14 Great tips for buying and selling in the current market
Look at the value on offer rather than the shortfall on selling. Most vendors have adjusted their price expectations to reflect the market correction. Given interest rates are at historical lows, buyers have not enjoyed such excellent buying conditions in some time. This opportunity can be easily overlooked if one finds themselves obsessing about the decline in their existing property as opposed to the value in the broader market.
Submit your offer on a signed contract. If you like a property (and have finance), sign a contract. Vendors will always treat an offer on a signed contract with more respect and consideration than a non-binding written offer.
Employ the best negotiator to sell your home, not the highest price quote. You employ an agent to negotiate with buyers on your behalf. Remember, the agent is not the buyer so their opinion of value is largely irrelevant
Watch the competition you are selling against, you are both chasing the same buyers. How does your home compare from a presentation and price perspective against similar properties.
Accept you are unlikely to pick the bottom of the market. Buying before the market bottoms is ultimately better than buying just before the market peaks.
Accept & acknowledge the auction clearance rate is not an accurate gauge of the market. The auction clearance rate is a fudged market indicator where successes seem to be reported and failures buried. Personally attend 10 to 15 auctions over two weekends and you will quickly gain a more nuanced understanding of the current market.
Avoid general market commentary. There are markets within markets. Listen to conflicting views on the property market. On one level, you would think alternate views may confuse your thinking. By doing so though, it will help make your thinking more robust.
Focus on terms not just price in negotiations. The ‘deal is often in the detail’. Value can be gained and agreed upon if all parties are willing to examine the details, terms & conditions rather than just price.
Don’t buy first if you need to sell a property to fund the purchase. The market is volatile at present. You could easily sell in the first week or find yourself unsold after 3 months paying bridging finance. In a falling market, you would prefer to buy under pressure because you have sold as opposed to selling under pressure because you have bought.
Avoid expensive advertising campaigns, they are a waste of money and they load the vendor with risk. When an advertising proposal is put to you, ask yourself – am I advertising the property or promoting the agent’s brand? Advertising campaigns do not a guarantee a sale. If the agent’s suggested campaign fails, who pays for the advertising?
Be ready to sell quickly, be prepared to ride it out. The right buyer may turn up next Saturday, they may not arrive for a few months. You need to be ready once the buyer emerges.
Be prepared to ride the cycles. At the peak of a boom, sentiment suggests this time it’s different, ‘the market won’t fall’ – but it does. Conversely, when it’s rock bottom, doomsayers will claim this downturn is different and ‘prepare for Armageddon’. The current cycle will pass and the market will rise again. All booms finish as do all downturns.
Governments have enormous power at their disposal to protect the economy and housing market, if they really need too. The fact they are not jumping in to rescue a price bubble in the Sydney and Melbourne property markets is painful yet understandable. The fact they are keeping their powder dry is a disciplined response to the downturn, lest it turns really nasty. The major fault line in most property doomsayer’s arguments is their position is predicated on the Government of the day, idly watching, as the economy crashes into the mountain top. Not likely.
Give serious consideration to all genuine and fair offers. Many people think the hardest offer to accept is the one that is below their aspirational price point. In reality, the hardest offer to accept is the one that is less than what you have previously declined.
By Peter O’Malley – Read more HERE
