Working with a reputable, experienced real estate professional will help sellers to make the right choices when it comes to their most valuable asset.
Putting a home on the market can be stressful, and some owners have a hard time making objective decisions when it matters most, says Adrian Goslett, Regional Director and CEO of RE/MAX of Southern Africa. “Working with a reputable, experienced real estate professional will help sellers to make the right choices when it comes to their most valuable asset. An estate agent will view the home objectively and will be able to provide sound advice based on facts and market statistics,” he adds.
Goslett provides a few things that agents will assist sellers with to optimise their chances of getting the most out of their property sale:
Provide an objective viewpoint
Before placing the home on the market, your agent may recommend that you perform repairs to correct visible flaws. As a fresh, objective pair of eyes, they may be able to see things that you as the homeowner may have missed.
Once all repairs are complete, a strategy that the agent might want to implement is home staging. Staging the home would include de-cluttering and removing all personal items to make it feel more spacious. Removing personal items will also help potential buyers to picture themselves living there.
Price the home correctly
Your agent will perform a current market analysis (CMA) to price the home within the correct pricing bracket. To do this, they will look closely at the comparable sales of similar homes in your neighbourhood that have sold in the last 90 days and take the number of available listings into account when agreeing to an asking price. The majority of homes sold recently had a minimal difference between asking and selling price of between 7% and 11%.
Take advantage of your market debut
Nine out of ten buyers use the internet as their first port of call when searching for property, making online portals an important marketing strategy. As a result, around 91% of sellers said that their home is listed online. New listings are called ‘hot’ for a reason – because buyers get excited about them. On average new listings get four times more web traffic, however, statistics show that viewings are likely to cool off noticeably after the first 30 days on the market. If your home is priced too high when it hits the market, you run the risk that active; qualified buyers will scroll right past it during its crucial first weeks on the market.
Bear in mind
Homes that have failed to attract a buyer in a reasonable period may be overpriced.
Foreclosures or short sales in your neighbourhood can impact your home’s market value.
It doesn’t pay to set the price too high - most buyers will need financing, and the bank will generally use an appraisal based on recent sales to justify the loan amount.
When weighing up an offer, make sure to consider the potential costs of holding on to your property longer than you want or need to – these costs include the bond, property rates and taxes, insurance, maintenance and more.
“Using the right agent and the right strategies can help to get the best possible price for your home, within the shortest possible timeframe,” Goslett concludes.
