Perhaps we’re starting to see the light at the end of the Coronavirus tunnel as there’s relatively few new cases across most parts of Australia now and we’ve noticed that people are starting to move on with their lives.

Buyer enquiries are still increasing and we’re starting to see more people thinking about listing their properties for sale (although as I mentioned last week, the decrease in listings still easily outweighs the decrease in buyer enquiry so we feel that prices will hold reasonably well for the moment.

Today’s ‘Insights’ highlights much of the sensationalist journalism…median property prices have dropped marginally but the article goes on to briefly mention that listing numbers are down 40%.

I can tell you that buyer enquiry hasn’t dropped 40%.

I’m no Rhode Scholar but it’s common sense to assume that the property market is about supply and demand…prices go up when the demand outstrips supply and prices go down when supply is higher than demand.

Lower transaction numbers will mean the figures might be a little more volatile from month to month but the theory remains.

So today…let’s assume that the market will slowly head towards a time that is challenging for sellers…and we’ll commence a new topic entitled “Tips For Selling In Challenging Times”.

Here goes…

1. Make Sure There’s Nothing To Do – We tend to find that buyers are pickier and more critical of properties when the market isn’t strong. Let’s face it – everyone would prefer to find the perfect property and walk into it with absolutely nothing to do but unpack and enjoy life. When there’s more properties to choose from, the chances of a buyer finding what they want (or even waiting until they find what they want) are higher and whilst a simple paint job or laying fresh carpet might seem like an unenviable task to you, it is a more unenviable task to a buyer to do these things once they move in. Forget the notion that “buyers can choose their own colours and floor coverings” – most of them would prefer that everything is done. Keep your choices neutral and don’t over-capitalise (especially if the market is tougher) but whatever the market conditions are, remember that basic landscaping, paint and carpet is the best investment you can make on a property…and you’ll usually make a healthy profit in the final selling price for going to the effort of undertaking these improvements. 

1. Cleanliness – Similar to the point above, when buyers have more choice you’d be surprised at how such little things determine which property they’ll submit an offer. Cleanliness is an interesting topic. What I’ve learned over the years is that everyone has a different perspective of what a ‘clean’ property looks like. I’ve seen homes that are incredibly spotless obtain offers that can be $20,000 or $30,000 higher than similar properties that are a little grubby. Our suggestion is to obtain a ‘Bond Clean’ on your home unless you are fastidious about cleaning yourself. I would estimate that 20-30% of property owners believe their property is spotless but we constantly receive buyer feedback that the cleanliness is not up to standard. Some buyers will falsely assume that if the cleanliness isn’t maintained, there is likely to be other things that haven’t been maintained as well. It seems like such a trivial and obvious point to make but when buyers have choices, they need all of their little boxes ticked before they make a decision to move forwards and this is a point that is often not considered carefully enough by sellers. 

1. The Method Of Sale – This might seem like I’m taking a shot at agents that prefer to sell via auction but I’m not. In fact, in a tougher market, buyers can take forever to make a decision and providing a designated timeframe (such as an auction) can be a good way of forcing them to make a decision. However, this is (in my opinion) only appropriate for properties that are likely to be in very high demand irrespective of the market conditions. In the vast majority of cases, I would not recommend selling via auction in a market that’s tough. I’m a believer that the auction process dilutes the number of buyers that can purchase and as the number of interested buyers are already decreasing, why would any sane agent want to reduce them even further? Typically, you will find agents recommend ‘auction’ if they think that the property is too hard to price or if they think it’s the easiest way to get a sale by ‘conditioning’ a seller down to market value (or in many cases, probably below market value) and then applying pressure on the sellers on the day and ensuring that they get paid. If you’ve been reading my blog for any reasonable length of time, you’ll have heard my thoughts about this but I can tell you that in tougher market conditions, agents use even more under-handed strategies to ensure they get paid – and the auction process can be one of their best tools to do this. 

Next week, we’ll look at some more tips for selling in challenging times…and a few of these might surprise you.

Last but certainly not least, we’d like to pay our respects for our fallen heroes on ANZAC Day this coming Saturday.

We obviously won’t be able to attend the traditional memorial services but please take some time to honour the men and women that sacrificed so much for us to live in such a wonderfully lucky country – we’ve never seen more evidence of this than right now!

Both of my Grandfathers were as instrumental in serving our country in the War and whilst both have passed on, I’m forever grateful to them and every person (including the families that suffered the mental torture of not knowing if their family member/s would even come home).

For those that don’t know, it seems that the way we’re encouraged to pay our respects is to stand at the end of our driveways at 5:55 AM and tune in to a service via the radio or internet.

Lest We Forget.

Until next week…Stay Healthy and as always, Happy Listing and Happy Selling.