How to "quietly list property"

I have a 2 bedder unit here Sydney (Surry Hills) that I am thinking of putting on the market for sale. Problem is that it is currently tenanted so not the tidiest and I will only be willing to sell if the price is over my reserve.

I don't really want to big marketing campaign if it won't sell and may upset the tenants so do you think I should list this via an agent or advertise in domain.com.au privately?
 
List via and agent and only advertise on RE.com.au, let the agent do the work, they will push YOU for a price reduction and hassle YOU so they can sell it easily, but hey that's just part of the game.

You will have to fill in paper work every 90 days (well we have to in SA)

Cheers
Graeme
 
You could go to the agent and ask them just to advertise it by word-of-mouth to client's he/she thinks might be interested...my parents have done this selling a restaurant as they didn't want their clientele to find out!! Not sure how this would work for resi, but the REA shouldn't have a problem - they still get commission!

Note: If you don't already have good photos - you will have to have some taken and the tenant may find out!

Perhaps you could engage the tenant in the process by letting them know:
a) you will only sell at a certain price;
b) you will only sell if its sold subject to the purchaser accepting the existing tenancy; and
c) arranging convenient times for the tenant for would-be purchasers to inspect
 
My first thought would be to speak with the tenants to see if they have any interest in purchasing the property themselves. Tenants often rent in the area they wish to live and as such may have an interest in purchasing if they are financially capable.

My second thought - You say you want premium price yet you don't want advertising? Although you may get lucky, unfortunately these two do not go hand in hand. To achieve the best price, the property must be advertised to as many potential purchasers as possible.

I think you should obtain a realistic market value of the property and see where this lies relative to your reserve. If this market value is below your reserve, it might be in your best interest to hold the property until the market catches up with your expectations.

If the opposite is true and you believe the market will reasonably pay your price, i would suggest a reasonable marketing campaign to try and achieve the best price possible.

Regarding the place not being tidy - Is the property self managed or with a PM? I would be onto your PM to ensure the place is being kept as tidy as reasonably possible but i do very much understand the dilemma of selling tenanted properties. Unfortunately i am yet to find a solution to this same problem.
 
I have a 2 bedder unit here Sydney (Surry Hills) that I am thinking of putting on the market for sale. Problem is that it is currently tenanted so not the tidiest and I will only be willing to sell if the price is over my reserve.

I don't really want to big marketing campaign if it won't sell and may upset the tenants so do you think I should list this via an agent or advertise in domain.com.au privately?

Using an REA or selling privately- either way you're going to have to show potential purchasers so your tenant is going to be inconvenienced regardless. Take the open approach- talk to them, tell them that you need to sell (and find out if they're interested in buying) and that, because they're likely to be inconvenienced, why not offer them a discounted rent during the marketing period/agreed set period to make it more attractive to them? I know this happens with some landlords and it's happier all round as the tenants are more conducive to opening up for showings. If your tenant is going to play hardball (eg open up only once a week) then I'd wait until their lease has expired and consider selling the place vacant. Many weeks of costly marketing without a sale can add up to big $$$ here when access is restricted.
 
thank you all for your thoughts.

property is professionally managed so not a problem there but my agent says that it is better to sell vacant to get the best price. but doing so will mean i will be without rent for the sale time. And the thing is I am happy to hold if i can't sell as an IP as my yield is ok if you get what i mean...

how does one actually find out the market price? should i pay for an independent valuation or call up a couple of real estate agents? i had a look at the comps and I think my reserve stacks up but with these things you never know...
 
thank you all for your thoughts.

property is professionally managed so not a problem there but my agent says that it is better to sell vacant to get the best price. but doing so will mean i will be without rent for the sale time. And the thing is I am happy to hold if i can't sell as an IP as my yield is ok if you get what i mean...

how does one actually find out the market price? should i pay for an independent valuation or call up a couple of real estate agents? i had a look at the comps and I think my reserve stacks up but with these things you never know...

My first step would be to call a few of the local agents and have them appraise your property. What you want to do with this is look for consistency and not be persuaded by an appraisal coming in higher than the others. This does not mean the property is worth more and the other agents have no idea what they're talking about, this just means the agent is trying to buy your listing then condition you down.

With that first step done you should have a general idea of a ball park figure to work from. If you find the agents are all saying different things, it may be one of a few things:

- The market is very volatile in the area and it's genuinely hard to gauge what the market might pay at the time. This occurs when you have a range of conflicting sales data with no clear pattern.

- There is insufficient sales data to accurately determine what buyers will pay in the given market. This would apply more to rural regions.

This is when i would look at getting a formal valuation however i don't believe this will be necessary in your case.

Regarding selling the property vacant vs tenanted - There are a number of factors in deciding:

- A furnished property will generally recieve a higher price than an unfurnished property if dealing with those looking for PPoR. This does not apply to a messy and poorly furnished property as they must be able to establish an emotion connection as "their home" and not just "a house".

- Owner occupiers are put off by a tenancy that will not allow for vacant possession. The soloution to this is to market the property when there is say two months remaining on the lease or even better, a periodic lease. This allows the best of both worlds as an investor has the potential to keep the current tenants if all parties are happy while the owner occupiers are able to obtain vacant possession.

- Having the property vacant costs you $$$ and should be avoided where possible. The only time i would wait until the property is vacant before marketing is if you saw the tenants to be a threat to the sale. By this i mean intentionally leaving the place messy come inspection time etc.

Did the PM justify why they believe a vacant property achieves a higher sale price?
 
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