 7:14 am Thank you Mrs B!!!! Very good points there. First, after 16 years of dealing with people and their homes, I know how to approach them….and I KNOW how sensitive people are with their homes. BUT, they have to realise….its not going to be their home any more, so they need to get over the attachment they might have, or don’t sell it. You can make suggestions to people without it coming across as a criticism. Your last comment………….. like I said 16 years with homes, I know what the agent means! PS… Mrs B, I didn’t get my licence, I got a certificate, hopefully in 5 long years I’ll go for the licence, which means I can own my own Real Estate business. Internal and External Building and Colour Consultant Online - Worldwide http://www.denovoconcepts.com Re: Selling your home? Ask advise here. 12Mar 31, 2010 3:45 pm ozberg T Take photos across the diagonal of a room if possible. Remember depending on your lens you will only photograph a proportion of the room (I climbed inside the wardrobe to get the main bedroom). A fresh coat of paint in high traffic area's will improve the image enourmously. Wide angle lens is a godsend. Re: Selling your home? Ask advise here. 13Apr 16, 2010 11:18 am Hi Michelle, Would you mind giving me some pointers? This is our home listed on realestate.com http://www.realestate.com.au/property-h ... -106440077 So far we have had 4 open houses & 3 private viewings. We got our first offer last night ($375000) which is well under asking & well under price for the area. Is there something blaringly obvious that would have prompted such a low offer? Or was it just a hungry investor hoping to snare a bargin? We have had a rental appraisal carried out & it came in at $390 per week. Re: Selling your home? Ask advise here. 14Apr 16, 2010 12:08 pm Hi Living the Dream your house looks great. Pictures are fine and so is your marketing script. How many groups would you have through your property in total? So you have had it on the market for about 4 weeks yes? The current market is full of investors and bargain hunters. Every buyer is after a bargain... the buyer that will pay the most for your property will be an owner occupier who is the emotional buyer and love the home. Investors are after a bargain. $375k is their first offer and they should have more room to move and come up closer to your asking price. Speak to your agent on this and get their feeling on how high they would be prepared to go. Hold your ground but in saying that dont loose the buyer its all part of the negotiation process. Hope that helps. Budde Design 3D Architecural Visualizations, Architectural Rendering, Artist Impressions, 2D & 3D floor plans http://www.buddedesign.com nathan@buddedesign.com Re: Selling your home? Ask advise here. 15Apr 16, 2010 12:21 pm This week will be the 3rd weekend it has been on the market. We have only had about 6 groups through but 2 of them have visited twice. We know it will not appeal to everyone- it is a smaller home! And the groups that we have had through all loved it but the one thing letting us down is the size (according to the agent that is) Apart from one investor that HATED it! We told the agent that maybe the investor should be looking for a property more in her price range- we are not deperate to sell & are happy to hold out for a better price. The agent said he thinks that she was just testing the water to see if we were desperate sellers, I hope that she will come back with a decient offer now! We are realistic & will drop our price when we are in serious talks with buyers but we are thinking more like $410000- not in the $300000's!!!! I don't know what to think because I know that he is trying to make us stay with him (sole agent) but I also know that he has probably called all of his investors & told them about a 'bargin'! Aghh! I can't wait until it is sold- it is so stressful!!! Re: Selling your home? Ask advise here. 16Apr 16, 2010 1:25 pm Yes it can be quiet stressful. Let me know if you need any advise or want to bounce anything off me Im actually an agent myself. Budde Design 3D Architecural Visualizations, Architectural Rendering, Artist Impressions, 2D & 3D floor plans http://www.buddedesign.com nathan@buddedesign.com Re: Selling your home? Ask advise here. 17Apr 16, 2010 1:32 pm Thanks very much I really appriciate that. Re: Selling your home? Ask advise here. 18Apr 16, 2010 5:44 pm Hi Livingthe dream Beautifully presented, neutral colour scheme and obvious there is nothing left to do. Should appeal to all sort of buyers. just a comment about the ad...did you know the ad mentions at least 3-4 times that the house is small. So already you get the impression that small is going to be a negative quality about the property. This sentence here... "This house may be small in size but at this price you will be saying to yourself - "WHAT A BUY!" " I would get rid of this as the first 3 lines have already stated its small...maybe why you havent had many people through. As for the investor...they are after a bargain as you know and are playing 'mind games' with you. What price are other 3 bed 1 bath properties going for in the area? Anyhoo...what do I know, I actually have the worst timing and luck ever when I sell a property We always have our properties floundering on the market for months mrs B Re: Selling your home? Ask advise here. 19Apr 16, 2010 6:05 pm that's interesting MrsB I thought the exact same thing. Why mention that it is small. Other than that I think the advertising sounds fine and the photos look terrific. Re: Selling your home? Ask advise here. 20Apr 16, 2010 7:51 pm The agent wanted to get rid of people coming through & saying it was too small etc. He was hoping that by being upfront that people would be prepared that it was a smaller house. He was originally going to market it as a cottage style house but we thought that we might not get the $ that we want if we did that and we have done so much work to it that we felt calling it a cottage just didn't do it justice & that people would have a differt idea in their heads about what to expect. Quote: What price are other 3 bed 1 bath properties going for in the area? We already paid for somfy motors for the blinds. The quote above was purely for “pre-wiring” so the blinds company can install the motors and blinds. That’s why we… 5 16280 Thanks mate. Yeah good points! Leaning towards Option 3 to get a bit extra space in the cabinets but not going too crazy high (and expensive). Would require a mini… 13 39727 Broker here - legislation says that every true broker must put the clients best interests before theirs so in theory they must offer you the best options for you on their… 2 46014 |