If you’ve currently got your home on the market – or have been thinking of selling – don’t panic.
You’ve invested a lot of time, emotional energy and money preparing your home for sale and you don’t want to see it go to waste.
There are many strategies your real estate team will deploy to ensure you get the best possible price.
It is more important than ever that you communicate clearly with your agent about your expectations and fears.
But it’s likely some aspects of your campaign will change. Here’s a quick overview:
Ask your agent for a local market update
While our communities are in unchartered territory from a health and wellbeing perspective from COVID-19, it is equally evident that the real estate market is continuing to transact.
There are numerous reasons for this. We are seeing the flight of money from the share market and, historically, this results in additional funds coming into the property sector as investors seek to consolidate and invest in bricks and mortar.
Pressure will continue on interest rates to help stimulate the economy, and the declining value of the Australian dollar is attracting a new wave of overseas interest. This further serves to strengthen the market.
Prices have remained reasonably stable because we have seen a 50% fall in auctions and listings have dropped 30%+. So, supply has buoyed prices. Property markets were incredibly strong, some at record highs, when the virus hit. The mid-March clearance rates in Sydney, for example, were at 75%. So, there’s real pent-up demand from buyers right now.
You will wish to review your open for inspection plans
Open homes are now back with no more than 10 people allowed in a property at one time. There are also digital options for broader appeal, such as 3D and video walk-throughs, which have proved very popular during lockdown.
There are many technology solutions to help attract potential buyers. If you are comfortable with your agent visiting your home, virtual tours can be created. The benefit of these are that they allow you to see the data of where potential buyers have stopped and looked at various room and features of your property.
Other alternatives will create AR-styled walkthroughs based on your floorplan and the existing photography.
Make your marketing plan adaptable
Social media usage is greater than ever and your agents marketing expertise on platforms such as Facebook, GoogleAds and Instagram have come to the fore.
If you’ve not yet had a chance to stage your home, there are virtual options which can even install virtual furniture into empty properties, repaint walls or add sunsets.
Video is a great engager on these platforms and you should speak to your agent about video options. Not all of them require a videographer to come to your home. You may be able to have a video created from existing photographs.
You may wish to consider auction alternatives
If you’ve chosen to sell by auction, it is likely that you’ll now be open to holding it via video link, or consider the raft of new technology available in this space. Restricting numbers are an auction will be very difficult so we have to give buyers every avenue to make their bid.
There are a growing number of online auction and private treaty negotiation systems available, which will give sellers and the purchaser absolute transparency around the transaction and will provide you with live updates when new offers are received. We’d be happy to explore these options with you as they can also speed up the settlement period.
