The Unconditional Blog

That great NZ syndrome – don’t stand out from the crowd could not be further from the truth of what you need to do in today’s real estate market. If you don’t stick your head (read your house) up above the crowd of others in your areas then chances are you will not be viewed by prospective buyers and your house will not sell quickly.

The facts are clear – the level of properties on the market are at record highs and if you are thinking of selling or have your house on the market then you need to seriously look at the issue of presentation. Just look at our website – just 2 months ago we featured 94,000 listings, today 102,000 and growing at around 500 per week at the moment.

Just as you wouldn’t think of going to an interview in grubby clothes and an un-pressed shirt so you should address the same issue with your house. Think of prospective buyers as employers looking to interview your house – first impressions count.

Here are a few pointers to issues that you should think about.

Keep the place tidy – especially around open homes times and that all important photo shoot. Remember people take in information with their eyes far faster and more reliably than through their ears. So make the place look easy to move into. It is no good getting your agent to explain how things could look – make the changes and allow people to see the house.

Decorate where it is appropriate – but keep colours neutral. Plain colours open a place up and make it look bigger –as does removing clutter. Consider placing some of your stuff in storage whilst the property is on the market.

Have a think about staging a property. This service is growing in appeal as it so easy to make a big first impression with smart new furniture and well presented decor. It is even more important to think about this if the house you are selling is empty.

As a rule empty houses are harder to sell. Firstly because the lack of furniture leaves people with difficulty imaging how big a room is, as furniture defines a room. Secondly the lack of personal touches – that feeling of a cared-for house where people live generates a natural reaction of “we could live here” far more of the time than an empty house. Finally an empty house tends to give the buyer the upper-hand as the perception is that owners tend to be more desperate to sell an empty house as the implication is that the circumstances that required the family to move have occurred and now they desperately need to sell.

Gardens like the inside of a house should be kept tidy – this really makes a statement of care and attention by the current owners as well as creating an impression for the prospective owner of an easy care garden if everything looks tidy. Nothing would put off buyers more than a rambling jungle of a garden which invokes fear of excessive work.

The bottom line is likely to be that it is worth spending some money to enhance your property. That way you can more easily attract interest and thereby achieve a realistic price quickly rather than having to concede on the sale price to win the sale. For in today’s market speed-of-sale is becoming the objective as realistic expectation of price has already pervaded the market.

A little bit of calculating can be quite illuminating. Taking the national median-priced house at the moment of $345,000, with say a 75% mortgage of $260,000. To be able to sell after 21 days on the market could save you over $2,000 as compared to sitting on the market for the median selling period of 49 days. Additionally an investment of say $3,000 in cleaning up, a bit of decoration and some additional marketing could well see you sell at the asking price in those 21 days rather than conceding a sell based on reduced price of $10,000 after 49 days – leaving you $9,000 better off.

So go on don’t be afraid to be a tall poppy!….to assist you, have a look at some of the additional advice sections on the website:

The Essential Checklist for Home Sellers

A Guide to Open Homes

Moving Home Checklist