Browse Forums Real Estate 1 Jul 19, 2012 6:49 pm DH and I are still in the deciding phases of what to do with our property, ie whether to renovate and stay, renovate and sell, or sell as is. We are leaning towards testing the market and selling as is and are preparing the place for that. It is an old 1950's fibro home in mostly original condition bar the beautiful jarrah floorboards that we uncovered and had polished up, the new painting we did, a few new light fittings and the insulation we put in the roof. We have had an appraisal and are happy with what they are going to market it at, their fees and marketing charge, etc but is there anything else we need to be prepared for? I am fully prepared to either have no offers or very low end of our range type offers too, but we have never sold before so I hope some of you more experienced people can give me some of your wisdom. TIA Re: Selling our property - what do I need to know? 2Jul 19, 2012 8:50 pm Also, was reading some past threads and people don't seem to like the ranges. Our potential R/E recommended going this way and that would then grab FHO's who they would work on up. We know roughly how much we need to make to be able to move on so should we just go offers over $XXXK instead? We are seeing her tomorrow so will chat to her about it then but any opinions on this would be helpful. Re: Selling our property - what do I need to know? 3Jul 19, 2012 9:04 pm We sold last year and was told by the agent that price range with set sale was the way to go. What a croc that was as all the buyers interested were looking at the very bottom end price. After 8 weeks we said we didn't want a price range and told them to change it to offers over our minimum $$$ and surprise surprise we sold it a week later. My advice is don't let the agents push you around if you want to change anything with the listing be it price or photos or description then make them change it to what you want not them. Good luck A bank is a place that will lend you money only if you can prove that you don't need it... Re: Selling our property - what do I need to know? 4Jul 19, 2012 9:17 pm Thanks, Buttercup. So you can do that then? Change the listed price from a range to either a more suitable range or offers over? They said to us that within 4-6 weeks we'll know if we've hit the target with our marketing (I'm hoping for a quicker result than that though obviously). I think we are just going to be honest with them and say we know we won't accept anything lower than X so why bother listing it as such and see what they say - if their reasoning is same as what they tried to sell me on before then I think we will push to start at offers over and then if that doesn't work in 4-6 weeks we will reconsider their strategy. Lots seems to be selling in our area in the rough price range we want to get so fingers crossed. I definitely want a say on the photos and description too so I will ask about that tomorrow as well! I guess considering I pay most of the cost of marketing it is only fair. Any other advise appreciated. Re: Selling our property - what do I need to know? 5Jul 19, 2012 9:40 pm We've got our old house on the market and originally didn't like the idea of using a price range. Finally got talked into it and the majority of prices in our area are ranges. One real estate agent we talked to wanted to advertise it for the first couple of weeks with no price at all. Seems crazy to me. Re: Selling our property - what do I need to know? 6Jul 19, 2012 10:43 pm I've noticed some are ranges in our area but some are offers over. The ranges are generally tight (like $20-30K only) instead of $50K the agents were talking with us. The EOI type sales don't really appeal to me - I want to know the price so I know if it's in my budget, then I'll tell you if I am interested. R/E agent agreed with that at least. Re: Selling our property - what do I need to know? 7Jul 20, 2012 3:30 am We’ve sold 3 properties within the last 2 years. Two were sold with a price range. The RE agent suggested it was best to get people through the door and then they could try to get the buyer to pay more than the minimum of the range once they're interested. Both times we sold for the bottom of the range or just under. I think in a tough market with little buyer competition but plenty of houses on the market, buyers don’t feel they need to offer any more than the lower end of the price range. I personally wouldn’t sell with a price range again. I think it suits the agent because it makes it easier for them. They get offers as they get more through the door so they look good. When the offers come in at the bottom of the range, they just turn to you and say “well, this is what the market is saying”. They try to lower the expectations of the seller with this evidence. I would also look at what the agency charges for advertising and compare. I found the agency I last went with to be charging a lot more than other agencies I later compared with for newspaper advertising. Their advertising wasn't even near the front of the real estate section. Being stuck on the market for a while meant that the advertising costs were adding up. Re: Selling our property - what do I need to know? 8Jul 20, 2012 5:51 am Two things that could hit your asking price are property presentation and property condition As experienced property inspector with over 5000 inspections behind me I can tell you that many vendors have house defects that are easily fixed and should have been fixed before going to sale. Invest in property maintenance and presentation and it could pay off handsomely Foremost Building Expert in Australia,assisting with building problems/disputes, building stage inspections,pre-contract review advice for peace of mind 200 blogs http://www.buildingexpert.net.au/blog Re: Selling our property - what do I need to know? 9Jul 20, 2012 5:47 pm Theresa - Thanks for the tips. I think we are going to go for an offers over $X instead of the range. The R/E agreed today that this is probably best if we know we won't accept less than a minimum amount. We will see how that goes and if after 4-6 weeks we have no bites then we will reassess. As for advertising we are going to go with internet only I think. The R/E has been really great with explaining their marketing and there are apparently options (extra cost) where you can have your listing stay on top of realestate.com.au, etc. If we don't sell quickly we have that to consider. After 90 days we pay no extra cost either and it just stays on the internet until sold. building-expert - how far do you go with presentation or how do you know when you are doing things that simply aren't going to add much value? What sort of defects are you talking? Everything I have read or been told says to definitely pretty up the place and declutter but not sure if we are doing enough or too much. We are going to: - put in some cheap curtains in the front three rooms as it will add warmth, - sand and paint all the timber trims on the patio and around the house, - wash down the fibro at the front of the house and brush away the cobwebs on the back and sides, - clean the windows so they shine, - fix any of the timber trims where the nails have rusted and they are coming away from the outside wall, - build a fence with a gate to replace the rotten fence/gate we have ripped down, - weed the garden, prune the trees/roses and general tidy up, - fix some stairs in the backyard that don't look like they'll hold much longer, - reseal the shower (either hire someone or us do) as was not done well and has mould under the seals, - have a light at the front and one at the back fixed that don't work, and - possibly plant some pretty coloured flowers in front of the front porch. Plus decluttering too. The R/E said not to spend too much (it's going to be marketed as a blank slate for someone to put their stamp on) but to ensure the front looks tidy and clean and suggested painting the trims. We did identify the other things ourselves. Re: Selling our property - what do I need to know? 10Jul 20, 2012 9:33 pm Hi, when people look at houses they usually have no vision. A friend bought a house very cheaply because it was painted in bright colours. A week after settlement all bright colours are gone and he had an amazing house. When negotiating price buyers pick EVERYTHING they can to negotiate a cheaper price. If there are too many things they put it in the too hard basket (unless they want a reno house whereby they will want it cheaper). Walk through your house and view it like you were going to buy it. If you can't be objective get a friend to do it (look for faults). Fix the little things. Eg paint chips, untidy gardens, leaky taps etc. Get rid of any small thing a buyer may complain about or pick fault with. Clean and declutter. Nothing makes a house look smaller and uncared for. If possible pack up some of your stuff and also get rid of some furniture. Most people have too much stuff. With big things you really need to do your homework on where to spend your money. For example we are going to put in a new kitchen before we sell as most of the rest of the house is renovated and buyers will assume a $30K spend and want that reduction on the price. We can put one in for less than 1/3 of that so well worth the investment. We were told to go for offers above as demand for our type of house is in high demand and the agent has had buyers fighting over properties. I used to think fixed price was the way to go but I looked at a house last week that was cheap. Someone beat me to signing a contract (I'm assuming at or just under sale price). If it had offers above I would have been willing to offer more. I don't like -offers between. I assume they want to middle price but would offer the lower price. Re: Selling our property - what do I need to know? 11Jul 21, 2012 7:19 am SmithiesWife We find a lot of problems of all kinds on our pre purchase inspections and some are on my blog. You never know what you will find(we almost always do find defects) but you can be sure that the buyer is scared of everything. It is therefore important to deal with any defects as far as practicable and be prepared to have the right answer for the ones you can't. Buyer's property inspector may say that a defect will cost thousands to fix when in fact it's only hundreds and it will cost you. There are all sorts of property inspectors out there and some are scary (they don't know their job and over react to everything, we have recently come across one it's on the blog). We understand that most properties have some issues but try hard to give our clients a balanced view. Some (astute) people engage us for pre sale report that will identify defect for fixing but may also have opinion on cost to fix for the items they can't or are unwilling to . Vendor's Independent Condition Report will do three things for you. 1 Help you identify items to fix (cost effectively) 2 Give purchaser comfort 3 Prevent purchaser's property inspection report skewing condition Such reports presently are not common because in most cases vendors don't want to pay and because they can't see far enough to see it will be of advantage to them. So they go to sale saving few hundreds and in the process dropping thousands, perhaps tens of thousands Foremost Building Expert in Australia,assisting with building problems/disputes, building stage inspections,pre-contract review advice for peace of mind 200 blogs http://www.buildingexpert.net.au/blog You might be able to apply to divert the sewer at your expense. In NSW you would contact a Water services co-ordinator and they would give you advice as to whether or not… 1 16130 Ask for some kickplate to be added and also for tradies to be requested to use lanyards on tools on that side of the building. Be respectful and have the discussion… 1 1685 The setback from the kerb is 4m. It is council land to provide an area for services like sewer main, gas mains, water mains, underground power or poles for overhead power,… 4 2390 |