Confusing Times in the Real Estate Market

Confusing Times - Making some sense out of today's market if your desire is to get on with your life and either buy or sell your property.

by Gavin Hamilton -Star Real Estate Ltd - Professionals and real estate commentator and blogger

The market changes quickly and often, without being obvious. Quite clearly there was a bias to sellers in late 2008 through to the end of 2009, not as a result of freely available money as had been the case previously but as a result of a shortage of property available for purchase.

This shortage was created largely as a result of citizens placing their lives on hold, by the destruction of the second tier finance companies and by the collapse of the developer companies resulting in the lack of new property being built.

Sellers who did choose to offer their homes and move on were able to achieve very good results provided the homes were well presented and well marketed to the correct buyers. In fact, in many instances, some sellers were presented with multiple offers after very short times on the market. Other homes languished and were overlooked.

Some sellers presented with multiple offers became excited and waited for further increases only to find their buyers disappear, quite a number I am aware of selling for lesser amounts at a later date. Varied outcomes on the same market.

Changes are afoot, there are definitely more properties available today and the supply/demand balance is more even. We are largely coming to terms with the new economic realities, have accepted the shocks, rebalanced and started to move forward. Speaking to local lawyers, including Karyn O’Loughlin of DG Law , they evidence that many marriage separations that have been on hold are now progressing , people who financially over extended are moving to address the problem and generally some of the lives put on hold are now moving on . I expect that this will continue and accelerate.

As more homes come to be available in an even market, the dynamic changes and the business of buying and selling homes changes. There is real risk for sellers that offering homes to the wrong buyers will lead to poor, or no result. Sellers and their Agents must be sure to identify the correct target market and that they are as expert and informed as the buyers will be. It is interesting to me as an agent to note the degree to which buyers have informed themselves and are prepared. I have seen instances where the vendors acting in ignorance have dismissed offers that in retrospect they should have accepted simply as a result of their being less informed than the buyer they were dealing with.

When you are going through the process of listing your home for sale, take a little extra time with your prospective agents to examine pricing suggestions in some depth .Do be sure to satisfy yourself that the price is not one designed to meet your expectations, that in fact there is a high probability in reason that a sale can be arranged within approximately 5% of your asking price. High, incorrect asking prices generally lead to lesser results.

All buyers are certainly not created equal; the same can be said for all results. Identify your various target purchasers, the strategies to be put in place to attract them to your home and to capture their interest. The strategies to capitalise on that interest and generate offers, importantly the strategy to maximise offers received.

The best possible price available to you is never the result of a random accident. In my experience it is always an outcome that is planned and fought for. Your property can only be new to the market once, it is the time of your maximum impact and opportunity, be sure not to waste it for no benefit.

Price it for the market today, present your home to its best advantage and your agent can then negotiate well on your behalf for a great result.