Life on Mars?

'If you don’t list you don’t last' - that's what I was told in my first day in real estate….back in the day. Once you’ve got the listing the house just sells itself right? Hmm…not anymore.

In this market to succeed it’s becoming less about getting the house ready for market as it is getting the owners ready. We often say in our office that the owners need to know what to expect before they walk out on stage.

Last month 30% of properties listed on the market in Sydney withdrew, this statistic tells me that agents are pushing way too many owners on stage without ever handing them the script.

The key to selling or buying well is understanding the market and a good agent can help you do this. It doesn’t matter what old mate from the trendy office told you the house might be worth, what matters is knowing how the market works and capitalizing on it.

It is like being on stage and if you fumble everyone notices.

Ask anyone in the business and they will tell you that when your house goes on the market the best buyers arrive almost immediately, in most cases that early interest is what your property is worth.

Tragically in a stock tight environment many agents are over quoting to win listings leaving owners comparing this early interest to price expectations that are orbiting Mars.

Then what happens? We all know the story, that buyer goes and buys somewhere else, you then need to drop your price which spooks the other buyers and well...it gets awks.

I looked at a house this week and one of the agents we were up against talked a big game about numbers of sales and market share and yeah yeah ok mate.

What he didn't to present to the would be client was his long list of failed auctions and properties marooned on the market with very very unhappy owners (and yes, I felt it was our duty to point this out to them).

Fun fact…the car crash scene in the ‘Blues Brothers’ film left a record number of 104 cars destroyed, make sure that your home is not one of them.

Before signing an agency agreement drive around the area and look for overlays...these innocent little stickers have a big story to tell.

Until next week,