Marketing your property

If marketed properly, a property will sell at its best price in the shortest possible time. A real estate agent will prepare a marketing plan that suits you and your budget, devising a campaign that will maximise the price of the home. Their marketing efforts and considerations will include:

• Advertising and promotion.
• Showing the property.
• How long the house has been on the market.
• Whether you are buying another home.
• Advertising and promotion

• Advertising in national and local newspapers.
• Editorial to complement advertising in newspapers.
• Internet listings.
• Agency magazines flyers.>
• Signboards outside a home with brochure boxes.
• Real estate agents' window inserts.

It is important to look carefully at how money is invested to get the best value for your pound. There are many different options designed to lift your home's profile to increase the traffic flow of prospective buyers through a home.

Showing the property - Open houses

To prepare your home for viewing, make it as light, cheerful and serene as possible.

• Open heavy curtains.
• Put on lights in dark areas
• Turn heating on or light fires if selling in winter.
• Set the dining room or kitchen table if you have particularly nice linen or china.
• Put fresh towels in the bathroom.

Leave the house so the real estate agent is free to deal with prospective buyers in a professional manner (unless they prefer you to stay).
Usually real estate agents suggest that you are not present during open homes, because your presence may inhibit prospects, actions and conversations. However some agents ask you to stay to add a personal touch and show people the special features of the home. In this case, owners can answer any questions except price. That is the job of the real estate agent. It is advisable for children and pets to be away from the premises.

How long has it been on the market?

Your home is worth as much as someone is prepared to pay for it. After it has been on the market for months, you have been given a clear message - the property may not be worth what you are asking for it.

What you do at that point depends on whether you really need to sell, and whether you are working with a time limit. If you are not really motivated to move soon, you can always wait - years if necessary - and hope inflation will catch up with the price you want. The problem is that in that time, your home begins to feel shop-worn. Buyers become suspicious of a house that has been for sale for a long time.

If, however, you really do need to sell, check the ads and promotional material for other properties in your area to see if comparable properties are advertised at a similar price. Check also if your property creates a good first impression - one that will prompt client approval. Discuss with your agent a schedule for dropping your price gradually until you find a level that attracts buyers. They may suggest taking the property to auction to bring fast results.

If you are buying another home

Do not spend a great deal of time worrying about what will happen when you are selling one home and buying another. Real estate agents and lawyers have had plenty of experience in arranging contracts and loans so the two transactions dovetail smoothly.

It is best to list your present home for sale first. Selling and buying a home is a very emotional event. If you create a "race" by finding your replacement property before you sell your current home, you may lose it to another buyer, who does not need to sell in order to buy.

If you do find the house you want, you can always put in a conditional offer on selling your present one. However, in a hot market you will have difficulty getting the house you want this way. You cannot make a conditional offer on a house being auctioned. Sometimes the seller will sign a contract agreeing to wait a certain period of time while you find a buyer for your house, but not always.

If you do find that you need to buy the next house before you have received the proceeds from the present one, lending institutions can sometimes make you a short-term bridge loan to tide you over between the two transactions. But this can be expensive. Make sure you fully understand the exposure and emotional investment before proceeding with this type of loan.



For more information on buying or selling properties please call us on 094 9026407