​Downsizing with Ease

In a lot of cases you’ve been in your home for 10 or 20 years and your knowledge of real estate is not detailed. Real estate purchasing and selling laws change over time so your information may be out-dated. You will need a property advisor to make sure you’ve thought of everything.

You have a strong attachment to your home. Most likely you’ve raised your children there and this home is a part of both your memories and theirs. It’s never an easy decision to sell and getting the process right is a life defining moment. You may feel confident or not, either way you need the right advice and as much unbiased information as possible.

I assist you with advice on presenting the property properly for sale, getting the right paperwork and not spending more than you need on styling and preparation due to the buzzing of your agent.

My single goal in every property sale and purchase is to give you the best outcome as a vendor or buyer. At Stafford Property Advisory I help you make great decisions because I’m less limited than a real estate agent.

Quite often you’re moving suburbs as well as homes and I don’t just work in one neighbourhood. I also value my clients, as I become more successful with great feedback and referrals. I work for you with integrity  and keep you on track through the whole process.

If you’ve got questions about anything related to downsizing, just call or email me. 

Do you Really Need to Auction?

Every house needs to be promoted in some way in order for you to sell and for someone to buy. Sounds simple doesn’t it?

However, there are a number of factors to consider when deciding whether to auction or not and when to do so.

From the real estate agent’s perspective there is a defined process that gets them from A to B in the shortest amount of time. When you pay for marketing through their agency you’re employing their marketing department, their auctioneer their photographer. They are working for you. This is their product offering and how the business makes a profit.

However your home may not fit the criteria for a successful outcome.

Auctions occur all year round, but there are less beneficial times as a vendor to auction a house. For example, grand final weekend would be a terrible time to auction, as with any major event weekends and long weekends.

Depending on where your property is and the other properties you’re competing with in the Melbourne property market, you may not maximise your price. Winter can work for some properties, but how do you know?

A real estate agent works every week but you sell only once every few years if that, so sell and buy at the right time for you to maximise the best outcome. As your property advisor that’s where my expertise prevents you from making a big mistake… like losing $24,000 in ineffective marketing. 

Can you Risk $24,000 of Bad Advice when Selling your Property?

18 months ago my clients Tom and Patricia put their house on the market with a main agency in Camberwell. The agent advised them to spend $24,000 on marketing including brochures.

Now, they may have had an unrealistic expectation about the sale price and the timing of the auction was terrible; the middle weekend of the school holidays, one week away from the Grand Final. The agency didn’t educate them or think about the auction timing. There was a low turnout and no bid at the auction. $24,000 down the drain! 

They were devastated!

After 3 months with no sale, they came to me and we put the home on the market with a much smaller budget and I advised them to take a different marketing approach called Expressions Of Interest (EOI) marketing. You might have heard this being called a sealed envelope bid, or a Tender process.

The process exceeded expectations on the offer needed with far less spent and much less stress for the vendor. In my role as their vendor advocate, I was able to give them a great result and the following weekend, we bought for them at auction, knowing that their sale was secure.

Let me know if you have any questions about marketing budgets or auction timings, I’d hate to see you spending unnecessarily and not having the sale price you want. Just call or email me today.