Selling tips

Styling.

‘First impressions last’

This old saying is 100% true when it comes to selling.

The presentation of your home massively influences the final sale price. No matter what the market is like, it is crucial that your home makes a great impression both inside and out. During the first few days on the market you are likely to get over 1000 people see your place online. Within a few seconds they will judge your property and make the critical decision of whether to view or keep scrolling.

For this reason, it’s critical that your home makes a lasting impression.

Don’t stress though. Getting your home ready for sale doesn’t mean that you need to spend a small fortune redecorating your home.

As your agent, we will be able to give you some clear direction on how to prepare your home for sale. No matter the budget, together we can make small changes that have a big impact.

Click here to learn more about styling your home

The sales process.

Thinking of selling your home or investment property? Selling a house is not complicated but done poorly, it can be one of the most stressful and financially disastrous events in someone’s life. Whether or not you use us as your agents.

Click here to see the steps to selling a property in NSW.

The jargon.

Get to know the lingo. Jargon is a language to demonstrate you belong and you know what you’re talking about. Many agents may throw around words that you don't understand. It's important to understand everything that has been said during your selling process.

For example:

• Auction. A sale usually in public, by an auctioneer, in which property is sold to the highest bidder.
• Easement. The right of another person or organisation to use the land belonging to someone else. Mains, drains and water pipes are usually covered by an easement.
• Gazumping. If a vendor agrees to sell a property to one person at an agreed price, then sells it to someone else (usually for a higher price). Unless contracts have been exchanged, agents are obligated by law to present all offers to the owner.
• Settlement. Completion of sale when the balance of contract price is paid to the vendor and the buyer is legally entitled to take possession of the property.

Read our whole list of real estate jargon here.

Exchanging contracts.

In NSW, there are 2 ways to exchange contracts: agent exchange or solicitor exchange.

Agent exchange

• This happens where the buyer signs the contract with the agent and pays a minimum deposit of 0.25% of the purchase price.
• The vendor also signs the contract.
• Once both parties have signed the agent then exchanges the contract by dating it.
• At this point, the seller cannot pull out or sell to another party (i.e. no possibility of ‘gazumping’).
• The buyer, however, has a 5-day cooling-off period in which to do their due diligence (i.e. pest and building reports, solicitor checking the contract, finance valuation if required).
• If the buyer withdraws from the sale during the cooling-off period, they will forfeit 0.25% of the purchase price.
• Please note: in this instance, the buyer’s solicitor will still review the terms of the contract prior to exchange.

Solicitor exchange

• When this occurs, the agent will forward the buyer's details to the seller’s solicitor to prepare the contracts.
• Once received, the buyer’s solicitor will usually review the contract, organise any required inspections and finance arrangements.
• Once due diligence is complete, the buyer will sign the contract with their solicitor and forward back the seller’s solicitor ready for exchange. In this situation, no deposit is paid until exchange of contract.
• In the instance that another offer is made, the agent, by law, must present another offer to the seller, even if they have already accepted an offer. The owner is entitled to ‘Gazump’ the first buyer as contracts have not been exchanged.