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Why Properties Don't Sell |
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There are three reasons why properties don't sell - price, presentation and marketing.
If the price is wrong, you can have a booming market and superb presentation but the property can sit unsold for 12 months. If it's poorly presented but well-priced, it will still sell, but there's definitely a positive emotional impact of having a well-presented home that looks and feels right. And marketing? Well, if you don't get the right buyer to the doorstep of the property then you're not going to sell it. If your home is well-presented and well-priced but you haven't stimulated enough buyer interest, again, it's going to sit around.
Therefore, you should put your efforts into pricing the home well, making an excellent presentation and ensuring you have a good marketing program.
If your property isn't selling, you need to take stock of what's going wrong. Sit down with your agent and have a look at the variables. Was the presentation up to scratch? Was your asking price realistic?
From my experience, price is the culprit in 80 per cent of failed sales. By the time most vendors get their property on the market, it's presented as well as it's ever going to be. And they usually have an adequate marketing program, especially if it was an auction sale.
So you'll need to ask yourself whether the asking price was too optimistic. What were the offers that came in? Often a vendor will be a bit reluctant when an offer comes in. Perhaps thay're expecting $600,000 and someone has offered $540,000. they're disappointed and perhaps a little anxious. But if no one else has made an offer they might want to start considering whether $540,000 is really what the home is worth.
You should also look at your agent's performance. Has your agent done everything possible? Did they fulfill all of their promises? Do you feel they represented your property with enthusiasm, energy and integrity? Don't be too hasty to blame the agent though, because they are paid by commission, so every single day thay're focused on getting a result that works for you. But if you have lost faith in your agent or they didn't deliver on their promises, it's probably time to move on.
Once you and the agent have debriefed, you can consider the options for going forward. But before you commit to doing anything, it's a good idea to pause for a breather because you're probably a bit flat and have lost momentum. You need to recover your positive energy - or your lack of enthusiasm can negatively impact the sale. I've found taking the home off the market for a few weeks is sometimes quite effective.
If your pricing has been out of whack, you can continue the sale via private treaty with your new asking price, or you can go to auction. Vendors who have already had their home passed in at auction may be reluctant to go through the experience again. But I've actually had huge success re-auctioning properties.
If you've got the price, presentation and marketing rights, offers will start to come in but they don't last forever. By the time a buyer puts in an offer for a home, they're really excited about owning it. But in the face of rejection or procrastination by the vendor, their enthusiasm can quickly fade. They'll often start talking themselves out of it. So it's a good idea to respond to any offers promptly.
Seasonal factors can also influence the successful sale of your property. Traditionally, the hottest times to sell are in autumn and spring, so today's market is ideal from a seasonal point of view.
As outlined recently by real estate agent and market commentator John McGrath. |
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Residents to do DYI earth works |
| Northern Star 29th March - Peter Weeks
Residents on Belongil's eroding coastline will be permitted to take emergency works to protect their properties under a State Government draft plan announced.
Belongil home owner John Vaughan, who has had numerous battles with Byron Shire Council over its controversial planned retreat policy, yesterday welcomed the draft.
'A long and expansive battle that was brewing over Byron's controversial draft coastal planning policy will now not be necessary,' he said.
'The State Government's proposal to give residents the right to build new protective works and repair existing works on Belongil Beach effectively means that the radical and inequitable retreat policy is heading for the dustbin.'
Under the government's draft plan landowners will be permitted to temporarily place sandbags on beaches to protect their homes.
It also allows greater scope for privately initiated coastal protection works for the maintenance of seawalls.
Across the state there are about 200 properties at risk from coastal erosion, with a potential damages bill of biillions of dollars, Mr Sartor said.
'These reforms will help families to save their homes whilst also protecting our pristine beaches,' he said.
'These temporary works will provide time for landowners to develop longer term arrangements to minimise erosion impacts.'
Landowners will also be permitted to seek approval to build long-term coastal protection works such as seawalls, provided they pay for them and commit to ongoing costs.
In emergency situations, residents will be allowed to take action to protect their properties.
Mr Sartor warned that illegal actions, such as dumping rocks on beaches, that worsen erosion to neighbouring properties and beaches would attract penalties.
Some parts of the plan were in conflict with Byron's draft LEP, which forbids beachside residents even applying for protective works, Mr Vaughan said.
He said this meant Byron Council would have to rethink both its long-standing coastal retreat policy and its draft LEP.
Submissions on the State Government's plan will remain open until April 12. |
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Bryce Courtenay On Preparing Your Home For Sale |
Most people know Bryce Courtenay as the author of the best selling novel ‘The Power of One’ and other books. Read excerpts from his rather droll but very pertinent article ( which first appeared in the Australian) with advice for vendors about to put their homes on the market.
‘A properly marketed house is capable of getting the heart pumping overtime and turning brain to mush before the potential buyer reaches the front door. So let's begin with the front door - even before it - the front gate!
Your house may need a good overall paint job, but if the gate and the fence are freshly painted and the front door has been done in a designer colour with a brass lion with a ring in its mouth for a knocker, you've already told the potential new owner that he or she is dealing with the sort of house that will make them look good.
The best colours for a front door are deep olive, deep maroon (known as oxblood), battleship grey or salmon pink all in super high gloss and set off with a big brass doorknob, knocker, letter slot or bell or, for a top brass door, all of these things.
If the front garden is a bit of a mess, plant a few flowering shrubs which you can buy at the markets a week or so before the first inspection.
If you have a pathway to the front door then
buy or hire a dozen standard roses in bloom and bury them in the ground, tub and all, to suggest that they're the work of a caring owner with old fashioned home values. Standard roses can add tens of thousands to the end price.
Don't forget to mow the lawn on the week before the inspection so that it looks green and inviting by inspection day.
Always clean the windows. Clean windows are the sort of thing people don't see, they feel. And on a sunny Saturday morning, clean windows can give the interior of the house a crisp spring look.
If there is a down gutter or two showing on the front of the house that has rusted through, replace it - preferably with a copper one. Don't paint the copper, make it look like a recent repair you haven't had time to paint.
Copper drainpipes are the sign of an owner who insists on only the best for his home. Husbands who are oblivious to the other niceties will pick this up in a flash, even if they know nothing about building.
If you get all these first impressions right, the inside is easy: be tidy but not spotless; make sure that the hygiene of the home is right - the bathroom and toilet spotless (no sign of mould in the shower recess), the kitchen gleaming.
Make the beds, don't leave washing in the bathroom, but make the house look lived in.
Flowers should only be where flowers are normally expected. Don't turn the place into a florist's shop.
If the house at one time in its history featured a fireplace which subsequently got blocked up, unblock it and rebuild it to the authentic design. Admittedly, this could cost you a few hundred but it will add $20,000.
Always set the fire with fresh logs and pine cones, summer or winter, as though it's ready to be lit at the touch of a match. A house with a fireplace or two is a deeply atavistic experience for most people.
The next important factor is smell. Homes that smell of animals, particularly cats, can cost you thousands. So board the cat and the dog for a couple of weeks before the inspection and get the smell out.
But just as important is putting smell back in. There are three important smells to know about: fresh bread, cinnamon and coffee. Most houses are up for inspection over a two or three week period and people can often return for a second look, so varying your smell can be the clincher.
The fresh bread smell is achieved by buying a large white loaf and opening up its belly and pouring a bottle of vanilla essence into it and popping it into the oven at medium heat for half an hour before the inspection begins.
Remove it before the real estate man or lady arrives. The result is a home that smells of freshly baked bread which, as you know, is the warmest, cleanest, most home-caring smell there is.
Another smell that kills any other smells that might have been left behind by the cat or the parrot, is cinnamon. Simply warm a couple of tablespoons in a pan and allow the smell to invade the house.
If your home is a bit upmarket or in a trendy area, then use the famous coffee-bean ploy. Half a cup of coffee beans roasted in the oven will fill the house with the aroma of fresh coffee.
Add to this a tape of Vivaldi's Four Seasons or a little Mozart both played very softly, and the result can be a year's salary added to the value of your home. The point is, even if the
prospective buyer isn't a classical music lover, he or she will make decisions about the house that are most favourable if Mozart or Handel are thought to be in residence.
Finally, the backyard - it must look lived in but well kept. So make sure it has recreational furniture and that this is in good condition. A child's swing is a terrific asset.
A few hastily planted flowering shrubs can also make a big buck difference and a nice looking garden shed or greenhouse can be the clincher.
A couple of citrus trees, a Eureka lemon and a grapefruit are turn-ons and can be bought in an advanced state of growth from most nurseries.
And, of course, if there is a pool the water in it must be perfect. Buy a bottle of water polish (I'm not kidding) from your pool shop - it gives the pool a wonderful translucent look.
The thing to remember always is that the buyer has been out, sometimes for weeks, looking at houses most of which are identical in appearance to yours.
The difference, providing your place isn't positively falling down, will be the little things.
Most people buy a home on first impressions. The emotional impact they receive in the first few moments can be critical to the way they bid at auction or bargain when it comes down to the sale.’ |
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High tide for housing |
| High tide for housing
Written by Marian Wilkinson Environment Editor for Sydney Morning Herald
THE NSW Premier will give beachfront property owners threatened by coastal erosion and sea level rises more rights to build sea walls and barriers to protect homes, despite fears it will severely damage some of the Australia's best beaches.
Announcing the new measures today, the Government will name 19 ''hot spot'' beaches where owners are under threat from coastal erosion.
They include Sydney's northern beaches - Collaroy, Narrabeen, Mona Vale and Bilgola - Batemans Bay and Mollymook to the south, and Pearl Beach, MacMasters, Old Bar, Lennox Head and Byron Bay's Belongil to the north.
The measures will force councils covering the hot spots to prepare emergency storm plans; introduce a code of practice for ''temporary protections to threatened properties''; and give councils and the state government powers to stop owners building unapproved sea walls.
But in a highly controversial move, the government will be able to override councils which refuse to allow beachfront residents to build defences. If residents are willing to pay to build the defences they will be able to appeal either to the planning or environment minister, who will decide if it is ''environmentally feasible and sustainable''.
Nathan Rees said the measures would be enforced by laws to ensure ''existing home owners can act to protect their properties and share the financial responsibilities, subject to stringent environmental impact assessments''.
The plans will put the Rees Government on a collision course with Byron Bay and other coastal councils. Byron council is involved in a long legal battle with owners at Belongil over demands to build a defensive barrier on the public beachfront.
Andy Short, who has written extensively on the coastal crisis, said: ''My concern is that the Government is prepared to sacrifice some of the best beaches in Australia to save a handful of beachfront property owners who have known for decades they are in a high-risk area.'' Professor Short said the plans were ''crisis management at its worst''. But it will become a key part of the Government's response to sea level rises caused by global warming.
The deputy director of the Department of Environment and Climate Change, Simon Smith, rejected the claim that beachfront property owners would be allowed to build barriers at the expense of public beaches.
"It's not just, 'I'll build a wall, it'll protect me and I'll be right mate'," he said. Owners would have to ensure the works did not transfer the erosion from one spot to another. Erosion studies show a sea wall built in one spot is likely to transfer erosion because sand tends to move from south to north.
Owners would have to commit permanently to paying for sand replacement. He said the number of properties under threat was likely to rise hugely. ''The Opera House will be under water if we don't make changes, so you have to prepare for that … People are still spending $3 million, $5 million or $7 million buying properties that have big risks.''
Elaine Pearce, the president of the Old Bar Beach Sand Replenishment Group Beach, whose unit is under threat from coastal erosion. Photo: Shane Chalker
Source: www.smh.com.au/environment October 19, 2009 |
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The story behind the 'Sold' signs |
| Sometimes vendors are disappointed with the price achieved when their property sells. Perhaps it is lower than the price they originally expected. But did they arrive at the price they expected in a realistic way?
Many people see ‘Sold’ signs and knowing what the property was advertised at assume that it must have sold for that figure. These assumptions stay with them in their first discussions about pricing with their agent. This makes things very difficult for the agent who naturally wants to take on the property for sale but has to take into account any pre-conceived ideas in setting the asking price of the property.
Of course, sound research starts with comparing your own property with others that are similar. While no vendor is likely to compare a three bedroom townhouse with a five bedroom family home on a large block, it is surprising how often vendors think of, for example, a three bedroom house with a small sewing room or study as a four bedroom home, even though the floor area of the four bedroom that sold round the corner is greater.
In order to be a more informed client when it comes to strategies for the pricing of their property, vendors should ask their agent what is the average percentage difference between the selling and asking prices of comparable properties sold in the area. If they can’t give you an answer, it might be better to choose another agent.
Local Property News (April 20, 2007)
Source: Cunninghams Property |
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The eight things vendors want from their selling agents |
| 1. Feedback. Selling the family home can be stressful particularly when awaiting the outcome of key activities. Here at Byron Bay First National Real Estate we guarantee to contact you in person or on the telephone to provide feedback after every advertisement, open home and inspection.
2. Recommendations. From the day we are appointed as your selling agent we will act in your best interests and make constructive recommendations on how to achieve the highest possible price for your property.
3. Marketing. Cost effective marketing is the key to exposing your property to as many prospective purchasers as possible. We conduct ongoing local research to ensure our marketing targets those who are ready to buy without delay.
4. Pricing. Asking too little or too much for any product can be a disaster. Here at Byron Bay First National Real Estate we have the accurate market knowledge to help you price your home and achieve the results you demand.
5. Negotiation. We are proud of the fact that so many of our past clients have referred to our skills at negotiating the best outcome for them. When negotiating we are always fair to both parties but at all times act to ensure the best result possible for you, the client.
6. Purchasers. We maintain and correspond with a database of genuine purchasers looking to buy a residential property in Byron Bay. We sell more homes because we have more buyers – not because we have more listings.
7. Effortless open homes. When our clients choose to open their homes for inspection, we have the policies and guidelines which minimize disturbances to your daily routine and achieve optimum results.
8. Availability. Yes, we use SMS and email but some inexperienced agents ‘hide behind’ modern communication and don’t really keep in touch. Personal contact, being available in person or over the telephone, is essential to our successful relationship with you. |
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