The Two Things That Sabotage a Good Sale (& Neither One Is the House)

The biggest saboteurs of a vendor’s success (providing the property is okay) are ‘Unrealistic Expectations’ and ‘Emotions’.

We’ve been around real estate for 17 years with over 500 houses sold. More uniquely we’ve also been renovators and vendors 4 times in the last 3 years, as we sold up our rental properties…yes 4 times!

There’s such a lot you can do to improve how much your property sells for, how quickly it sells, and to avoid unnecessary stress.

Our Vendor Diaries Series shares all the real, tested and practical insights from our recent experience as vendors to help you. If you’re just joining, check out the first 6 articles below. Packed with pro-tips and hacks, there’s gold in here for you:

1. Getting Real Results Outside

2. Getting the House Exterior in Shape

3. Getting the Inside Sorted

4. Inside Touches and Styling

5. Marketing a House for Sale

6. Gather & Share Information

Here’s what we did to make sure that ‘unrealistic expectations’ or ‘emotions’ didn’t sabotage our plans:

Closer Assessment

For each property we had a more thorough appraisal assessment upfront, narrowing a list of recent, closely located, comparably sized sales, then recognising that no two properties are the same or in the same condition, an approximate value of the differences was assessed and accounted for. We didn’t use on-line estimators or RVs - both are site unseen and prone to way too much variation. And we didn’t go with an agent’s quick or rough guess, or silences to get business. Plot spoiler…the assessments were close to later average buyer feedback!

No-Price Marketing

Each property had No-Price Marketing to encourage Buyer Inspections and Competition. The initial phase was a ‘3-week tender’ for offers, without trying to control price. There was no ‘enquiry over this’…or ‘the RV is that’…or ‘here’s the list of what I’ve spent on it’. It was all about getting everyone there to see and fall in love with this property…or not…but to come and see at-least! One of the properties had 13 offers in a dead flat market.

Park Emotions

As human beings we can easily get excited and carried away. You have to recognise this and forget about the amount of money you want for this or that, or every other runaway thought that has absolutely nothing to do with the market value of your property. Failing in this will blind you to taking the right decisions or see you taking them too late when the best opportunities have passed.

Price Feedback

Each property had extensive warts-and-all feedback from buyers, including price feedback, creating a clear window to the market and mirror for our property. We didn’t seek agent verbals or guess work. We insisted on written reports with all the feedback in it…cold hard facts to base our decisions on. If your agent is not telling you the truth at appraisal, because they don’t like conflict or want the business, then this is your first chance to see if you’re on another planet price wise. But if you don’t have it you won’t know.

Real Time Sales

While you’re on the market other properties are selling each week. If yours isn’t, check what is selling and what price they went for? Compare this to yours and your buyer price feedback…what is it saying?

Asking Price

In slower markets properties are not flying out the door like hotcakes - the median days to sell in Wellington is currently around 53 days. Getting sold for the best price often requires distinct phases within a larger campaign. Each property had plenty of price feedback to peg where buyers saw its corridor of value and there’s a funny saying in real estate - ‘when the price is right that buyer just magically appears’. Don’t be afraid to set a realistic asking price with a small negotiation margin - one of our properties had no bidders at tender and then sometime later four bidders at Asking Price, leading to a selling price over the advertised Asking Price. In another case we reviewed and adjusted the asking price each two-to-three-weeks to ensure we were realistic and competitive and promptly got to Sold. Again, taking the emotions out of it really helped.

Why does this matter? Each property sold for a good price and in a good timeframe we could get on with our plans!

If you are thinking of selling soon let’s start with a more thorough assessment of value and some tips on what you can do to up it a bit. Call or email us on 027 518 0008 or leonie.snook@harcourts.co.nz for a no-obligation chat.

No fuss, no sales pitch, no juniors, just service!

Previously: Entry 6: Gather & Share Information · Next in the series: Entry 8: The Art of Negotiation · The full series: All entries

Selling in Wellington? We've been doing this for 17 years across Khandallah, Newlands, Wadestown, Johnsonville, Karori, Churton Park, Ngaio, Paparangi, Wilton, Grenada Village, Woodridge, Crofton Downs and everywhere in between. No junior agents, no fuss. Find out what your home's worth or call us on 027 518 0008.