Buyer's Tips

Methods of selling

There are several methods available for selling your home. The following is a brief outline of:

• For Sale by Open Listing
  When you list your home with more than one real estate company it is known as an "Open Listing". Each company deals with the seller and basically work against the others to sell the property. Only the selling agent is paid commission on the sale of the property.

  Many real estate companies will not advertise or market open listings because of the need to make a quick sale rather than a well negotiated sale to the most suitable purchaser.

  Many sellers feel that by listing their home with more companies, they will access more buyers. This, in fact, is not the case. Buyers "shop around" for houses. If your home is marketed correctly, the buyer will find it.

• For Sale by Exclusive marketing
  Exclusive marketing arrangements give best results to sellers because the real estate consultant has the exclusive responsibility for the sale and can invest time, expertise and money into the marketing effort for your home. (Note an exclusive marketing package may be sale by Auction, Tender or a No Price method of marketing. All are exclusive arrangements).

  At present, most homes in your area sell within 30 days. Often they sell much more quickly but sometimes it is necessary to give enough time for persistence to pay off. We usually suggest a marketing programme be put in place for twice that average time,ie. 60 day exclusive agency.

• Tender
  A tender invites buyers to put in an offer for your property in the form of a written contract before a specified date. A tender is normally accompanied by a high profile marketing plan to attract more attention to the property than is normal for a private sale programme. One of the very important differences in tendering a property is that nobody else knows what anyone else is offering. Whereas by the auction method you can see that somebody is bidding over the other side of the room and then bid in response.

• By Negotiation
  The "by negotiation" strategy is a very successful strategy and positioned between "for sale" and "auction". It does not set a selling date, but it does maximise the price because of its strategic approach. Instead of putting a price on the property that includes a negotiating buffer, which often deters the target buyer, a price range is used.

  You as the owner are always in control of the decision to sell. There is no possibility of selling for less than the property is worth. In most cases, the price achieved by this method exceeds private sale expectations.

• Auction
  Auction has been around for hundreds of years as a way of selling all sorts of things. When it comes to Real Estate, auction is gaining momentum as the preferred way to sell across Australasia. When there is an identifiable excess of demand, an auction has no peer.

  Auction can attack the market both in a buyers market or a sellers market. In a sellers market where there are few homes to sell and many buyers, it will give sellers a higher price. In a buyers market where there are many homes for sale and fewer buyers, you may attack the market and therefore save valuable time.

Fletchers Insurance and Financial Services

As a value added service, Fletchers is pleased to offer the best home insurance and financial services through the use of our extensive broker network. We can help integrate your insurance and financial needs when buying or selling property, in order to make the process as anxiety free as possible. Our network can also be used to meet your on-going insurance and financial requirements.

Our service gives you a choice of insurers across relevant policies: home and content, building, landlord, home loan and rent protection insurance. We also offer an extensive range of personal and business insurance with a selection of 32 accredited lenders. We provide a fast track approval process and immediate quotes.

Fletchers Concierge

Buying a property is an involved process requiring the engagement of a legal representative, changeover of finance, not to mention removalists, etc.

Fletchers Concierge is here to simplify your moving journey. Explore the Fletchers Concierge platform, a centralised hub where you can effortlessly coordinate electricity, gas, internet, removalist, cleaning services, and more. Ready to begin? Click Here Now!

The Property Market

Given the difficult economic times we are experiencing at the moment, it is interesting to note that the property market is performing well. But it is important not to generalise as the property market is made up of a number of segments. For example, the investor is buoyed by the rising rents and lowest ever vacancy rate as well as record low interest rates. First home buyers are also encouraged by the generous government grants, with many now looking at established inner suburbs as a stepping stone to getting a foothold on property. In other words first home buyers are not all focused on the outer suburbs as you are led to believe.

Reports regarding the state of the Melbourne Property Market are confusing. You can read a headline telling you that the news is good and another the same day saying it is not so good! With respect to the media they often base these statements on the only information available to them in the form of reported statistics. Although this data is supplied by reliable sources it is not necessarily relevant for several reasons. For one thing, often these statements are based on a very brief period of say 3 months, which really does not portray a true picture. Also, there are too many variables to consider such as location, quality of home, size of land, etc., etc. In other words you need to 'compare apples with apples'.

People buying and selling are advantaged at present as those who decide to sell first and then purchase, on most occasions, are not faced with the problem of 'chasing' a rising market, i.e. there is more stability so it is more feasible to plan ahead.

Interesting statistics from the Real Estate Institute of Australia comparing Melbourne and Sydney growth over a 10 year period had Melbourne at around 127% and Sydney at 96%!

Private sale

The majority of Fletchers sales are made privately. Many people are surprised to learn this, but the great marketing exposure given to properties that are auctioned often overshadows our fantastic private sale results. At Fletchers we have an impressive database of people waiting to purchase.

Auction Success Rate

There are fewer auctions at the moment and agents should be selective in recommending an auction. For this reason our 'clearance rate' continues to be high (often the highest) in our market. If you have a special property or one that will generate plenty of interest, it may be appropriate to sell through the auction method of sale.

Change in Median Prices

We believe there is too much emphasis placed on median prices in the current market. Many suburbs have too few sales per quarter year for the results to be reliable indicators of price trends. This situation is particularly evident when trying to segment sales results into upper and lower price ranges, where the median price can be distorted by very few abnormal sales. Beyond those caveats, there is no doubt that prices continue to rise across all classes of property sold by Fletchers.