The autumn of 2020 has brought many changes due to the Coronavirus/COVID-19 outbreak.
For many Mosmanites, the final months of summer were spent busily preparing for the real estate ‘busy season’, when the time is right to list and sell property. Now, question marks hang over their campaign.
Some home sellers are putting their real estate campaigns on pause while others need to go ahead with finding a buyer, for a variety of reasons.
If you have found yourself needing to sell your Mosman property despite the current conditions, the good news is it is possible to do so.
Take a look at some tips:
Consider an off-market campaign
Right now, open homes and public auctions are not able to go ahead. For this reason, you may wish to consider taking things a step further and skipping the public campaign.
Having an off-market campaign means going without the online ads, newspaper listings and mail drop. Your house won’t be listed publicly so few people will even know you are selling.
This makes sense for a couple of reasons. Firstly, you won’t have crowds of people asking to visit your property, which is an important factor due to the risk of COVID-19. Secondly you’re able to maintain privacy around your sale.
Read more about selling your home off market.
If you do decide an off-market campaign is right for you, the most important thing you can do is contact a very well-connected local real estate agent who has successfully sold a number of properties in your area. This agent will have a number of interested buyers on their books, both at home and from overseas. They can quietly introduce the buyers to your property and negotiate on your behalf.
Qualified buyers are always a more certain bet than inviting the whole neighborhood to your open home. Your agent will know their budget, what they are looking for and how long they have been looking, and they’ll be able to ‘continue’ a conversation with them rather than starting from scratch.
If you’re worried about the value of your house
One thing on everyone’s mind is house values and whether or not COVID-19 will cause prices to drop in Mosman.
Property is different to many other assets as the market sets the price of a house. With everything being so uncertain, it’s hard to say right now how prices will be impacted. And while real estate agents don’t want to promise house prices that aren’t realistic, they also don’t wish to create panic by forecasting a decrease.
At the end of the day, if you need to sell your home right now, you should still only do so for a fair price.
What’s worth mentioning here is the importance of having an agent who isn’t solely interested in a quick, easy sale. This type of agent will bring all offers to you and encourage you to accept, even if they don’t meet expectations. They won’t take into account the next steps you wish to take and the true value of your home, which could result in you missing out on thousands of dollars.
A reliable and truly professional real estate agent will never encourage you to accept an offer they know is too far below what your home is worth. They will leverage data and current information and negotiate for every possible cent on your behalf, with the understanding that a Mosman home is an incredibly valuable asset, no matter what is going on in the world right now.
With the right real estate agent on your side, you can be confident that you are selling your home for the right price.
Questions to ask
Here are some questions to ask your agent if you want to sell during COVID-19:
- Are there buyers out there who would be interested in paying what my house is worth?
- Do you have overseas contacts you could leverage?
- How will you attract buyers?
- How will you highlight my home to buyers?
- How will you safely share my home with buyers?
- Would you recommend a private treaty sale or an auction sale and why?
- What is the lowest price you believe we could get for the property and why?
- What is the highest price you believe we could get for the property and why?
- What sales strategy would you recommend?
- What’s the Plan B if we fail to attract a decent buyer in the first four to eight weeks of the campaign?
For advice about preparing and selling your home, reach out to the team at De Brennan Property.
