Archive for the ‘Selling Real Estate’ Category

A fast sale at the right price is every home owner’s dream… however careful planning and staging of your home is the springboard to success.

Monika Bonet, Principal, Raine & Horne Glenelg, believes that creating a pleasant and inviting atmosphere when showing a property can add to saleability.

“There is nothing worse than having a home open for inspection when there is an odour in the home, be it from cooking, chemicals or animals or even just a musty odour,” she said. “This can turn off buyers when they visit a property.”

“Always try to freshen up the feel of your home by buying some fresh flowers to provide a pleasant natural aroma, and airing the home out prior to the viewing time. Also, plug in air fresheners are not pleasant to everybody’s tastes. If you have pets, remove their litter trays from the house prior to airing the house,” said Ms Bonet.

Landscaping and removing clutter are essential factors in this market.

“De-cluttering and minimising furniture create a more spacious environment and often rooms look much bigger. Clutter and mess  distracts potential buyers, as they often can’t imagine the space as their own,” Ms Bonet said.

Market intelligence is also critical to a speedy sale.

“Our experience in the upper end of the market, is that buyers expect everything to be done, otherwise buyers won’t make offers. We advise our sellers to take the time to clean up around the property, finish off all the little jobs and things you’ve been prepared to live with, especially painting, garden beds, lawns and edges in front and back yards.”

Ms Bonet is also a big believer in the power of first impressions.

“Prospective sellers need to understand that first impressions are everything when selling a property,” she said. “Buyers look at multiple properties and if your front lawn is getting a bit long, and the paintwork is personalised to your tastes, then there’s more chance buyers will lose interest fast or won’t even bother inspecting the property any further. Amazingly most buyers can’t see past the cosmetic work that needs to be done.” Ms. Bonet said.

Always remember that an eye for detail makes the difference when selling your home.“It’s the small things that buyers notice when viewing a home,” said Ms Bonet.   “Repair any broken windows, leaky taps and torn flyscreens and missing door handles. And don’t forget to look up at your ceilings because your buyers will, they will always see dusty ceiling fans, spider webs and dirty ceiling vents

Lastly many buyers, namely professionals, are looking for a property that they can move straight into with minimal work. “Fixing faults, a fresh coat of neutral paint colours and some landscaping will make an enormous difference to the final price and the amount of time the home is on the market,” she said.

If you’re thinking of moving soon, call Monika Bonet today to arrange a FREE no obligation and independent consultation of how you should prepare your home for sale.

Call Monika today on 8376 8844.

Quick… watch this Youtube video and be the first to inspect before it’s open to the public…

Come and inspect this stunning three bedroom two story residence executive residence at 45 High Street, Glenelg. Situated in the heart of thriving Glenelg. This residence offers smart, sleek & exceptional living just a few steps away from Jetty Road &, Glenelg Beach.

This property is presented by Monika Bonet, Principal of Raine & Horne Glenelg, your Glenelg Real Estate Agent

Discreet and professional use of signage is an accepted results driven practice utilised by most professional real estate agencies, when marketing Glenelg real estate.

“Research conducted throughout Australia and New Zealand shows that, on average, twenty eight percent of sales enquiry comes from signboards, Monika Bonet, Principal of Raine & Horne Glenelg said “It’s an important part of a good marketing programme. However the definitions of the words “discreet” and “professional” obviously vary from agent to agent.”

According to Ms Bonet, “What a discreet and professional signboard should be aimed at is selling the property, not selling the agents branding”. Ms Bonet said “Over the past couple of years, increasingly there’s a growing narcistic trend that many agents use their vendor’s signboards to sell themselves, rather than sell their vendor’s property.”

“The improper use of signboards for self promotion does nothing to attract buyers” Ms Bonet said.

“As a vendor it should be a concern for you, to pay for an expensive signboard to be erected out the front of your property, only to find that the artwork is entirely centred around selling the agents branding, rather than selling your property”.

“When I see inappropiate use of signboards by agents, I just cringe as I feel this is disrespectful of the hard work that the vendor has put into getting their home on the market. Most vendors paint and do repairs and take the time to keep their homes tidy for weeks sometimes months on end. All of that vendor’s hard work is then undermined if the overall impression is not captured by some good photography on the signboard.”

“The better real estate agents are sensitive to the needs of their vendors and make sure that the signboard artwork reflects a welcoming image to entice buyer attention,” Ms Bonet said.  “These agents are solely focussed on attracting buyer interest,” Ms Bonet said. “Discreet and professional signage isalways  tastefully aimed at displaying the home’s best presentation only, to entice buyers to come along to inspect the home.”

“After all if agents are using you signboard to just promote themselves, what are they going to be like when selling your home?” Ms Bonet said. “So the next time you’re out driving, look at signboards you see and ask yourself the question; is that signboard erected to sell the house or is it actually designed ot just sell the agent’s branding?”

This blog post is brought to you by Raine & Horne Glenelg, your Glenelg Real Estate Agents and Glenelg Property Management Experts.

When media reports start talking about static or falling home prices, many homebuyers think that it’s a good idea to watch the market and wait for it to reach the bottom. They feel that if they postpone their purchase long enough, they are likely to see prices fall further and snap up a ‘real bargain’. 

While bargains do exist, of course, for people who are in the right place at the right time, there are often more people who miss out by using this strategy than gain.  Most homebuyers buy their family home and live in it for, on average, seven to ten years.  And when we’re looking at averages, the property market continues, in the big picture, to rise. Based on historical property cycles, property may undergo periods of static growth and periods of galloping growth, but on average, well-located, well-selected residential property doubles in value every ten years or so. Certainly, if we could always pick the lowest time to buy and the highest time to sell we would do very well indeed, but the only buyers who need worry about the immediate state of the market are the real estate speculators who wish to buy then sell again straight away, or those who are too highly geared or who have entered into unrealistic amounts of debt. For everyone else, the chances of strong long-term capital gain are virtually assured, provided they buy well-selected property in well-selected locations.

It’s famously difficult to pick the ‘bottom’ of the market. Often buyers who wait find themselves having little to choose from as listings get scarce – and a sudden flurry of competition for the few desirable properties actually on the market for sale often causes them to sell for higher prices than expected, even in a market described as a difficult one for sellers.  Buyers end up paying more than they bargained for if they  keep on watching and waiting;  because the ‘flurries’ they waited out were signalling an upturn in the market or the end of the halcyon days for buyers.
 
Purchasers who wait too long for a ‘bargain’ or the ‘lowest point of the market’ often only realise that the lowest point has already been reached once they can look back on it with the 20/20 vision of hindsight.

This blog post is brought to you by Raine & Horne Glenelg, your Glenelg Ragement Expertseal Estate Agents and Glenelg Property Management Experts.

Raine & Horne South Australia CEO, Kevin Magee answers the top real estate questions every month including “HOW’S THE MARKET?” in South Australia and “WHAT DOES THAT MEAN FOR ME?” in the process identifying real estate opportunities, clarifying trends and providing property market tips for Raine & Horne members, Buyers, Sellers, Investors (Landlords) & Tenants.

For ongoing & concise property updates, media scoops and tips follow Kevin on Twitter @rhSA_CEO or contact Raine & Horne Glenelg, your Glenelg Real Estate Agents and Glenelg Property Management Experts.

Many Glenelg homeowners are holding off from putting their property on the market as the media continue to report a market downtown and uncertain financial times. But the ‘best time to sell’ is often not what it seems. 

Some people sell to retire and buy something smaller. This blog post does not refer to them. But the majority of sellers at any given time are trading up to a bigger property to house their growing family or reflect their increasing wealth. These home owners will pay more for their next home, than they will get for the one they are selling ….and actually do better when the market is on the decline. The fact that they are spending more money second time round gives them an opportunity to make money on the transaction.

If the reason they think it’s ‘not a good time to sell’ is because they ‘will not get a good enough price’ for their home, then the logical next step is to realise that if the market prevents them from getting the price they want, it will also affect the sellers of the property they are trading up to…and the bottomline net gain remains with the person who is trading up. If you get $603,000 for your home in a cheaper suburb (which has been valued at $670,000), you may feel you are ‘losing’ $67,000 or around 10% of the value of your asset.

But if you (say) buy a more expensive home in a more expensive suburb such as Glenelg, which is (say) valued at $850,000 in the same market. Then the owners of that home will also ‘lose’ 10%, as you also will not be paying more than the current declining market value.

In paying 10% less for the Glenelg Property you will pay $765,000, ‘saving’ $85,000 – thereby ‘making’ $18,000 on the transaction. In other words you ‘saved’  more on the next transaction, than you ‘lost’ on the sale of your current home, so you are ahead by $18,000.

In fact, there are other advantages to trading up in a buyers’ market.

Because prices are stable and properties often take longer to sell, once vendors have sold their original property there is no rush to buy. They can take their time choosing and negotiating their next purchase without having to watch the gap between the price they got for their original property and the price they have to pay for their next one increasing at an alarming rate.

This blog post is brought to you by Raine & Horne Glenelg, your Glenelg Real Estate Agents and Glenelg Property Management Experts.

Many home buyers no doubt wish they had a dollar (or a property!) for every time a real estate agent has told them…”This one won’t last long”.

“Inexperienced agents use this cliché to create urgency regardless of whether it is appropriate or not,” Ms. Bonet of Raine & Horne Glenelg said. “The result is that professional agents wishing to give their best advice to purchasers in circumstances where the comment is in fact justified hold back or risk disbelief.”

Ms. Bonet said that purchasers need to do their own research to determine whether they are buying in a sellers’ or a buyers’ market.

“If there are more buyers than sellers then there not enough properties to go round – a bit like musical chairs,” Ms. Bonet said. “In this situation buyers who spend too much time deciding whether to make an offer end up losing the property to another more aware buyer. Certain types of properties are more sought after than others no matter what the state of the market. Popular property categories vary from location to location. But a property that is keenly priced will almost always sells faster than one that is grossly overpriced.”

According to Ms. Bonet agents are knowledgeable about property values over a broad geographic area, price band and property category.

“Buyers on the other hand may start their search looking more broadly but by the time they are ready to buy they are specialists in a more narrow category and price range. They will also be well aware of the type of market they are shopping in.

“In fact buyers who are ready to make a decision should be able to answer the question of whether a particular property will or won’t last as well as the agent they are talking to,” Ms. Bonet concluded.

This blog post is brought to you by Raine & Horne Glenelg, your Glenelg Real Estate Agents and Glenelg Property Management Experts.

Some vendors prefer to be absent while purchasers inspect their property while others feel they want to stay and contribute.

“Some stay because they think their input is essential for the optimum marketing of their home,” Monika Bonet, Principal of Raine & Horne Glenelg said. “But in most cases direct contact between vendor and purchaser can result in lost opportunities, especially when purchasers are put off the property by too much information too soon.”

Ms. Bonet said that it is not uncommon for vendors to anticipate and answer objections before they are voiced and in so doing highlight negatives.

“For example a vendor conscious of the steepness of their driveway might say as the purchaser walks past the wheelie bin: “We always put the bin in the boot and drive it to the gate.” The purchaser’s attention is drawn from the general to the specific before their emotional connection with the property is fully established. They are asked to concentrate on features- negative ones at that – at a time when they are still in the initial stages of embracing or rejecting the property. Even if they noticed the steepness in passing they may not have thought it through in terms of day to day inconvenience.”

Ms. Bonet said that vendor presence during inspections inhibits purchasers in other ways. “It can make buyers uncomfortable and make it harder for them to ask the agent for the very details they do want to know,” Ms. Bonet said. “It draws their attention away from the property and causes them to focus on small talk.”

 Ms. Bonet said it is natural for vendors to be interested in the progress of the sale of their property.

 ”The best way to stay involved is to choose the agent you can trust to show your house to best advantage – and one who communicates with you every step of the way,” Ms. Bonet said. “Knowing what’s going on takes much of the stress out of the marketing process and allows you to take a back seat with confidence.”

This blog post is brought to you by Raine & Horne Glenelg, your Glenelg Real Estate Agent and Glenelg Property Management Experts.

Many vendors say they find it hard to decide which agent to use to sell their home.

“Choosing an agent is not very different from choosing a doctor or any other service provider,” Monika Bonet, Principal of Raine & Horne Glenelg said. “If you were new to the area and were looking for an accountant or a plumber, you would ask local residents to make recommendations based on their experience.

 The best source of first hand information about local agents is someone who has recently bought or sold a house in your local area.”

According to Ms. Bonet if you don’t know anyone who has recently bought or sold, long term locals such as accountant, conveyancers, mortgage brokers and so on are always a ready source of information about who has the community’s confidence.

“The obvious question on every prospective vendor’s lips is whether the agent in question sold the house for the best price in a reasonable time,” Ms. Bonet said. “But research shows that an issue seldom raised at the start of marketing becomes the main cause for concern when things go wrong… and that is; lack of feedback.”

 Ms. Bonet said that one of the key questions vendors should ask their sources is whether their agent stayed in constant communication and provided regular feedback at every stage of the marketing process. “Knowing what is going on every step of the way reduces vendor stress and contributes to the successful sale of the property,” Ms. Bonet said. “It can help the property sell faster and for a higher price.”

Ms. Bonet said that if your checks reveal that an agent has a first class reputation in terms of service, feedback and results there is no need to look any further.

“Above all, vendors should take their time when selecting an agent and not let themselves be put on the spot by pressure selling techniques designed to get them to sign “now”,” Ms. Bonet said. “After all, for 97% of Glenelg home owners the family home represents their single greatest asset and as such their most significant financial transaction.”

“Everyone has heard the three most important criteria for choosing a house to buy,” Ms. Bonet said. “Location!, Location! And Location!

Choosing an agent can be summed up in a similar way – “Reputation!, Reputation! and Reputation!”

 This blog post is brought to you by Raine & Horne Glenelg, your Glenelg Real Estate Agents and Glenelg Property Management Experts.

Agents often hear home owners say: “If I don’t get my price, I’m not selling.” But in many cases home sellers don’t have the luxury of holding out for an in-your-dreams figure because they have to sell in order to buy another home to live in. Especially if the market simply can’t deliver the price. However, there is often another option for those who have the flexibility to take it on. 

In some cases, it is in fact worth it for vendors to hold onto a property rather than selling for less, especially if they have the borrowing power to own more than one property and turn the unsold property into a rental investment income.

Naturally, it is important that they do their sums before making a decision.

Those who are thinking of the rent-and-hold option should consult an accountant or financial planner as well as a real estate agent. They should determine whether the market is stable, climbing or falling – after all, unless prices are on the rise, there is unlikely to be a potential increase in capital gain worth holding out for further down the track. It is important to check out the rental and vacancy rates and the likely income including capital gain against the cost of any loan required to continue holding onto the property.  

Many people moving interstate or across the Tasman automatically think “I’m moving so I’m putting my house on the market.” But it is often wise to get to know the state of the market in their new area before letting go of the one they currently live in. Is it possible that property won’t go up as fast in the new location as the old one? Or conversely, might it go up faster? Is the future sufficiently hard to predict that it could it be safer to have a foot in both camps in case they want to return and not find themselves priced out of the market?

Home owners doing the figures and deciding whether it is a better financial choice to hold onto the property rather than sell, should also take into account is whether the property is a good rental proposition. Often high maintenance properties (such as those with pools or large garden) have costs that have to be offset against income. Or the market may not pay the rent the owner thinks it should be worth if it is not the type of property in demand by typical tenants in the area.

This blog post is brought to you by Raine & Horne Glenelg, your Glenelg Real Estate Agents and Glenelg Property Management Experts.