Selling your home can be a stressful experience. The good news, however, is that there are a lot more options out there for vendors than ever before when it comes to getting the word out.
Working with an experienced real estate agent is important if you want to make sure you get the best price and have access to potential buyers, not just locally but further afield. As a small, independent family-owned real estate business in Corinda, we believe in making sure our clients have all the tools they need for a successful sale in front of them.
Here we compare selling a home both on-market and off-market and what the pros and cons are for each.
Selling On-Market
Putting your property on the market is essentially the traditional way of doing things in real estate and something the majority of vendors focus on. You contact a real estate company, value the home and advertise it in various ways including online and in the local press.
There are three options when selling on-market:
- Selling by auction: This has become more popular in recent years and certainly depends on having a strong marketing campaign beforehand to raise awareness with buyers. Sellers can often get higher prices for their property once people start bidding against each other.
- Selling by private treaty: Here the property owner sets the price that they want and the estate agent deals with potential buyers to find someone willing to meet that particular price. Again, this depends on advertising in a variety of local and online publications.
- Sale by expression of interest: Buyers are asked to submit an offer for your property before a certain date. Your home will be on the market for a short period and at the end of submissions, the vendor can view the offers make and make a decision accordingly.
The big benefit of putting your house on the market is that it attracts far more viewers and potential buyers. This gives you greater opportunities to find someone willing to pay your asking price or even exceed it. How much you spend on advertising your property can vary depending on the location of your home and how many people you want to reach.
Working with a good real estate agent who understands the local area will certainly help focus your marketing activity and ensure that you get a good return for your investment.
Some sellers think that the added expense of putting their house on the market and advertising it is unnecessary. It may seem like a false economy to them, but in reality marketing your property has an excellent return, which will lead to more money being made than what was spent on promoting. As a general rule, the cost outweighs any inconvenience.
The potential for a property sale to fall through, while not entirely diminished, is certainly less likely when you have a larger pool of potential buyers to choose from. Working with an experienced realtor can also make a big difference here.
Selling Off-Market
The option of not putting your home on the market is usually reserved for some much narrower circumstances. It’s extremely important to talk through the pros and cons with an experienced real estate agent.
In the current market some vendors are put off by having large groups through their home. Selling off market is an easy way to reduce the amount of people visiting and inspecting your property and forgo an open home inspection altogether.
In a rising housing market, selling off-market can often seem attractive. For the seller, it means they don’t have to worry about the cost of a sales campaign and for the buyer, it often means they can get the property at the price they want.
If the market is quite weak, not putting your property on the market and working with a specific buyer can ensure you get a sale while other properties remain unsold. After the 2008 financial crash, off-market selling was a more popular approach.
Selling without putting your property on the market in the normal way generally works if you are looking for a quick sale and are not worried about getting the best price.
This could happen if you inherit a property or the home you have needs substantial work doing on it. If you are buying a property off-market, of course, it’s still important to do your due diligence with property and pest inspections and strata reports, for instance. Selling this way doesn’t guarantee that the property deal will certainly go through – especially if surveys uncover potential problems.
There are narrow benefits to not putting your property on the market. Most of these focus on the buyer. They are more likely to get a bargain and pay less while the vendor is more likely to accept the offer that is made because they have no other option. With little competition, sellers will certainly find it difficult to negotiate a better deal.
The other big benefit is that there is likely to be a quick sale if both parties agree on the terms and conditions.
Many sellers wrongly think they will be saving money on fees and expenses for things like advertising by going off-market. There is a much higher probability, however, that you will also end up getting a much lower price than if you went on-market.
If you’re just looking for a quick sale without too much hassle, off-market makes sense especially if you have a buyer identified. Otherwise advertising and putting your property online and in local papers, enabling you to reach a wider audience should be the first choice.
Why Work with Nobel Realtors?
Selling a property can be challenging, wherever you live in Australia, even in a buoyant market. Working with an experienced real estate agent is critical and ensures all the relevant areas are covered.
If you live in Corinda, Sherwood, Oxley, Graceville or surrounding suburbs and are thinking of selling a property, the team at Nobel Realtors offer a full range of services that are designed to make the process as seamless as possible and give you complete peace of mind.
Whether you are planning to sell off-market or on-market, we help you put together a complete property sales plan to get the result you are looking for. We cover all areas of a large local area including Graceville, Corinda, Oxley and Sherwood, Chelmer and more.
Contact Nobel Realtors today to find out more about our services.