There’s no question that the market is starting to heat up as our enquiry levels, property inspections and sales numbers are all very high as we commence the second half of 2019.

‘The Michael Spillane Team’ will have made 8 sales already this month by the end of today (we have a few to finalise the signing) and considering it’s only the morning of July 10 when I write this, that’s a very good start for us to the new financial year.

A few of these sales were made very quickly and we’ve had four of them made where the buyers only inspected the respective property once…and on two occasions, the buyers were in the property for less than twenty minutes before they made their decision to purchase.

A couple of our sellers expressed to me how surprised they were that buyers could make such a huge decision in such a short amount of time and I must say that I completely agree with this.

I remember one particular open home around 9 years ago where I arrived at the property about ten minutes before the open home was due to commence (the time was around 11:50 AM) and there was a young couple already standing on the footpath waiting to come in.

They asked me if they could come in early to which I agreed and whilst I was still unlocking the home, opening curtains and turning on lights, they tapped me on the shoulder and handed me a piece of paper with an offer written on it…an offer than was $20,000 above the asking price and well above what the owners were wanting to achieve.

I remember looking at my watch when I read the offer and the time was 11:56 AM – still four minutes before the open home was due to commence).

The couple had decided on a purchase of more than $600,000 in less than six minutes!

Putting this into perspective, it takes me longer to decide whether I’m going to buy a pair of jeans!

Many buyers do describe the feeling of knowing that this was their new home as soon as they walk in the front door and I do understand this completely.

One of the first steps in the process of buying is to arrange a building and pest inspection of the property…a process that takes anywhere between 45 minutes and 2 hours to complete.

We do encourage buyers to attend these inspections as a good building and pest inspector will often like to summarise their findings and physically show the buyers any points of concern that they may have discovered.

These days, many of the building and pest reports are 50-60 pages long, the inspectors are required to adhere to a standard of report that satisfies their insurance companies and the relevant regulatory bodies so these reports can be long, tedious and often it can be hard to determine what parts are generic and what parts are relevant to the particular property that the buyers are purchasing.

As such, we’ve noted for a long time that there’s a much higher chance of the buyers proceeding if they personally attend the building and pest inspection themselves so that’s why we encourage this.

Now keep in mind that some buyers make a very quick decision to purchase the property (some as little as 6 minutes as I’ve described above).

Often, the open home they attended might have been full of buyers and they were (hopefully) caught up in the mild frenzy of wanting to own the property and hence they acted without seeing a lot of the little detail.

Once a buyer signs a contract and has had it signed off by the sellers, the first emotion (after the jubilation of securing the property) that they experience is…

“Have we made a good decision?” …or “I hope we haven’t paid too much for this property.” 

So, the buyers attend the building and pest inspection, and this can often be their first chance to have a thorough look at the property with no-one breathing down their throat to beat them to the purchase.

Their initial inspection may have been anywhere between six minutes and 30 minutes…and now they are in the property for a good 60 to 90 minutes.

So, what does this mean for you as a seller?

Here’s our tip…make sure you present your property just as good as you would have presented it at an inspection.

Make sure it’s clean and tidy, make sure the light music is playing in the background, make sure the candles are on (if relevant) and make sure you went to the same lengths you went to in order to assist the buyers to fall in love with it the first time.

We always recommend presenting it exactly the same way – use the same music, the same candles, the same décor.

Human emotions are strong, and we want to re-activate all the six senses in the buyers so that they attach themselves to the feelings that they felt when they first inspected.

I remember an occasion around seven years ago where I had some buyers that purchased a gorgeous family home and they made a quick decision after one busy open home where the home was perfectly presented.

I arrived at the building and pest inspection and despite our recommendations to the owners to present it the same way, the home was a complete mess.

There were dirty dishes, kids’ toys everywhere, clothes all over the floor, unmade beds etc.

Whilst there were no real issues at the building and pest inspection, I sensed the buyers were uneasy and all of a sudden, this house just didn’t feel like a ‘home’ to them anymore.

Sure enough, they withdrew from the contract citing ‘building and pest issues’ when I could tell that they simply changed their minds.

There is an argument that the buyers are not entitled to withdraw using an excuse of an unsatisfactory building and pest inspection unless they have legitimate reasons to withdraw but the reality is that the sellers would have to take legal action which can be costly and will often amount to little…not something we’d usually recommend.

My message for today…if you’re selling, make sure you present your home as good as it can be presented anytime the buyers inspect as you want them to stay in love the property every time they visit.

This can be a pain to do but ultimately, could put plenty of cash in your bank if they are the buyers that are prepared to pay the highest price.

On a final note, good luck to the mighty Maroons tonight.

The NSW faithful are already writing us off and as we know, this is when the Maroons thrive!

Go get ‘em boys!

Until next week…Happy Listing & Happy Selling.