There will always be room for low-cost as well as value-adding agencies in the real estate industry because there are two types of customers – those who make a decision based on ‘What’s it going to cost me?’, and those who are more interested in making money.
Some current crop of sellers are going with the agent who charges the lowest advertising outlay. Or they’re falling victim to Buyer’s agents (don’t forget – Buyer’s agents work for the buyer to reduce the price of your home, not increase it. They do this via agents who promote selling off-market).
Buyer’s agents are a wonderful resource, especially for time-poor buyers who prefer to pay for the service of having someone do the running around for them rather than adding all their capital into their home.
The owners of 65/6 Merthyr Rd had an off-market offer presented to them a few months ago via another agent. They didn’t proceed. They knew selling it on-market would bring them more (actually 10% more as you’ll see later).
They brought in Peter Hutton and Angelo Zardo in, who advised to spend a little on styling as well as a H & H database, REA and social media campaign (with 121,536 online views and 1,495 clicks to H & H, resulting in 14 well-qualified groups to the first open home).
Their efforts in preparing their home for sale was well worth it.
On the day of the first open, Peter and Angelo received the first offer. Negotiations were finished at 11pm that night with a contract signed by all parties.
And the best part? The sold price was $175,000 over the ‘off-market’ offer.
The potential purchasers couldn’t believe the difference the styling had made (they’d seen it before and  actually said they thought it was a different apartment with higher ceiling and a bigger floor plan as a re result of the decluttering and styling). The potential purchasers knew it was being promoted the H & H way, and had witnessed first-hand the number of hot buyers at the open that day, so they knew they had to act fast to secure it for themselves.
Launched and sold in a few days (the buyer actually came from the H & H database). It doesn’t always happen that way, but you can be sure that the ONLY way to maximise your price is by a strategic alliance with a top agent who knows how to harness the power of digital marketing and incorporates the power of styling.
For buyers to pay top dollar, they need to see other buyers interested in the property. That’s where a well-planned and executed open home comes in.
Social proof is a powerful thing. So is FOMO. You can’t guarantee either of these when selling off market.
Going on-market not only creates social proof and FOMO, it also creates buyer competition. And it’s buyer competition that has the greatest upwards pressure on price.
PS: Regarding vendor paid advertising, we recommend using a ‘nothing-to-pay-until-settlement’ company with a zero-credit check policy so make life super easy on you. We have many delighted vendors who’ve used the service.
