09 May How to get more money when you sell a property – Greg Dickason
Greg Dickason from Core Logic details 10 ways to improve the price you get when you come to sell your property.
Transcript:
Kevin: Greg Dickason joins me. Greg, of course, from Core Logic, a regular on the show.
Hi Greg, thanks again for your time.
Greg: Hey, Kevin. Good to be here.
Kevin: I want to pick up on an article that you wrote because there were some really great points you made in there, helping people understand how to improve the price that they get when they come to sell their property. You gave us ten. I want to cherry-pick, if I may, because a number of them we’ve discussed on the show before, but I want to go into a little bit more depth with a couple of them.
One of the points you made was know what’s happening in your marketplace. There is so much information now available through organizations like yours, CoreLogic. How do we interpret that market, that information, Greg?
Greg: So, two points on that, I think that one is that a lot of people make a snap judgment to sell because their neighbors have sold or a property around the corner has sold, and they don’t do enough research. They almost go straight into the conversations with agents and looking at property in the market.
If you take a little bit of time and do the research… So, one is yes, you go to sites like ours, like OnTheHouse.com.au, or the portals and you see what they have to say about what’s happening in the market. But also, probably more importantly, you do very local research.
You actually go to local homes, you go look at three-bedroom properties that are similar to yours. And see how are they getting marketed, what kind of prices are they getting? You walk through them.
That way you get a real feel not only for what’s happening across the property market in general but much more local and specifically around exact properties.
Kevin: You also made the point, and I think it’s quite a good one, that when you’re looking, you’re looking at properties that have been listed, maybe at a price. You can’t always take that as value, can you?
Greg: Exactly. So, properties get listed at all sorts of prices. Some prices are really, honestly, way too high, some are quite too low. So, you can’t always take the value at the prices getting quoted – if you get any prices, because some areas, it’s very hard to see what price.
But if you’re researching over a period of time, what you will see is what they actually sell for. So, you might see them on the listing process and then what they sell for, and it really is worth taking a couple of months to get a good feel for the market before you put your property on the market.
Kevin: Yes, that is such good advice about taking your time, and take some time to do that. Now, once you’ve done that research… And doing that research is not part of appointing an agent, because they’re two totally separate things. You do your research to establish value for yourself, but then you have to make a decision about getting the best agent.
How do you go about doing that?
Greg: Part of that that research is you’re seeing agents. Remember, you’re going to open homes; you’re seeing agents in their native environment. You see how they interact with you as a potential buyer. And that’s, I think, very, very important.
Also, look at referrals, people who have sold or people you know who have sold, they know how well an agent has operated for them. And that’s a very good way. A referral network is very good.
But the third thing is once you know your market a bit and you start to actually interview agents when they come to the pre-listing presentation, it gives you a really good feel of how well they know the market and how well they’re going to work with you.
And trust your instincts in that, absolutely trust your instincts.
Kevin: Absolutely. You mentioned, too, in your article that your objective should be to get a good price relatively quickly while your product is nice and fresh. And that’s a very important part of picking the right agent, Greg, isn’t it?
Greg: It absolutely is. If an agent tries to give you too high a price, then sometimes that’s not… You don’t necessarily choose the agent who thinks they’re going to sell your property for the highest price. Choose the agent who you think is realistic about selling the property but also has a clear plan as to how they’re going to do it.
And the plan needs to involve how they’re going to get multiple people interested in your property at the same time, multiple buyers involved. That’s when you get the best price, when you have a bit of competition for your property.
Kevin: Another piece of really good advice is that when you decide to sell your home, you have to be prepared to spend some money on marketing. Why is that? Why shouldn’t it be up to the agent to do that, Greg?
Greg: Because agents ultimately have a lot of properties that they need to sell. They have a lot of things that they have on their plate. They will absolutely work for you, but sometimes it helps for you to go above and beyond and actually get as many different eyeballs looking at the property through many different places, both through the agent’s site, what’s in their windows, what’s on the portal, but even through places like print and everything else, so you have many, many different eyeballs – because you don’t know where your two or three active buyers are going to come from. And that one extra active buyer is going to push your price up quite a bit.
Kevin: And this is a key point, too. When you’re making your choice of an agent, you should be asking them about their marketing. Do they understand how the marketing works? Where would they market your property, and how would they make it stand out, Greg?
Greg: Exactly. A lot of things we’ve looked at from CoreLogic is in different areas different marketing strategies work. So, in some cases it’s sending out e-mails, other cases it’s mail drops, or just online only. And in some cases in some areas, and not necessarily only the affluent areas, print can work very, very well.
So, when it comes down to your mix of marketing, it’s also quite a local decision, and your agent should know.
Kevin: And the final point I want to make it is, and I love this saying: “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road is going to get you there.” Now, this is talking about the price, knowing about what you want to get, but don’t be too greedy.
Greg: Exactly. I think sometimes we get carried away. We under-play the disadvantages in our property and over-play the good aspects. Sometimes, we can say, “Oh, the reason my property is going to get another $30,000 or $50,000 more than that property is because it has these things.”
Be more realistic. Try and take off that bias that you have for your own property and look at the market in general. Look at other houses, see what’s good and bad about them, and that way you can get a much better feel for what you’re going to get.
If you’re realistic – and obviously be optimistic but be realistic – you will get a good price.
Kevin: I love this question you ask in the article, and I’ll just read it out. “Ask yourself this question: if I don’t sell at this price and I have to wait two months longer, would I then accept this price?” That is such a valuable question to ask when that offer comes in.
Greg: It absolutely is. A lot of our research shows that often the best price is almost the first offer you get. Sometimes people, they’ve wanted to get $20,000 more, but they end up accepting a lower price two months later.
Kevin: Yes, I just have this saying that “real buyers know value,” and the first group of buyers who come through have been out there shopping around. They know value, they know what you’re place is worth, and in fact, in a lot of cases, they may know more about the value of your property than you or even the agent, Greg.
Greg: Absolutely. Because they’re doing a lot of due diligence, and as you’ve said, they’ve looked at a lot of other properties and maybe offered on a few. So, the ideal scenario is to get a few of those early buyers to make an offer at the same time, and then you’ll probably get the best price you could get in the market.
Kevin: Good talking to you. Greg Dickason from CoreLogic. Thanks for your time, mate.
Greg: Thank you, Kevin.
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