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The top 3 mistakes sellers should avoid
An REB top agent has revealed some of the common mistakes and misconceptions he often sees from sellers, and how they can avoid errors to ensure the best price.
According to Norman So, principal of Belle Property Strathfield, neglecting presentation, having high price expectations, and misconceptions about seasonal sales are among the common mistakes that sellers often make.
While many vendors may find the selling process confusing, agents are there to utilise their expertise and guide them through the process.
According to So, one common mistake sellers make is failing to style their home appropriately to highlight its features, which in turn will increase the property’s final price.
“When I go in the house, when I’m given the keys, a lot of the times it’s either empty or the vendors live there, they’ve got too much furniture in there,” So said.
He said property should be presented in its optimal form with a balanced styling, not too little nor too much, to strike the right emotional chord with buyers, particularly when it comes to family homes.
“It’s a balancing act for the agent to recommend whether it needs styling or not, based on the configuration if the vendors are in the house or not,” he said.
“When I go into presentations, I look for things to fix up straight away or whatever needs attention that’s been overlooked by the vendor.
“When I go there, I’m seeing it for the first or second time. I know what the buyers want to see and in my line of work, I do a lot of landscaping styling and repair work to homes before I put them on the market.”
According to So, the second common mistake sellers tend to make is overpricing or having overly ambitious expectations of how much their property will sell for.
He said that excessive pricing expectations can result in sellers “chasing the market”, which is when the price of a property is constantly adjusted, and it stays on the market for longer.
“[Properties] start off really high in their price and they slowly adjust to the market, but as the vendors are going through that adjustment phase, the buyers are also adjusting in the negative way as well,” he said.
He said the longer the property stays on the market, the lower the price is, and sellers are in an endless loop of chasing the market.
“So that’s why some properties you see stay on the market for an extended period of time.
“They sell for 20, 30 per cent less than what they originally started with after six to 12 months of being on the market – price correction after price correction after price correction until a buyer is found.”
To prevent the issue, So said he is upfront and transparent with sellers about what they believe the property would sell for.
“I tell my vendors what it’s worth as of today, I also tell them at a good option what I could possibly achieve,” he said.
“And if they’re not happy with those figures, I’m happy to walk away from business because I don’t want to end up chasing the market with the vendor.”
Finally, while vendors tend to believe that spring is the best time to sell due to warmer weather, the reality is actually quite different.
So said the most optimal time to sell is actually when there’s the least amount of competition among sellers.
“Right now in Strathfield, there’s only what’s supposed to be on the market, and what is on the market – only about 50 per cent. We’ve got a shortage of stock right now in Strathfield and Burwood,” he said.
“Whatever’s going on the market is selling for really good numbers because we’ve just got no stock right now.
“But the actual reality is when there’s the least amount of competition on the market, that’s the best time to go out to the market,” he concluded.