A SMART AND EFFECTIVE PLAN
TO SELL YOUR HOME

For lower costs and a better price.

by Neil Jenman

Reading Time: 4 mins apx

If you can design an effective plan for the sale of your home, you will get a much better price and pay far less in costs.

The first point to consider is: What is an effective plan? It’s the best way to find the best buyers at the least cost. Plus, a vitally important but often overlooked factor when selling any home -a good plan protects the value of your home.

The more advertising that’s done, the more you damage the value of your home. If it doesn’t sell, buyers soon wonder what’s wrong. They think the price is too high. So then come the low offers. With agents urging sellers to accept the best of these low offers.

But here’s the point: Advertising a home should be the last part of any plan, not the first part as most incompetent agents do.

Most agents get hundreds of enquiries from prospective buyers. Some get thousands of enquiries every month. Yet, many agents rarely respond to buyer enquiries. Very few agents follow buyers up by telephone. And almost no agents call prospective buyers when a new and likely suitable listing comes for sale.

Even though agents have buyers on their books, they prefer to spend the sellers’ money advertising to attract buyers already known to the agents. This gives the agents two advantages. They promote themselves at the sellers’ expense. Plus they use the advertising as a conditioning weapon – “Your home has been advertised and it hasn’t sold. Therefore the market is telling us that you need to reduce your price.”
Wrong, in so many respects.

The reason the home hasn’t sold is two-fold: First, the agent is too lazy to call buyers and second the excessive advertising causes buyers to wonder what’s wrong with a home.

Years ago, before the explosion in real estate advertising and before sellers became scammed into paying advertising costs, agents had to be creative. They had to find a way to find buyers without wasting thousands of dollars on needless advertising costs. After all, back then, agents were spending their own money on advertising. Unlike today – when sellers are paying – agents couldn’t afford to waste their own money on needless advertising – especially if they already had suitable buyers on their books.

The first thing that agents used to do (and should still do) when they listed a home was to ask themselves this all-important question: Who do I know who might buy this home? Often the agents already had several buyers in mind. They would return to their offices and ‘hit the phones’. They’d call their top-of-mind buyers and then, if that didn’t bring forth a suitable buyer, the agent would start calling other buyers, especially those who had recently missed out on buying similar properties.

For so many sales, advertising didn’t even occur.

So, here, in essence is a sound and sensible plan for selling a home.

CONTACT BUYERS ON THE BOOKS

Insist that the agent contacts all buyers who have shown interest in the sort of home now offered for sale. And ‘contact’ does not mean sending mass emails to buyers. That’s the lazy way. The best way – and sure it’s more work for agents (who may have to earn as little as a thousand dollars an hour instead of five thousand dollars an hour) is to have voice contact with dozens of likely buyers. Even hundreds. As many as it takes to arrange some inspections for qualified buyers. Remember, buyers will often pay more for a home that has not been advertised. They rightly feel they are getting in ahead of other buyers. Buying something special.

LOCALS

The best buyers especially for family homes in sought-after areas are almost always locals. The closer to the home for sale the more the chance of finding the best buyer. Locals are the most underrated source of buyers. Either they want to upgrade, or they have family or friends who’d love to live in the street.

Here’s a fact: If you (or your agent) personally approach owners in the street where a home has just been listed, there’s an excellent chance of finding an instant buyer. And one prepared to pay above market value.

So many times, home sellers spend thousands of dollars in marketing costs only to find that the buyer for their home was a neighbour or someone in the street. So before you spend thousands of dollars in advertising money, check the street. Locals are a great source of buyers.

And be sure you always have a sign board at the front of your home. It’s the cheapest and best form of promoting your home. Like having a 24-hour salesperson on your lawn

WHY DID YOU BUY?

Why did you buy this home you now want to sell? Find someone with the same motivation and interest as you. For example if you’re a schoolteacher and the home is near your school, that’s a special advantage for you. If you are a doctor and the home is near a hospital, another advantage. There are many reasons why people choose homes in certain areas; anything from close to the airport to the peace of rolling hills. Find a buyer that fits your profile, and you’ll likely find the right buyer. Someone just like you. Homes sell with just a note on a notice board.

TARGET PRIME PROSPECTS

The trouble with most real estate advertising is that it uses a scattergun approach. You pay thousands of dollars to reach millions of lookers. You don’t want lookers, you want buyers. In reality, you only want one buyer.

So think of the professional people who may be interested in your home, people who value privacy and shun homes where hundreds of lookers have traipsed through. Think of where buyers go, where they hang out. And write to them.

Write to local lawyers telling them of a wonderful home for sale. Do the same with mortgage brokers who are always arranging finance for buyers. Think smart. Use a laser approach to marketing. It’s cheaper and often more effective.

IF YOU MUST ADVERTISE.

In the extremely unlikely event that you do not find the right buyer from any of these methods then perhaps you may consider a small advertisement. Remember large advertisements are a waste of money. Sure, you get plenty of lookers. But lookers rarely buy.

Serious buyers, however, are resourceful. They visit multiple websites; they type in their preferences, and they find your home. The flashier your advertising the more it will cost you and the more it will damage the value of your home if you don’t quickly sell. An inexpensive ad on social media, or a local community site for sellers and buyers can be far more effective than paying multiple thousands of dollars – especially if you’re just paying to promote an agent.

So, don’t lose your nerve. Find an agent prepared to chase buyers. Avoid lazy agents who use your money to promote themselves and attract buyers already known to them.

If you follow these steps, you’ll likely get a much higher price with much lower costs. Now, that’s a plan worth following.

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