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?