When you’re selling your Sutherland Shire home, it’s hard to know what to do first. We offer our five top tips.

To achieve the price you want without getting too stressed, you need to start with the basic steps. Of course, they’re all much easier to follow when you have an experienced real estate agent to guide you.

1. Get an appraisal for your home

A real estate agent can do this for you for no charge and obligation-free. An appraisal will give you a good idea of how much your home is worth so you have a better idea of what you’ll have to spend on your new home. If you need to get a full valuation (perhaps for legal reasons), then a valuer will charge you anywhere from $300 to around $600.

2. Choose a sale method

The two most common methods of sale for property in The Shire, particularly in and around the Caringbah area, are Auction and Private Treaty. A third method, ‘Off Market’, is sometimes also used effectively, not only as a method of sale in itself, but as a temporary preview phase prior to actual marketing campaigns for either Private Treaty or Auction sales.

Auction:

A set marketing time frame of around four weeks culminating in a public auction creates a sense of urgency, competitive bidding and has no ceiling price. As a method of sale it also offers the advantage of using the ‘process’ (that is, defining a time frame on the marketing and taking price out of the equation) rather than just the actual auction event. This means that genuinely interested buyers have an opportunity to ‘tempt’ you to sell to them prior to auction (at a price that would be around what you’d hope to get at auction ‒ or more) within that time frame.

Private Treaty:

This is the traditional ‘For sale’ method, when the property is advertised publicly with a set price (or set price range) or, in some cases, no price at all. It’s crucial that the property is priced correctly; overpricing your property might well help the competition (other sellers in the marketplace) sell their properties. This could mean that your property sits on the market longer than it should. When a property sits on the market, some buyers might interpret this as there’s something wrong with the property (aside from price) so they might not consider it.

‘Off Market’:

When discretion is paramount, LOCATION can assist you in selling your property without exposing it publicly to the marketplace. We maintain an extensive list of active, qualified buyers at all price points and can help you achieve a great result with a minimum of fuss. Around 20% of our property sales are ‘off-market’ and this is often an effective method to engage with suitable, qualified buyers.

Even if the property is not sold with this method, it is an excellent way to acquire actual current buyer feedback to give you a more accurate understanding on price (that is, as an initial phase prior to marketing it as a Private Treaty or Auction sale). This means that when and if it’s put on the market (advertised publicly), it’s still ‘fresh’ to the market and priced correctly, so it represents good value to buyers and optimises your chances of a quick, successful sale.

3. Identify the costs involved in selling your home

Some costs are obvious: conveyancing and agent commission, for example. (Agent commissions range between 1.5% and 2.5% plus GST in and around Caringbah South.) However, you need to consider the other costs such as pre-sale renovations or clean-up, auction fees if you’re going to auction (usually between $500 and $800) and styling your property. Last but not least, you need to let people know your home is on the market ‒ and that means marketing costs for signage, and online and print advertising.

4. Clean and style your home

Whether or not you choose to make cosmetic renovations to your home, the most important aspect is that it’s free from clutter and scrupulously clean. It’s worth hiring someone to do this deep cleaning as it can be hard work and stressful for you at a time when you don’t need any more hassle.

In Sutherland Shire, we find that styling can add thousands of dollars to your end sale price, which is why we recommend that you engage a home-staging company. However, with a home that’s quite run-down or is a deceased estate, we find that it’s more effective to strip out all the furniture and fittings and sell it as is.

5. Choose a real estate agent with local experience

An experienced local agent will have a database of potential buyers, many of whom are young families eagerly awaiting an opportunity to move back to their homeland of The Shire. Plus an agent is actively working in your area so they can give you a clear picture of what types of buyers (and how many of them) are in the market currently.

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Need advice on selling?

At LOCATION we have experience selling properties in the Sutherland Shire and can advise you on how to sell your home, plus give you a realistic value in this market. Please get in touch.

Michael & Rhiff Larkings

As a specialist team, focused on Caringbah South and the surrounding suburbs, we've been providing real estate services for over 20 years. With numerous real estate awards to our name, we're in the top echelon of licensed real estate agents in the Sutherland Shire. We regularly set new street, suburb and area sales records. Most importantly, we understand that real estate is a ‘people’ business where the development of relationships and trust, with both our clients and purchasers, is vital to achieving your all-important sales result.

Get in touch

Discover what your home or investment property is worth in the current real estate market. Whether you are looking for advice about a future sale or seeking out your ideal home, our team are on hand to assist.

Location

Address
Suites 4 & 5, 305 Kingsway,
Caringbah 2229 NSW Australia