We see you out there… the For Sale sign is up in front of your house, people have come and gone from your Open Home (or maybe the Open Home had very little traffic which left you feeling defeated). You are seeing neighbours sell their homes after only a few weeks and wondering why you haven’t received an acceptable offer yet.
Here are a few reasons that your For Sale sign still says For Sale. Or, maybe you want to avoid being the seller who needs to read this blog post when the time comes for you to sell and in that case, keep reading! #1: Condition – If your home is in need of some TLC, it can lead to a lack of buyer interest. Many buyers these days want to be able to move right in and avoid taking on big projects, especially when it comes to maintenance. At a listing appointment it’s important for the agent you choose to work with to tour your home and make recommendations on things to consider repairing or replacing. You might want to consider making minor repairs such as chipped paint, missing or broken handles on doors or cupboards, worn out carpeting, and an overgrown section. Many times, simple fixes can make a big difference to the eyes of a buyer. It’s all about getting rid of any excuses buyers have when searching for their next home in Whangarei. It’s important to remember that your house is for sale in competition and not isolation with other similar properties. Have you done all you can to present your home at its best? #2: Location – You’ve heard it before and here it is again: Location! Location! Location! People want to be in specific school districts, neighbourhoods, a certain distance from the city, or maybe they want privacy. Many buyers put a BIG (yes we're emphasizing the word big) priority on the location of their new home. If your home is in an undesirable location, it’s going to need some help! When you take things like square footage, upgrades and condition into consideration, your home may be worth $10,000’s over average prices in a popular Whangarei area. However, if the location is undesirable, you might have to adjust the price to reflect that. #3: Marketing – When you put the location, the condition and the price into perspective and those are all great, it could be that your home isn’t being seen and needs more exposure to reach the right buyers. How is your home being marketed? A lot more should go into the marketing strategy of a new listing than just sticking a sign out front, putting it on Trade Me, and running a couple of Open Homes. How many internet views is your listing getting? Do you have professional photos that show your home in its best light? Is there a property video produced by professionals being shown across multiple online platforms? Is your home being marketed on social media to the Whangarei and Northland area around where it is located, and/or where the expected new owners are coming from? The more exposure your home has, the more demand it can create so marketing is a key piece of the puzzle to evaluate, if your home is still sitting for sale. #4: Price – At the end of the day, the price is going to make or break whether or not your home sells. Ultimately the buyer and the market dictate the value of your home. The price you come up with based on the home features, size, location, and upgrades could be slightly off from where you think it should be. The price of a home is not set in stone because “it’s the amount you want” or because “it’s reflecting how much money you’ve put into the house.” The value of your house is going to be determined by what a buyer is willing to pay for it. It’s important to have a plan in place as soon as you sign the listing contract so that you can evaluate the activity and adjust the price if needed. In most cases, if your home has been on the market for a few weeks and you haven’t had any offers, it’s a good indication that your home is priced too high. If you’ve had several Open Homes with good numbers of potential buyers through but still no offers, then you could just be slightly overpriced. Regular meetings with your Real Estate professional is key to be able to move quickly and adjust what needs to be adjusted. Your house needs to be in the market, and not on the market. Again, this depends on the status of our Whangarei Real Estate market and is ultimately determined by the buyers and where they see the value of your home sitting. Make sure to keep these things in mind when you’re ready to list your home for sale. If you’re thinking of selling and want to avoid ending up in this situation, we’d love to get together and walk you through the process in detail. Cheers, Paul, Shontelle, Susie. x
0 Comments
How to Make House Hunting as Easy as Binge Watching Netflix - bringing Selling Sunset to Whangarei!21/9/2019 
You know the feeling when you struggle to find something to watch on Netflix because it’s just so overwhelming with the number of shows and movies to choose from?
Well the same thing can happen when it comes to house hunting! There are so many real estate websites and so many houses to look at. Digging through countless websites, having your phone glued to your hand, constantly hitting refresh to make sure you don’t miss anything can get a little tiring. Instead, there is a simple method you can implement to make it a whole lot easier. When you learn how to house hunt “Netflix style” it’ll save you plenty of time and prevent those feelings of overwhelm – we promise! So here’s how to do it! Step 1 – Find your Homestyle Genre: This is about going beyond the general criteria of 3 bedrooms, 2 baths and a 2,500sqm section. This is about diving deep and figuring out exactly what you’re looking for in a house. Ask yourself questions such as: -Which space in a house is most important to you? -Which room will you spend the most time in? Is the living room where you’ll spend quality time every night or is the outdoor space more important because you want to be surrounded by nature and have ensured privacy? -Next think about words that would describe your ideal home. Do words like cozy and full of character come to mind? Or does modern and luxury sound more like your taste? -What is a space or feature you don’t currently have but would love to have? More space to entertain? A private section with mature trees? A designated home office space that will allow you to do more focused work? By thinking outside the box about the lifestyle you want your future home to provide, you’ll begin to paint a better picture of which home features to pay more attention to and which style of home will be the best fit. STEP 2 – Determine What’s Trending: Just like Netflix gives you a list of “Trending movies” you’re going to make your own list of what’s trending when it comes to what is important to you in your future home. After writing down answers to the previous questions, create a list of your top 3 home must haves and deal breakers. Next you’re going to review everything you wrote down. Do you see any themes or details that pinpoint the type of house you are going to fall in love with aside from the number of bedrooms? Your list could be painting a picture of an open concept style home with lots of storage and natural light. Or maybe your style is a home with more separated spaces with a major focus on the style and layout of the kitchen. STEP 3 – Create Your Home List Based on Your Preferences: Before starting this step, you’ll want to make sure you’re working with a Real Estate Agent (lucky you, we know some good ones!) so they can set up your custom home search for you. They will take all of the general criteria that you’re looking for and customize your home search so that you can will receive a list of all the homes on the market that match the main criteria you’re looking for. This is where it’ll narrow down your minimums for bedrooms, baths, section size, floorplan, year built, etc. This is also the time you may want to browse through any other sites that you’ve been searching on and write down any homes you’ve had your eye on so you can bring everything together with your real estate agent. STEP 4 – Preview Homes: Once you’ve compiled the entire list of homes that meet your search criteria you’re going to want to preview them online before scheduling a showing! Looking at homes online is considered a first showing because there is so much you can see and learn about a home before ever stepping foot in the house. When you’re previewing the homes, have the list of the questions you answered handy so you can see which ones fit what you’re truly looking for. If a common theme was entertaining space and open concept rooms – you’ll probably want to avoid homes that have a smaller kitchen and living area or lack open areas. STEP 5 – Narrow the List Down to Your Top 5: Here’s an example of how this looks: Let’s say your favorite space in a home is the living room, you want a house with lots of character and charm and your deal breaker is a new subdivision. Along with that, you need at least 3 bedrooms and 2 full bathrooms. When your custom search comes up with the list of homes and one of the homes meets the 3 bedrooms, 2 full baths criteria but was built last year in a new subdivision of homes with the same builder, all on quarter acre sections and has a smaller living room, you’ll probably want to consider eliminating this one because it isn’t meeting your main needs. After previewing the homes and comparing each one to what you have on your list, it’s time to narrow the list of homes down to your “Top 5”. These are the 5 homes you’ll want to schedule showings for and begin your search with. From there, if none of those work for you, keep your search going this same way. Watch for new homes to hit the market (like the new releases on Netflix) and if they meet your detailed criteria, set up a showing! By house hunting with this method, you’ll eliminate the stress of feeling like you need to see every single 3 bedroom, 2 bath home when you truly know what you’re looking for and can eliminate many of them online. That way when you schedule a showing to see a home that truly fits what you want, you’ll know what to look for instead of becoming overwhelmed with all of the other homes that really don’t meet your needs at all. Still not sure, that’s no problem. Just like suggestions on what to watch on Netflix - I’m a bit of a Suits and MadMen kind of guy, with a bit of Narcos and Selling Sunset thrown in… Feel free to get in touch with us and we’re happy to sit down with you and (no, not Netflix and chill!) talk about what it is exactly you’re looking for. Let’s catch up soon. Cheers, Paul, Shontelle, Susie. x |
AuthorHelpful and interesting info from Paul & Harcourts to help you with your property journey. Archives
October 2023
Categories |
RSS Feed
HoursAlways here for you
|
Telephone+6421 606460
|
|
We respect your inbox. We only send interesting and relevant emails.
Privacy PolicyREAA GuidesREINZ Info |
Optimize Realty Limited, Licensed Agent REAA 2008