Selling your home in terms of emotions and process can be related to two sides of the same coin. On one side, selling your home might not be an easy decision to make, engulfing the owner with feelings of fear, stress and confusion and can be an emotional process. On the other side of the coin, if you have done your due diligence, proper planning and where you are selling your home under certain circumstances where you have plans to move close to family, moving to your dream location (country, suburb, back to roots etc) or building your new dream home can fill you with joy, satisfaction and make you feel relaxed. But in both the situations, it will be an emotional process.

Selling your home in terms of emotions and process can be related to two sides of the same coin. On one side, selling your home might not be an easy decision to make, engulfing the owner with feelings of fear, stress and confusion and can be an emotional process. On the other side of the coin, if you have done your due diligence, proper planning and where you are selling your home under certain circumstances where you have plans to move close to family, moving to your dream location (country, suburb, back to roots etc) or building your new dream home can fill you with joy, satisfaction and make you feel relaxed. But in both the situations, it will be an emotional process.

Selling your home in terms of emotions and process can be related to two sides of the same coin. On one side, selling your home might not be an easy decision to make, engulfing the owner with feelings of fear, stress and confusion and can be an emotional process. On the other side of the coin, if you have done your due diligence, proper planning and where you are selling your home under certain circumstances where you have plans to move close to family, moving to your dream location (country, suburb, back to roots etc) or building your new dream home can fill you with joy, satisfaction and make you feel relaxed. But in both the situations, it will be an emotional process.

Once a decision to selling the home has been made, sellers/owners should take the best advantage of the time available before going on the market to do a thoughtful assessment of their home. This assessment should be able to tell the owners firstly, the basic repair and maintenance required and secondly what can they do to add real value. It must be remembered that while basic repair and maintenance is primary and should not be avoided, however adding value should have a single objective of making the house stand out from the rest of competition but should not over-capitalise and be done spending as little money as possible. Remember, our goal is to sell the house at the highest price with minimum upgrade investment and not to build an expensive monument.

Below are the things you should consider to sell your home for the most money. Let’s get started.

Timing of Sale:

Timing in real estate is crucial not only in selling but buying too. Here, the question is what type of timing we need to consider, season, market conditions, equity buildup etc. along with other life priorities make a big impact on the timing of sale of your home.

1. Season:

SPRING is the best time to enter the market as

• It is pleasant weather after cold winters,
• There is generally a larger pool of buyers thus leading to an increased buyer activity,
• Lush landscaping opportunities that boost kerb appeal.

People tend to spend most of their time outdoors during spring season thus it is imperative for the sellers to make sure that their outdoors look attractive and appealing. This is the best time to showcase the house in the best possible spring light.

We can comfortably say that spring not only has a positive impact on the price a house sells for, it also makes an impact on the time i.e., the number days a property spends on the market. Below is the table from REIWA which shows the number days property stayed on the market in different seasons.

Source: REIWA.

https://reiwa.com.au/the-wa-market/resources/articles/when’s-the-best-season-to-sell/

Looking on the other side, spring season is a busy month in real estate when most of the properties go on the market for sale and this may build up the pressure on the seller and their house. It then becomes important to showcase the house in a way that it stands out from the rest of the competition and can highlight its unique selling points. Due to higher competition among properties in spring there are chances of getting less than planned or property taking longer to sell. Thus, pre-sale preparation will be very helpful.

2. Personal conditions:

Timing of sale to receive a higher price is greatly impacted by the other life priorities like starting a family of your own, your income or budget has grown significantly, moving due to new job prospects, moving closer to ageing parents, separation cases etc. For example, if you time the sale of the house for a particular period to receive a higher price but consequently miss a major career opportunity or a job prospect, this can have a worse impact financially.

3. Equity in the house:

Other situation that can affect the timing of sale is the amount of equity you have built in your house. Ideally, you should have built enough equity in the house to pay off your mortgage, moving costs and selling costs. Selling without considering this simple fact can give seller some hard time as the seller might have to cover some of these expenses out of their own pocket, where the worse one can be ‘mortgage’.

Think About the Method of Sale:

when selling your house, you can choose either to sell by private treaty or by auction. Selling by private treaty is more common. Remember, not every house sells better by one popular method. some houses deserve to go for an auction whereas others are more suited for a private treaty.

If the property deserves to be sold through private treaty, then your agent should be able to give you the quality of an auction in a private treaty. This means that the agent must be in touch with all the visitors that came through the open homes and using the skills the agent should negotiate with all the prospective buyers to get the highest price for your house. This is where the agents at Bargoti Real Estate guarantee the highest level of customer service as their ultimate goal is to achieve the highest price for your house.

Negotiation:

It natural and very tempting to accept the highest offer received for the house and this gets even better when it is more than asking or the advertised price. In such a situation it becomes even more important a job for the seller’s agent to negotiate with the buyers the “terms” that would suit seller the most.

Situations where, the seller would like to stay in the house for a particular period before they move out might be more important than a couple of thousand dollars.

The agent should also investigate the conditions of the contract and make sure that both the seller and the buyer are happy and agree with the conditions. This is to ensure that there is no conflict at a later stage. Thus, the contract writing skills of your agent will be very important for a smooth and seamless transaction.

Following conditions are worth looking into while drafting the contract:

• Conditions related to the settlement date.
• Conditions related to the finance clause.
• Conditions related to property chattels.
• Any special conditions added by the buyer or the seller.
• Any special conditions added by the buyer or the seller.

Research and Understand your Local market:

As a property owner and a future seller, you must research the trends in the local market before you press the ‘For Sale’ button.

1. Buyer’s market:

This is the market condition where the number of houses for sale is higher than the buyers in the market to purchase those houses. In such situation properties fiercely compete against each other resulting in lower property prices.

2. Seller’s market

In simple terms, this is the opposite of buyer’s market. This is the market condition where there are more buyers than there are houses for sale in the market. This situation drives the property prices up as buyers compete for fewer homes.

3. DOM:

To assess whether it is a buyer’s market or a seller’s market, looking at an average Days on market (DOM) for similar houses in the area, can be a smart strategy to decide when to enter the market. All suburbs attract different types of buyers who have their own likes and dislikes. By observing DOM in your suburb, you will understand for how long a house has been on the market for sale. If properties matching yours are selling faster, this will suggest a strong demand.

4. Price growth:

Comparing the market on a month-by-month basis will tell you if there has been an appreciation in property prices or if they have remained the same. Where the buyers have been paying more than previous months, will indicate a strong demand and an appreciation in property prices.

This research of a buyer’s or a seller’s market, DOM, price growth will give you an idea on pricing your property for sale, you will also come to know how long it will take for you to sell your house, how well you would be able to negotiate with the buyers on minor cosmetic issues and repairs.

Advertisement and Marketing Strategy:

Main aim of an effective marketing and advertisement strategy is to make sure that your property is visible to almost every buyer who is in the market looking to buy a similar property. A strong digital presence including real estate portals and social media along with print advertising is highly recommended to achieve this goal.

An agent should make sure that the strategy is aligned to receive maximum footfall in the property. A high number of visitors during open homes will create competition and buyers will feel the high demand of your property. This healthy competition not only give rise to a subconscious feeling of high demand but also makes the interested and serious buyers rethink of their negotiation tactics and forces them to take prompt action.

It must be noted that going for a cheap advertisement and marketing strategy will no doubt save you some money, but you might miss out on a big number of potential buyers who would have place a better and a higher than existing offer. You might be able to save $2,000 but might miss out on $20,000.

A soft campaign will never be in your favour as it won’t create any competition and it is the competition that pushes the price up. Remember, every day a house stays on the market it gets more stale. Buyers do their research and homework before they decide to show any interest. If a buyer who continuously checks the market and sees your property, there while other stock is selling faster while be forced to think either there is a problem with the house, or the seller is asking way too much and any of this question will not be in sellers favour.

Going with a:

• Good quality photoshoot – Will attract potential buyer’s attention who are scrolling through all the properties online.
• Video + 3D walk through – Videos are a very powerful marketing strategy. It gives the potential buyers an option of convenience and comfort to explore your house from their phoner or tab.  This is a great tool to showcase your house especially after covid times and for the buyers who are interstate or overseas.
• Signboard – In order to create a local neighbourhood interest signboards are still an attractive way of advertising. You won’t know if your neighbour’s relative wants to live on the same street and they are might not be internet friendly to discover online, that your property is up for sale.
• Real estate portals – Displaying on all major portals among others will be highly beneficial in achieving a higher price for your house.

In short, be aggressive in marketing.

Focus on Presentation:

First impression is the key, and this will start from the curb appeal. How different your house looks from the neighbours and how well it stands out from its competition in the market will play a crucial role in achieving a higher price. Good preparation will increase your confidence, your ability to negotiate and will give you the power of persuasion. A poorly presented house can be an instant turn off for the buyers. Sellers must understand the connection between buyer’s emotional attachment with the house and the price they will pay in the end for that emotional connect.

1. Curb appeal:

Curb appeal is defined as an aesthetic attractiveness of the house, as viewed from a distance by a prospective buyer. Minor replacements, upgrades and improvements can easily increase a home’s value. Simply doing a new paint job, landscaping, replacing the old letter box with the one matching home’s colour scheme, pressure cleaning the driveway, quality of plants, stylish outdoor lights, renewing planter beds etc can work wonders.

If the buyer feels they must accomplish a lot of small jobs before entering the house, they might settle on another similar more expensive property which requires very less or almost no work to be done.

2. Value addition:

Buyers attracted through a great curb appeal would assume the interior of the house to be equally appealing. A lot of value addition can be done to the property by simply doing necessary repairs, decluttering, and depersonalising the house.

Sellers should not try avoiding doing the repairs as they will get picked up in the property inspection report. Most common repairs in the interior of the house are in the,

• Kitchen – Make sure that the appliances like faucets, dishwasher, oven, stove and rangehood are in good working condition. Cabinets are free of water damage and have no loose hinges.
• Bathroom – Check for any water leak in the shower, bathtub, sinks and faucets. Have a look under the sink and in the cabinets that there is no leakage from the taps and pipes. Shower head should be fully functional and no water clogging in the drains.
• Ceiling and walls – A fresh coat of paint in case of any discolouration and peeling, will pump new life into the interior aesthetics. Buyers can smell the fresh paint and at the same time they will smell your hard work in creating the value addition into the property.
• Water heater – Check for the leakage in the water heating system and make sure that all the pipes are insulated.

The cost of upgrades depends on the market you are in and the existing value of your property. Efforts should be made to do minor renovations that can add value at a minimal cost.

3. Highlighting Your House USPs:

You must highlight the Unique Selling Points of your house. If your house has a certain architecture, design and style like high ceilings, creative lighting, high end design etc it should be brought into buyers notice as this will help achieve a higher price than your competition.

If there is any particular layout, space and size like having an extra space in the master bedroom which can be used as a sitting area or office, his and her massive walk in wardrobes, great block size should be clearly mentioned in the property advertisement.

Activity room, garden, pool, and entertainment zone should also be highlighted in the property description and then again be shown to the buyers during the open homes.

4. Decluttering:

Decluttering can sometimes feel overwhelming, but the reality is, we need to present the house in a way where the buyers can picture themselves living in your home. It is recommended to start removing the trash first and then make three piles of ‘what you will keep’, ‘what you will donate’ and ‘what you will throw away’.

A house spilling untidiness and trash will never look appealing and will limit the buyer’s imagination. You will be surprised by the amount of space that can be created by removing trash and at the same time buyers can make mental map of where their favourite piece of furniture might go.

5. Staging:

Staging is one of the best investments a seller can make before going live on the market. Staging serves two purposes; it helps selling the property faster and it also helps in achieving a higher price. Staging starts with cleaning and decluttering, you can invest a little bit in storage, accessorise the house with inexpensive rugs and furniture, outdoor furniture can be a great idea.

Adding functionality is another dimension of staging. Post covid the functionality factor has emerged even more strongly. For example, buyers now a days prefer having a home office. If you have a fourth bedroom, it is a better idea to put a desk and chair and display that fourth bedroom as a study or office. If the buyer wants to use it as a bedroom, then it’s up to them. But showing as an office you will cater to a wider audience.

Setting the right price:

Worst thing you can do to your property is either over valuing or under valuing the house. Most of the buyers set their price brackets on real estate portals, if a property is overpriced, such buyers automatically get cut off from the equation which basically means they won’t be receiving any alert when your house goes on the market and you have straight away lost a big chunk of buyers. On the other hand, if the property is undervalued buyers might think that there is some major problem in the house that’s they cheaper price.

It is highly advised to price the property after doing a good market research and keeping a realistic but a competitive price which aligns with current market value.  Agents at Bargoti Real Estate will provide you with professional market appraisals and not just a system-based appraisal. Such an appraisal will inform you about the price, type of property and the time the properties took to sell.

Remember, a properly priced property has higher chances of achieving a higher price as compared to an overpriced property.

Selling your home with Bargoti Real Estate:

When you are selling your home, you are not only selling the biggest financial asset of your life, but you are also dealing with lots of family memories and emotions during the whole process. On one hand you are looking to achieve a great price for your house and on the other you are looking for a seamless transition. This is where the help from Bargoti Real Estate will achieve you a higher price and a smooth selling process.

High level of dedication and commitment from Bargoti Real estate will help you in keeping up to date with the market trends, designing a customised advertisement strategy, home improvement suggestions and regular feedback from the market.

We at Bargoti Real Estate guarantee the 5-STAR customer service because for us our clients come first, and their satisfaction is our primary goal.

https://www.commerce.wa.gov.au/consumer-protection/selling-property-

https://www.domain.com.au/advice/how-to-make-your-home-sell-for-the-highest-price-1196685/

https://homestarfinance.com.au/blog/property-investor/should-i-sell-my-house-now/

https://reiwa.com.au/the-wa-market/resources/articles/when’s-the-best-season-to-sell/

DISCLAIMER – The information and opinion provided is for guidance and general informational purposes only. The sole intention is to provide general understanding of the subject matter so the readers can assess whether they need more detailed information. The information provided on this website and in the blog should not be regarded as a financial, business, legal or real estate advice and it is strongly recommended that the readers should seek their own independent financial, business, legal or real estate advice. While every effort has been made to ensure that the information and the material is correct and up to date at the date of publication. However, we do not guarantee or warrant the accuracy or completeness of the information provided as the factors like changes in circumstances after the time of publication, may impact such accuracy or completeness. Bargoti real estate will not accept responsibility or liability for any reliance on the blog information, including but not limited to, the accuracy, currency or completeness of any information or links.