Real Estate Market Research -
A Key Ingredient to FSBO Success
Real estate market research is an important key to selling your own home successfully. Source and accuracy of information is paramount to making good decisions and inevitably getting the sale price you want. Usually, the first question that comes to mind for the home seller is "how much can I get for my house?" If your real estate market research is well sourced, you will be well rewarded with a successful sale.
So to ensure that you achieve your goals and plans, try to make them 'realistic and achievable'. Also, try to be honest with yourself and remain as objective as possible throughout the process. That's not as easy as it sounds, especially if you are emotionally attached to your home. Your attachment can sometimes cloud your decisions. You may want to devise certain strategies to deal with your attachment, otherwise it is likely to create angst. A suggestion would be to have a trusted friend whom you can bounce ideas off and who is part of your support team.
But hold on...before you start asking how much, have you considered all the areas you need to cover as part of your real estate market research?
Well here are some suggested places to start your real estate market research...
1. Prepare your Home for Sale first
2. Find out your Property Value and get your House Pricing Correct
3. Establish your Support Network
4. Source your Legal and/or Conveyancing Firm
5. Prepare a Real Estate Marketing Plan
1. Is your home ready to be viewed? Preparing your Home for Sale first!
What things should you consider when preparing your home for sale, in order to get your house looking just right and attracting the buyers you want?
Make a list in order of priority and try to keep it simple. It's important not to avoid the annoying but necessary tasks, before placing your home on the market. It will just make it harder for you to get the price you want. Remember... it's about making your life easier in the medium-to-long term, not more stressful. Preparing your home for sale is all about making a good first impression on the buyer.
More info on 'Preparing your Home for Sale'...
2. Do you know what your house is really worth? Find out your Property Value and get your House Pricing correct.
Guesses can cost you tens of thousands of dollars in the sale price, plus more money on wasted advertising, and more stress (which we are trying to eliminate,aren't we?)
To get it as accurate as possible, your property value should be determined by consulting sources including independent valuers, real estate agents, and more. You can also help by keeping an eye on housing sale prices yourself by going to open homes in your area, plus ringing agents from the FOR SALE SIGNS which have "SOLD" on them. Correct house pricing is the most important component in your real estate market research, because it is the accuracy of this single component which will ultimately determine a sale or no sale.
More info on 'Property Values & House Pricing'...
3. Who do you know and trust, that can share the load, uplift and encourage you? Establish your Support Network.
This is vital and is rarely, if ever, mentioned in materials and information given by numerous other private home selling experts and/or websites. People underestimate the psychological and emotional drain of selling their homes, and that's just through selling with an agent! When selling privately, you have factors that come into play that normally an agent has to deal with.
The people in your support team should be people who have the ability to lift you and encourage you in times where you doubt yourself - and this can and does happen. Sometimes all you need is someone telling you that you can do it.
Your Support Network should include a family member or friend who is 'pro-private sale', with a positive attitude; your legal/convenyancing firm; and also your private sale online marketing company (if applicable). So, never underestimate the support you need and it is strongly recommended to include this as part of your real estate market research.
More info on your 'Support Network'...
4. Do you know what your legal obligations are? Source your Legal and/or House Conveyancing Firm
Source a solicitor, lawyer or house conveyancing firm well before you are in a position of getting an offer from a buyer. Why? More often than not, offers are made on a weekend, when solicitors are not available. Delaying on an offer because you haven't got your legals in place could cost you a sale.
It's also about understanding the basics of a contract, rights and implications when
dealing with buyers which can influence your confidence when negotiating.
For example...do you know about the 'Cooling off period' on a contract; how long it is and when it begins? This is just one small example. If you are completing a contract without a lawyer/house conveyancing firm, do you know what areas to complete and why you need to complete them? Your legal/house conveyancing contact is important to your real estate market research and forms part of the bigger picture.
More info on 'Legal/House Conveyancing'...
5. How are you going to get buyers to view your home? Prepare a Real Estate Marketing Plan.
A marketing plan is vital and should form a large part of your real estate market research.
Unless people know your home is for sale, how are you going to get anyone through the door?
There are a number of ways to market your home depending on your budget, and there are many types of marketing and advertising available to the private home seller. You'll be surprised to find how many types there are and how professionally you can have advertising done at a lesser cost than you might think!
Here's just a few of the advertising methods that private sellers have used as part of their marketing plan...
* FOR SALE signs
* Local and/or regional papers
* Holding an Open House
* Trade magazines, i.e. private sale
* Constructing their own website (make sure you know how to market your site)
* Using Private Sale Online Marketing companies, who have access to major Australian real estate portals
* Using Private Sale Online Marketing companies who have good real estate internet marketing knowledge and market their websites well.
Without real estate advertising as part of your real estate market research, the chances of potential buyers finding your home become limited.
Once you've gathered all this information you will be surprised at just how savvy you are about the real estate market, and more specifically in your area.
Through the knowledge and insight you gain
from your real estate market research, it will give you the confidence to begin dealing with Step 3 - The Sale Cycle.
Best wishes!
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