If your home has been listed for some time but hasn't sold, this may be due to several different factors. This could include errors when it comes to the house's price. It's not uncommon in these cases for a real estate agent to try to pick up the property listing. They may not just be interested in the challenge, but in the opportunity to maximise their profits.
When first putting your home on the market, you'll want to avoid allowing it to sit for ages without any buyers by choosing a realistic sale price. To help facilitate this, it's best to work with a local real estate agent who knows your neighbourhood and market well. Register your details at sellmycastle.com.au to start receiving proposals from agents in your region. This will allow you to find the best fit as you think about preparing, valuing, and selling your home.
Avoid Chasing the Highest Sale Price
It's natural to dream of achieving a high profit when you are preparing to sell your home. However, you need to remain realistic during the sale process. As you compare and select a real estate agent to work with, don't automatically go for the one who gives you the highest value for your property. Although the thought of more cash at the end of the transaction will certainly be appealing, this could be an unrealistic dream that ends up wasting you time and money. Chasing after an unrealistic, highest quoted sale price can be the worst mistake that a seller can make.
Find out the True Price for your Property
You might have a certain value in your head when it comes to your property. This is basically irrelevant, as is what a real estate agent believes the end price should be. What matters is what the buyer thinks. To find out what a buyer will realistically pay for your property, you need to take a look at what similar homes in your location have sold for. Adjust these numbers with any added features, both positive and negative, that your home has in comparison to its competition. In addition to assessing the local competition, the true price of your home will also depend on the supply and demand in your region, as well as the current state of the general market. This is why it's so important to work with a real estate agent who knows your location well. With the free online dashboard at sellmycastle.com.au, you can be sure to find a local expert who can help you size up the competition.
Taking care of this extensive type of comparative market analysis will give you and your real estate agent a more accurate picture of the price range that buyers will be willing to offer. This same technique is how a valuer appraises properties, making it the most realistic type of analysis. Rather than choosing a single fixed price, look at the price range as a whole. No two valuations will ever be the same, so you need to work with a range of estimates.
Pricing a Property too Low
As stated above, the worst mistake that a seller can make is pricing the property too high. You may be wondering if there is a danger of pricing it too low. In the end, the value of a property is determined by what the buyer is willing to offer. If the property's price has been lowballed, this isn't really as much of a concern. This is because competing homes in your area will most likely be priced higher, making yours get extra attention. This could result in a higher number of offers, as well as higher quality offers. The end result will be a price that is closer to the true market value of the property. The real risk is setting the bar too high and choosing a real estate agent based on an unrealistic valuation.
The Danger of a Failed Real Estate Sale
When choosing a real estate agent based on their high valuation of the property, you run the risk of ending up with a home that is left sitting on the market until its listing expires. In most cases, this will take approximately three months, directly due to the inflated price. A real estate agent may inflate the price because they don't really know your area too well, or because they were just trying to get your business.
You then run a further risk if you hire a second real estate agent to try and help you sell the home. They may lower the price to try and attract offers, without undertaking an accurate analysis to figure out what the house should actually be priced at. With a lowered price, buyers may be suspicious and think that something is wrong with the property. This could lead to decreased attention, a low turnout at open for inspections, and several more months passing without any sign of a sale.
Properties that are Unsold for Long Term Periods
After six months or more have passed, you may be in need of yet another real estate agent to try and sell your property. By this time, it's most likely that you will have little faith in a good sale, with low morale. You will be prone to taking an offer that is far below what your house is worth, simply because you are tired of having a house on the market. Because the home was on the market for so long, with a decreasing price, it could appear tainted to buyers even if there is absolutely nothing wrong with it.
Agents Specialising in Expired Listings
There are some real estate agents who specialise in expired listings. They will contact a seller whose listing has expired and attempt to relist them at the correct market value. This is good business for a real estate agent. Many sellers fall into the trap of initially pricing their home too high due to a poor appraisal or misjudgement. This is a common problem, so it's best to take care as you make the preparations to price and sell your home.
Avoid Significant Losses
Protect yourself as you get started to avoid taking a financial hit. Sellers can lose a great deal of money after an initial listing has expired. The house will need to be kept up to a high standard for private and open for inspections, and you will have to pay extra mortgage repayments as you wait for your house to sell. You may take a hit when buyers offer you a lower offer, simply because your house has been on the market for too long. What could be a perfectly lovely home is reduced to an overpriced, neglected property that nobody wants. Take care to avoid all of these problems by doing everything in your power to price your house correctly.
What's next?
One of the best tools at your disposal is a real estate agent who will help you obtain an accurate home valuation. This can be done by choosing to work with a professional who has knowledge and experience of your specific market. Start this process by registering your details at sellmycastle.com.au. You can compare proposals from over 5,300 agents in order to choose the right one who will maximise your profits.
You can also protect yourself by learning more from our following articles:
