Green Square Blog

Is now a good time to sell your property?

Almost on a daily basis I am asked the question “is this a good time to sell my property?”. Traditionally there has been a perception that Spring is the best season to sell a property, but based on sales results over the past couple of years, this isn’t necessarily the case.

The reason that most people believe that Spring is the best season to sell their property is that we are coming out of winter; the weather is getting warmer, the gardens are blossoming and are at their best. This arguably might be the best time to sell a house but does it really make any difference if it is an apartment that you are selling? I think not. According to realestate.com.au, “winter is the season with the higher clearance rate”.

In my opinion and again, based on sales results over the past 2 years, whether the season is Autumn, Winter, Spring or Summer is becoming far less relevant in deciding the best time to sell. What is more important is taking into consideration your own personal circumstances, any tax implications and where you intend to deploy your capital once you have sold. Equally important is determining if it is a buyer’s or seller’s market or if there is likely to be an oversupply of new stock coming onto the market in your area over the medium to long term. The City of Sydney is projecting that there will be over 30,000 new residential dwellings in Green Square and over 60,000 people will live in the area by the year 2030.

If you have decided it is a good time to sell your property, the following three areas are far more important to focus on than what season it is:

 

 

Get Ready for Sale – Spend $1 to make $2

Declutter, declutter then declutter again! This can often be difficult if the property is tenanted and the tenants have lots of ‘stuff’, so maybe the best strategy would be to wait until the lease is up and then give them notice to vacate. This way you have a blank canvass to work with which makes life so much easier and achieves a better result. Depending on the age of the property, consider giving it a fresh coat of paint, get the carpets cleaned by expert carpet cleaners (they can look new again) and ensure the property is spotlessly clean.


Next, we believe that professional styling is almost non- negotiable when it comes to selling a property. We have proven that a beautifully styled property attracts significantly more buyer interest than one that isn’t (after all, who finds an empty box attractive?). Many of the styled properties we have sold have achieved thousands of dollars more than the cost of styling, owing to first class presentation.


Marketing – Get Maximum Exposure

The traditional methods of marketing real estate (newspaper print, billboards, letterbox drops etc.) are no longer enough. Selling & buying real estate has become significantly more marketing focussed using mediums other than just the traditional methods mention above.

In order to get maximum exposure, you also need a strong social & digital platform in which to advertise your property. Premium ads on realestate.com.au & domain.com.au are not a ‘nice-to-have’, but are essential. A high quality video or walkthrough 3D Home View tour of your property allows potential buyers to explore the interior of the property from the comfort of their home. This is what buyers want. Using Social Media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram to connect with buyers is becoming increasingly important, given that Social Media website are up there with the most visited sites in the world.

My advice? Don’t skimp on marketing costs. They can mean the difference between a good price and a great price.


Set a Realistic Price – Don’t Be Greedy

Buyers and sellers of real estate are today more educated than ever. It has never been easier to do extensive research on how long a property has been on the market, when it was sold and how much it was sold for. By the time a buyer comes to an open home inspection, they have pretty much made up their mind how much they are prepared to pay for the property based on their research.

Be guided by recent past sales of comparable properties in same building or the same street – these are your best guide. If your property is almost identical in condition and size to a recent sale in the same area, building or street, why would your property be worth $20,000 more? Work closely with your agent to study the market and set a realistic sale price.

Far too often I have seen overpriced properties sit on the market for weeks and weeks on end and become stale. Vendors then have little or no option but to take the property off the market or sell it at a price underneath what they would have achieved had they been more realistic at the outset.

Please don’t be greedy; be realistic and remember that in terms of offers (regardless of how long the property has been on the market even if it has only been 1 week), your first offer is often your best offer.


The Wrap

So in summary, whether this is a good time to sell your property is largely up to you. I would argue that anytime is a good time to sell a property, provided you take into consideration and adopt the points outlined above.

If you would like to discuss how any of the above applies to your particular property or if you are considering selling, I would be more than happy to have a chat with you. Sometimes it’s useful to bounce your situation off someone else to give you clarity on what your plan of attack should be (of course no strings attached).

Is now the time for you to Spring into action? :-)


Trevor Back
Principal at Raine & Horne Green Square

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