very professional service with excellent communication throughout

It is no secret that the greater the exposure a property has to the market, the greater the number of buyers who are aware of the listing. Agents should create a marketing and advertising campaign designed to achieve the highest possible price for the seller. This can involve marketing and advertising through:

• Signboards
• Open Houses
• Local and Interstate Newspapers
• Property Websites 
• Dedicated Property Magazines
• Social Media

The seller must be given an itemised marketing and advertising campaign and agree to the campaign prior to any marketing commencing.

Consideration should be taken when designing a marketing and advertising campaign. What are the most effective marketing methods for the particular property and its attributes? What is the suburb and general location? Are the open houses planned at the most appropriate time? Are buyers going to be targeted effectively?

COMPARATIVE MARKET ANALYSIS

If a seller asks an agent for an opinion of the current market price of a property, the agent must provide the seller with aComparative Market Analysis (CMA).

The minimum CMA criterion an agent must meet is to provide information on three properties, of a similar nature and style, that have sold within five kilometres of the subject property within the last six months. If a CMA cannot be produced (due to factors such as no recent sales), the agent must provide a written explanation outlining how they arrived at the suggested market price for the property.

 

BEWARE OF OVERPRICING

Setting a realistic price can assist with generating greater buyer interest and achieving a sale more promptly than if a property is overpriced. Sellers who set too high a price on their properties can damage their prospects of a quicker sale and risk the property becoming ‘stale’ in the marketplace.
An agent must market the property at the listing price set by the seller.

For example:

if the property is listed at $509,000, the agent must market the property as such, not “$460,000 plus buyers invited.”

ADJUSTING YOUR PRICE

At any stage through the marketing of a property, the seller can choose to amend the listing price of a property; however, this instruction should be clearly given to the agent in writing. An agent cannot change any marketing or advertising of a property until they have received clear written instruction from a seller.

It is important to spend a little time freshening up the look of your property, inside and out. The results may not only add to the sale price, but encourage more buyer interest.

It is also a good idea to complete minor repairs before listing the property and maintain the presentation of the property throughout the marketing campaign. A few ideal renovation tips such as a fresh coat of paint, sanding wooden floors or replacing worn carpet, will freshen up the look of any room. Paying attention to decorating the interior rooms by adding soft furnishings, a couple of paintings or fresh flowers can make all the difference to the look and feel of a property.

Remove any unnecessary furniture and personal items before marketing photos are taken to ensure each room is shown at its best. A cluttered room is a turn off for most buyers. All this can be done either by hiring a professional tradesman or doing it yourself at a fairly minimal cost.

The garden and outside of a property should not be neglected. Keeping the lawns and gardens mown and weed free helps to improve a buyer’s first impression of a property.

The following identifies what buyers would respond to with respect to the property presentation:

POSITIVE APPEAL

• Clean, bright and airy residences
• Neutral colours
• Well-landscaped gardens
• Plenty of outdoor living space such as decks and covered patios
• Soft music; and a
• Pleasant fragrance.

NEGATIVE APPEAL

• Dark, dingy residences
• Unpleasant smells, especially cigarette smoke and animal odours
• Filth and clutter
• Loud noise (e.g. television or radio).

RECOMMENDATIONS

• Clean out cupboards to give an impression of space
• Take away all unnecessary furniture to leave rooms uncluttered
• Fix all obvious faults
• Tidy up yards
• Steam clean and deodorise carpets professionally
• A coat of paint over marked walls will brighten up a room quickly
• Replace brightly coloured curtains and wall colours with neutral tones.

Pre-planning open houses and the inspection times of a property enables the seller to arrange their lives during the marketing campaign and helps ensure the property is presented in its best light at all times.

SETTING INSPECTION TIMES
Many factors need to be taken into consideration when setting times and days, such as the location of the property (for example, inspections of a property next door to a school most likely wouldn’t be too favourable at 3pm on a school day) and whether any views from the property are best seen at a certain time of the day.

 

DON'T PLAY HOST
Agents will often encourage sellers to not be present during inspections in order to allow prospective buyers the freedom of inspecting the property, without feeling like they are ‘intruding’ in someone else’s home.

 

TAKE THE PETS FOR A WALK
If pets are kept on the property, perhaps consider taking them away when open houses or inspections take place.

Most often, it will be the buyer who makes the initial offer by signing contract documentation, which is then presented to the seller by the agent. If the seller wants to make a counter offer and change the terms or offered price, the changes are made on this contract of sale, initialled by the seller and presented back to the buyer by the agent for further negotiation.

When both parties agree on the offered price and the terms of the offer, all parties must sign and initial any changes that have been made to the document and a binding contract is then created.

There are key steps that must be taken to ensure a contract is legally binding on all parties including:

• All initials and signatures of the buyer and seller are on the contract, and the contract is then dated; and
• Acceptance has been relayed to all parties.
• Agents should ensure that all parties to a contract receive a fully signed copy of the contract as soon as the above steps have been taken.