premium property prices « Bees Nees The Buzz

Posts Tagged with premium property prices

The great pricing stand-off

Posted by Rob Honeycombe on 12 July 2010

Would two per cent make a difference? If your preferred holiday was $3000 or $3060 it wouldn’t matter. And $1,000 wouldn’t stop you buying your favourite $50,000 car. But in a property market like Brisbane’s inner city is currently experiencing, home buyers and investors alike seem reluctant to make offers. One told me last week that a $500,000 Brisbane apartment they’d seen was too dear. “Not worth more than $490,000”, they said. For others it’s just 3 or 4 per cent ‘overpricing’ that stops them buying. So in this newsletter we thought we’d remind everyone about an idea called “making an offer”!

Sellers are sometimes reluctant to drop their listed price until they’ve seen the colour of buyers’ money and a real estate agent can’t offer you the property at a price cheaper than authorised by their client. They need to be careful in encouraging you without harming their sellers’ interests. And some buyers feel embarrassed and awkward suggesting an offer. Maybe they’re concerned they’ll offend the real estate agent (hard to do in our opinion!) So the standoff drags on.

We’re currently watching some inner-Brisbane properties sit on the market without action, even when their prices seem pretty close to the mark. Maybe it’s the internet gone mad. Buyers can sit back with the property portals and, with plenty of accuracy in many cases, forecast a home’s true value. There’s danger for sellers in staying on the market too long so they need to monitor the activity at their inspections and have an agent whose feedback they trust. The Bees Nees team had an average discount from asking price to selling price of just over 1% in the past 12 months – we’ve been negotiating great results for our clients. But right now the market’s sensitivity to price seems to be at an all time high. An auction can help avoid the price problem but it’s not, in our opinion, the right solution for every property.

One final thought: for those of you who’ve owned your home for more than 5 years just think back to the day you bought it for a moment. Would you have paid another 2% to get the right place? We always get the same response to this question!

How do you set the right price? We’d love to have your comments.

Tags: full asking price, premium property prices, selling a house Brisbane, selling an apartment Brisbane
Posted in Brisbane's sales market, real estate marketing | No Comments »

Selling for more: Do I need an auction?

Posted by Rob Honeycombe on 11 May 2010

If you’re considering selling your property and are weighing up an auction or private treaty (a priced listing) consider this: Price may be your best feature. That’s not to say your property might not have many appealing qualities… but when we write up that ad it’s going to look and sound like a million dollars. Which can be a problem if you’re chasing $500,000!

A survey conducted by realestate.com.au found 92% of buyers would be unlikely to enquire about a property with no price indication. So if your place sits in a busy part of the market a private treaty with a good agent can get you a great price quicker than an auction. We’re not anti-auction, we do several each year, but in our view they’re over-used by many agents who jam their clients into a one-size-fits-all method.

An auction can be the perfect solution for properties that are out of the ordinary, likely to draw more emotional interest (eg Queenslanders) and those that are in scarce supply. But for many properties a listed price is the first drawcard for buyers.

With a price or without, one key to getting a great result is showing buyers you are a committed seller. Why? Well with access to so much info today they are cynical and won’t get off their couch on a Saturday unless they think you are a genuine seller. They’ve seen the rubbish that fills the online portals and know that some agents will list properties on the web for sellers that are still very much undecided as to whether they will sell.

Some agents leave expired listings on the web to continue drawing enquiry. Some agents will delete the address or leave the apartment number off. One we know used to completely fabricate ads. Shocked? Buyers aren’t because they’ve wasted their time on these before only to be met with some lame excuse about “admin problems”.

And this is one big reason why newspaper ads continue to draw strong buyer enquiry in this very digital age. Every one of those sellers has put their hand in their pocket for advertising costs and in doing so proven their commitment to selling.

Buyers are buying and where they sense competition many are paying good prices. But if you’re to create that high level of interest you need to first show the market you are doing more than testing the waters – regardless of your sale method.

Tags: Brisbane real estate agents, Brisbane real estate auctions, premium property prices, real estate advertising, www.realestate.com.au
Posted in Brisbane's sales market, real estate marketing | No Comments »

How long’s it been on the market?

Posted by Rob Honeycombe on 7 August 2009

Does this question sound familiar? Somehow everyone learns to ask this of the agent when they see a home they have an interest in buying. It’s great for us because it’s a sign they may be ready to talk turkey. For our seller clients it can be a tough question though – how long is too long?

Buyers all want something fresh, a home new to the market, inspecting and securing before everyone else, capturing that prized sparkling gem that hasn’t yet been handled, tossed around and rejected by the masses.

And with a “safety in numbers” or herd approach, home buyers get nervous if it’s been for sale for some time. More than a few weeks on the market and it can lose its ’sheen’. Doubts creep in, small negatives about the property start to take on new life, the green laminate in the kitchen suddenly seems even uglier!

Suddenly a premium price is not so easy to achieve.

With email alerts and easy web access most buyers know how long a home has been for sale and, unfortunately for sellers, even if the price has been reduced the market may still turn its nose up. Once it’s considered stale buyers ask themselves what’s wrong with the home, why no-one else has wanted it. And if they do inspect their offers may start lower.

The early few weeks of the sale campaign are critical. Buyers do often ‘lie in wait’, screening their alerts for fresh offerings. It makes sense that the best offers are often achieved early.

The challenge is setting your price where its capitalises on any pent up demand, drawing the absolute most the market will pay, but getting a result before that probing time question becomes uncomfortable to answer.

Some properties can take longer so don’t panic. But do have a plan. Consider taking it off the market for a time, ask your agent to reload it onto the web, consider an auction campaign, ensure it has fresh headlines and there’s a change to hero images regularly. Advertise to attract a new pool of enquiry. And do have an agent whose advice you trust. There’s a lot of money at stake.