Selling a property successfully – what are the 4 essential steps for success?

Selling a property successfully, Vendor Marketing believes you must follow the right process to obtain the best possible result. Everything has to be done well and methodically. Unfortunately this is precisely where most home sellers and real estate agents come undone.

Selling a property or an investment property is not something you do very often. Yet the outcome is going to be critically important to you, both financially and emotionally. It should be simple but it isn’t. You have to project manage a complex operation. To do this successfully you need to be well informed.

Here are Vendor Marketing’s 4 KEY components that MUST be executed well if you are going to be successful in selling a property and maximising your sales price.

1. Real Estate Agent Selection – Selling a property

When selling a property, choosing the BEST real estate agent is an important part of the selling process. A real estate agent represents you, the seller and they can make or break your sale. So how can you tell who will do the best job for you? For the typical home owner who sells their home, on average once every seven to ten years, unfortunately there is no simple answer. Basically it boils down to who you can trust the most!

Another important factor in choosing a real estate agent is being able to analyse their agent submissions (proposals). Too many real estate agents are selected on commission alone. That is, the real estate agent who charges the least. If they can’t negotiate a fair commission with you what says they’re going to be able to negotiate a successful sale on your behalf? When choosing a real estate agent you want one who believes in their abilities and therefore will be able to negotiate you the best possible price.

Previously servicing inner Melbourne’s real estate agents at both senior and director level, Vendor Marketing is therefore able to recommend and assist you in selecting the BEST selling agents to pitch for and correctly handle the sale of your property.

Another core benefit of having Vendor Marketing by your side during the agent selection process is to help sift through industry jargon. Not only do we analyse all of the agents proposals we also provide reassurance and clarity by taking the emotion out of making one of the most important decisions you’ll ever have to make. Our objective is clear. That is to help ensure you decide with your head rather than your heart. This ultimately helps to make the real estate agent selection process a lot easier.

2. Accurate Price Quotation – Selling a property

Accurate price quotation is extremely important when selling a property. When a seller rings a real estate agent it’s normally to organise a valuation on their property. This is called an appraisal. It is also their opinion generally formed by recent comparable sales. The fact that a real estate agent has told you your property will sell for a certain price is mostly meaningless in any practical sense. Inevitably from this some real estate agents get caught out or perceived to have misled their clients by misquoting on price. This is where the term ‘conditioning ‘ stems from. Conditioning is applied to the vendor to try and manage down their expectations from what was originally quoted. Usually the real estate agent will blame the “market” (market conditions). If price quotation is accurate from the beginning, generally speaking everyone will be happy with the end result.

Vendor Marketing provides strategies around accurate price quotation within agent submissions/proposals.

3. Home Presentation – Selling a property

With Home presentation you have to decide how best to present your property. It’s a truism in real estate that you only have one chance to make a first impression. You can’t leave any stone left unturned. However many property sellers ignore this to their own detriment. Therefore when selling your home you need to present it as well as possible. Don’t let anyone, even a real estate agent tell you otherwise. Buyers do not overlook peeling paint. They rarely say “I’m going to buy this place and spend lots of my money doing it up” unless it requires a full renovation. If they do it’s because they will ultimately be paying you substantially less than what your property could fetch.

Simple things that you need to identify when preparing a home for sale include looking at your: House paint colours. Garden design. Cleaning and decluttering. Remember to place yourself in the buyers shoes and be objective. Another option is to get your family & friends honest opinions on how your home is currently presented. There is also often a need for professional home staging. Vendor Marketing provides advice and assistance around preparation and home presentation.

4. Property Marketing – Selling a property

Marketing a home for sale these days can be the most expensive outlay. Most vendors believe the only option they have is to choose between an agent’s preferred A, B or C advertising schedule. In fact, most real estate agent’s advertising recommendations are devised to maximise their own branding. They can also be detrimental to your sale by overexposing your property.

In truth most real estate agents are fantastic at marketing both themselves and the company they work for, rather than your home. Unfortunately real estate agents overlook and take for granted the critical components of property marketing which include: analysing the target market(s), copywriting, photography and media selection. For example, copywriting and media selection is rehashed and repetitive and unfortunately then isn’t individualised for each property.

With Melbourne real estate agents now sharing in the profits from the media they’re recommending its imperative the vendor has a neutral and independent voice they can turn to.

When selling a property, marketing comes with no guarantees therefore its vital the vendor has the best and most cost efficient marketing strategy to work with. This includes utilising the social media channels available of which most real estate agents are still yet to embrace.

With over 20 years property marketing and advertising experience within the inner Melbourne area, including employment as Real Estate Advertising Manager for Fairfax Media working with The Age Domain, The Melbourne Weekly’s & Domain.com.au – Vendor Marketing is therefore highly qualified to analyse, create and tailor a winning property marketing schedule.

Vendor Marketing – Melbourne’s most qualified vendor advocates, specialises in both property marketing and agent selection for property sellers within Melbourne, therefore we can assist you in selling a property successfully.