5 Steps for First Time Sellers to #GETLISTED

Buying your first home can be a daunting endeavour for young Australians,
Its hard enough trying to navigate the madness that is the Sydney property market as a first time buyer - Let alone as a first time vendor !

In this article I go through some basic steps to selling your home for first time vendors who hope to extract the max value for their home in the most efficient stress-free manner possible.

“Selling your home is much like flying, You have to choose a good airline first (An Agency) who ideally have the best Pilot (Your Agent) who you can really trust to go through all the appropriate procedures, And follow the best process possible to get you off the ground and in the air - To your next destination smoothly, Safe & Sound..”

Selling your home should NOT be a stressful and scary operation, If you have the right agent & you have been properly briefed on the market conditions; There will be no surprises, And you should have a sound strategy in place including a full marketing plan & proven process which will be rolled out by your Agent for you to ensure you cover all bases & leave no stone un-turned in your hunt for the ideal buyer.

💣 Heres 10 Steps to selling your house

STEP ONE.

• DO YOUR RESEARCH - It cannot be understated just how important it is to spend some time familiarizing yourself with market before you call in Agents.
  This is what you are looking for :

• Recent Sales - Go to Realestate.com & look in the SOLD section, Because asking prices do not affect the real value of your home SOLD prices are the only thing that really matters
  Sort the sold section by newest to oldest and have a good flick through keeping an eye out specifically for properties that have the same configuration as yours with similar land size

• Agents who have recently sold - Keep note of the Agents who are regularly selling in your marketplace & have recent sales, As these are the guys who obviously have the most relevant experience & will be best equipped (with buyers) to sell your home.
  
  Doing your research like this is going to achieve 2 things : First of all you will get a rough idea what your properties market value is & this piece of information alone could make the decision of whether to call in Agents or not for you, Secondly its going to give you an idea which operators in your marketplace you may like to work with & who to call in for appraisals.
  
  Furthermore understanding your marketplace before you call an Agent in is going to help prevent an Agent “buying the listing”.
  This is when an agent comes in and over values your property so that you get excited and list with them, Only to come to you weeks later when your on the market trying to “condition” you down to the real market level where it will sell.

STEP TWO

• Call in your stand out Agent for a “market appraisal” - By Now you probably have an idea who you want to list with, Someone with killer marketing, Attention to detail, A tremendous track record & Incredible style & perfect hair hopefully 😉
  
  Call them and tell them you want a “market appraisal”. A market appraisal is basically a report on what the agent thinks they can sell the property for
  They will probably come for a look at the property, Take some notes on the inclusions etc and then leave you to go prepare the market appraisal.
  
  After generating the appraisal they will send you a copy in their preferred method, Then they will likely want to meet again for a “listing presentation” where you can discuss their process, strategy, the campaign timeline and the appraisal they sent you (have all your questions ready)
  
  When it comes to the “appraisal”, You should EXPECT their market appraisal to be in line with the recent comparative sales, This is the correct way to do a market appraisal - It should be primarily evidence based not based on the Agents own opinion or your own ambitions.

You CAN if you feel it necessary call in more than one Agent to get multiple opinon’s - Just be wary not to call in too many, If you dont list with these Agents they will naturally become your competition & you dont necessarily want your competition intimately knowing your product & your game plan, Right ?

STEP THREE

• Select the most impressive Agent who you think will best serve your interests (ME lol) - Seriously though your choice of Agent is the most important thing,
  DO NOT MAKE THAT CHOICE BASED ON THEIR SALE FEE.
  REMEMBER THIS : If Your Agent is unable to protect the value of his or her own product, What makes you think they will be willing & able to protect the value of yours ?
  Compare Agents on these things instead : Preparation, Process, Strategy, Customer Service, Confidence & Presence & HUNGER (DRIVE),
  These qualities are what really make a difference.
  
  Your Agents selling fee is irrelevant outside of being a tool for you to motivate them.
  Here is a scenario, If they have 3 listings : 2 at 1.5% commission and 1 at 2.5% commission Guess which one is going to sell first ?
  Your Agent is there to do a JOB, They may be paid a commission not a wage but they are still mindful of their “hourly-rate” and they will pour more time, energy, & buyers in to your home if they are being paid more to do so.
  If you choose an Agent thats a great negotiator, Has a strong hustle & The drive to get great results than it doesn’t matter if you have to pay 2k more for them - Negotiations typically move in increments $5,000, $10,000 so the 2k extra you pay for a good Agent is going to be recouped very fast when you get to the point end of the campaign.

STEP FOUR

• Once you know who will represent you, Its time to sign an Agency Agreement - The “Agency Agreement” is a legal document that gives the Agent permission to represent you and market your property for sale.
  You need to come to an agreement with your selected Agent on clear terms for the following : The market price, The Price you are happy for him to advertise, The method of Sale (Private Treaty or Auction etc), The term of the Agency period (Normally 90 days), The marketing collateral that will be required (plus how much you will invest in that marketing) and of course The Agents commission rate.

  There is 3 basic Costs YOU as the “Vendor” will incur as a responsibility to cover when you sell your home

1. Contract of Sale - This is the fee your solicitor or conveyancer will charge you to prepare the “Contract of Sale” document which the agent needs prior to listing your home.
   Usually the total cost to create the contract and handle the exchange & transfer of the property is around $1,500 HOWEVER they will charge you around $350 upfront only to create the contract and the remainder will be deducted when the property sells at settlement time.
   *In my experience conveyancers are better than solicitors, With Solicitors property matters are the lowest thing on their priority list but with conveyancers property matters are the ONLY thing on their priority list - If you need a great one see www.flashconveyancing.com.au they are the best of the best.

2. Vendor Paid Marketing - This is the money you contribute as the Vendor to get the property on the market, It will include such things as photographer fee, REA listing fee, Domain listing fee, Brochure design and print costs, Signboard costs etc.
   Honestly this is the best money you will ever invest, Dont skimp out on your marketing investment the return is MASSIVE. You are selling your most valuable asset and good marketing can be the difference between having a great experience and a bad experience selling, Listen to your agent and his/her recommendations on the marketing required to get the best result then work out a payment option to cover it.
   In Sydney the average VPM is about $3,000, And its worth every cent - You dont want to be sitting at the decision table at the end of the campaign not sure if there’s a better offer out there, If maybe you did that video the Agent suggested would you have a higher figure on the contract in front of you.. Best to just do the marketing 100% so you have peace of mind come decision time !

3. Agents Selling Fee - This is the most frequently asked about cost associated with selling, But I always like to highlight that its the only one that purely optional & performance based.
   This is because you only ever pay a selling fee once the Agent has provided a result that you are satisfied with, You only will incur a selling fee IF you are happy & accept an offer.
   As I mentioned above if you base your decision on who to use based on selling-fee alone, Your setting yourself up for a bad time.

STEP FIVE

• Contact your Solicitor or Conveyancer & request a “Contract of Sale” - The Last thing which YOU need to do really is order your legal representative to create the contract of sale, Without a contract of sale your Agent cannot legally market your property & this includes talking to their pocket buyers.
  The FASTER you can get a contract of sale prepared and delivered to the Agent, The Quicker you can be sold its really that simple.
  Your Agent cannot do this for you, You need to get this piece of paperwork ready so your agent can get to work.
  
  From here on Your Agent has pretty much the minimum required tools to sell (Agency agreement & Contract of Sale C.O.S) They will take control now and start organizing the creating and design of your marketing collateral, The next step being; Booking photographers etc to develop the marketing materials required to go to market.
  
  

“When the market is up ; SELL LIKE HELL…”