Wondering what to do if your house has been sitting on the market for months on end failing to sell?
Flip the agent, says Steen Nielsen from Ray White Remuera.
Nielsen says he is taking on an increasing number of properties which have not sold through winter, only to sell them within weeks for strong prices at auction.
Homes should not be sitting around for months, especially in a market where the number of buyers exceed the number of listings.
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A Parnell home had languished on the market for eight months without a single offer, he says, and was one of three he has sold at auction in the last couple of weeks within a month of taking them over.
The Parnell home sold for $3.55m under the hammer, one in Greenlane went for $5.54m at auction, and one in Remuera sold post-auction for a confidential sum that was “well in excess of the CV.”
But even in such a market of buyers, sellers can’t afford to give potential purchasers any excuse to walk on by.
Ray White Remuera agent Steen Neilsen says that targeted marketing and auction means properties that have languished are now selling fast.
Nielsen, who sells in Remuera and surrounds in the $2m plus bracket, says a couple of years ago the market itself was the driver but times have changed.
“People were afraid the market was going to race away from them so there was a lot of urgency in the market to buy.
“That urgency has gone out so the perception amongst buyers is completely different nowadays.
“They’re no longer afraid it’s going to be unaffordable for them so they can take their time and if they feel the vendors are over-priced they’ll just move on.”
Nielsen says a cocktail of targeted marketing and auction does the trick.
If you find buyers who fall in love with the property, or it ticks their boxes, they can be prepared to pay 10 or 20 per cent above what the market is prepared to pay, within reason.
His tips to getting the sale, fast are:
- Create good advertising. This is key to getting buyers to commit to the process. While active buyers comb real estate websites, Nielsen says a well-advertised property in print can get a broader pool of buyers who are attracted to good photos and a smart description which touches on their drivers.
- Target the right buyer. There is no point trying to sell a do up to people who don’t want to do it up.
- Stick with the auction process. Because clearance rates have dropped dramatically Nielsen says a lot of agents have moved away from auctions but this is a mistake.
The Greenlane house Nielsen took over sold at auction for well over the amount the vendor had been prepared to accept .
“That auction process is far superior to any agent’s negotiating skills because all of a sudden it becomes personal.”
- Remove obstacles from the buyer’s path before you go to market. That means making sure there are no issues on the Lim and there are no CCC (Code Compliance Certificate) issues.
“It’s a matter of having a property where there’re no excuses for the buyers to move on and put in the too hard basket.”
Nielsen says one of the properties he recently sold was a plaster home but the previous agent had not recommended the vendor get a building inspection or the council file.
“Those are two massive mistakes in my opinion because first and foremost when you’re selling a plaster home you want to make sure people can see this property is performing well.”
That building report became the springboard for the buyers who went on to get their own inspection carried out, which means they committed to the process.
Providing the council file can also offer buyers the security of being able to look up such things as whether the home used treated timber and who the builder and architect was.
- Create a sense of urgency. Nielsen likes to let purchasers know why the vendor is moving on, such as because they have already bought or are down-sizing.
- And vendors need to be realistic about price. “Purchasers are not going to waste their time if vendors are just testing the market.”
While REINZ data shows days on the market have not shifted dramatically over the past two years (median days to sell figures for August 2017 was 40, 2018 was 42 and this year was 44) the organisation says it pays for agents to keep on top the marketing.
Dee Crooks, head of communications at REINZ, says good agents change their wording regularly.
“They don’t just let the listing go live and then languish over the marketing campaign.
“They make sure it’s an integrated campaign in terms of being across social, print, digital. They make sure that they’ve got video, that they’ve got drone.”
A recent REINZ survey found that 66 percent of agents now use drone footage of a property in their marketing, with around 60 percent using paid and unpaid social media advertising.
“Agents might appear to be prioritising the relatively tried and true, but there are clearly some in the industry who have quickly become comfortable with really cutting-edge digital tools and services.”
