Buyers The Winners With Private Sellers

31 Jul 2012| Posted by: Geoff Baldwin

Property sellers who make the DIY decision should beware of handing the perceived savings to the eventual buyers according to RE/MAX WA Regional Owner, Geoff Baldwin. “If a property owner can successfully sell their own property and achieve maximum price with no hassles then I would be the last one to discourage that however there are major pitfalls that people need to consider if they do decide on the DIY option”, Mr Baldwin said. “The first thing a private seller should do is to see their listing through the eyes of an interested buyer and understand that the buyer realises that a fee is not being paid and will target that amount on top of any other price reduction they may be seeking. “In my 26 years experience the general reaction from a private seller is to discount the price at least by the amount of what they would have paid to an agent and hence, more often than not, it is the buyer who ends up with the advantage, not them. “In addition to this, a private seller rarely has the skills to unemotionally negotiate on their own home with a hard nosed buyer, often will have difficulty qualifying a buyer's financial capacity and is not in a position to handle subject to sale offers or other challenges that often arise during the process. “Some sellers take the half way option and pay a couple of thousand dollars to use a private sale agent to organise a basic sign, corflute home open pointers, internet listings and forms however this can be likened to buying a scalpel and operating on yourself to save money. “Often private sellers will say that they are giving it a go themselves for a few weeks however, when it is taken into account that the first few weeks a property is on the market are always the most critical to optimise the sale price. “A good, well resourced, experienced and highly skilled agent will not only cover their fee but will often be able to create the competitive atmosphere where they can negotiate a premium price for the seller. “Instead of selling privately it is good advise to focus on employing the services of a proven agency in their area and ask that agent for the phone numbers of three recent clients to check his or her performance first hand with other clients”, Mr Baldwin said.