Record # of people at open home: nosy neighbours or interest rate cut?..

[pennyk]

My hubby and I are feeling pretty chuffed today. We just put our PPOR on the market (we are upgrading suburb and size). The first open home was today. I left poor hubby and kids to manage it on his own today (in terms of cleaning/organising, not running the actual event ), cause I'm overseas. We had cleaners/gardeners in to fix everything up during the week, so it does really look sparkling. But kudos again to my hubby who borrowed a little table and chairs from our neighbour and got some roses cut from their garden to put in the front yard... that was his idea, and he really did go the extra mile with the whole house. I'm very blessed to have such a good man.... Anyway, I'm getting off track...

The photos only went up on the internet on Wednesday afternoon. Anyway, the agent rang me afterwards and said it was a record number of people for them to an open home.
There were 53 groups of people through... with a total of around 120 people. (I'm not sure whether she was exaggerating about it being a record for them, but it certainly is alot of people). 14 people have requested contracts so far.
So either we have alot of very nosy neighbours (which we do), or the interest rate cut has encouraged the buyers to come out of the woodwork.
Some of the people who came were worried that it was such a busy street cause there was no parking...... but it is a quiet street, and its just there were so many people who attended.
So, hopefully we will have some good offers and a bit of competition to push the price up. It might all be done and dusted by the time I get back from my trip.

 

[DaveM]

Went to two open homes yesterday (2br apartments in Western Sydney), I was the only person at both.

 

[Jaggannath]

The photos only went up on the internet on Wednesday afternoon. Anyway, the agent rang me afterwards and said it was a record number of people for them to an open home.
There were 53 groups of people through... with a total of around 120 people. (I'm not sure whether she was exaggerating about it being a record for them, but it certainly is alot of people). 14 people have requested contracts so far.
So either we have alot of very nosy neighbours (which we do), or the interest rate cut has encouraged the buyers to come out of the woodwork.
Some of the people who came were worried that it was such a busy street cause there was no parking...... but it is a quiet street, and its just there were so many people who attended.
So, hopefully we will have some good offers and a bit of competition to push the price up. It might all be done and dusted by the time I get back from my trip.

Where are you located Penny? I've noticed that Canberra seems to be going mental, Adelaide definitely less so.

 

[Propertunity]

On the ground, we've noticed an increase in buyer activity since the announcement of the IR cut. Days on the market are lower already due to a surge in FHB activity before they lose their SD concessions on 1/1/12.

Another IR cut soon and we'll see more investors back in, which I expect when the FHBs have finished buying all the low end stock. I see lots of poor quality stock coming on the market too, as investors try to capitalise on this and off-load their dogs

 

[pennyk]

Where are you located Penny? I've noticed that Canberra seems to be going mental, Adelaide definitely less so.

I'm in Baulkham Hills, NSW
http://www.realestate.com.au/property-house-nsw-baulkham+hills-108538561

I think we should sell at or just above median house price. The agent said we have the perfect combination of good street, 4 bed, 2 bath, 2 garage. Its good layout etc. Its certainly not perfectly presented, but we did do a lot of work in the past few weeks to get it up to where it presents well.

 

[weg]

penny, my brother sold his house on the first open, with a 3 week cash settlement a few weeks ago. He didn't discount the property at all.

His was a quality built courtyard of 500sqm (he built it himself), 4b, 2b, 2 living areas, with beautiful high standard fittings, in a good school zone area that has mostly 3b, 1living on a courtyard block.

Apparently the scarcity is what sold it. Infact the people that bought it were near completion of their own courtyard home in the area, but loved this more than the one they were building. They later told the agent his was cheaper and better than theirs was to build.

I also know of others however, that have had their homes on the market for months. One just sold after 8 months (exceptionally beautiful property that was in 'The Advertiser' realestate spread about 3 years ago).

All I can say about that one is it went very CHEAP. They weren't even that desperate to sell (just wanted it sold) .

 

[pennyk]

3 offers in already, and we are already over our "reserve" price...... the agent is telling them we wont respond until mid week to give others a chance to get offers in.

 

[Ed Barton]

wow! that's excellent. are they all around the same amount or do they vary greatly?

 

[Aaron_C]

Nice work pennyk - I must ask you for pictures/strategies for my own sale next time

 

[pennyk]

wow! that's excellent. are they all around the same amount or do they vary greatly?

they are fairly similar at the moment.. Once the agent has several offers, she will go back to them and give a deadline to put in their best offer.

Have another 2 offers since my earlier post, and 3 more inspections this afternoon..

Its really amazing..

 

[Lamingtons]

Well done Penny. I hope this ease the stress of clean up and preparation somewhat!

 

[Ed Barton]

they are fairly similar at the moment.. Once the agent has several offers, she will go back to them and give a deadline to put in their best offer.

Have another 2 offers since my earlier post, and 3 more inspections this afternoon..

Its really amazing..

yes that is amazing.

I'm surprised that all offers are similar. i would have expected a low ball from bob, who's mate bazza at the pub told him property's a bubble about to burst and another over the top one by Felicia who just looves the place.

why all the interest? is there not much listed in your area? is it very large land content for the area? other?

sorry for all the questions, but i have never sold and find it fascinating.

 

[pennyk]

We're on at offers over 625K. One person rang through with an offer of 600K, and the agent said it was below the price and wouldnt accept it, so they put it an offer of 625K.. but thats the only "lowball" offer we received so far..... and it doesnt really qualify as lowball.
there are 46 houses for sale in Baulkham Hills with 4 beds and in price range 600-700K. All the feedback we had from agents was that it was taking 2-3 weeks longer to sell than previously.
It seems that the agent we are using has a number of properties 'under contract", so they have some pent up demand.
It is a reasonably high land content, because the house is positioned to maximise the land content.
But to be honest, the level of interest has taken us by surprise.....

 

[Ed Barton]

We're on at offers over 625K. One person rang through with an offer of 600K, and the agent said it was below the price and wouldnt accept it, so they put it an offer of 625K.. but thats the only "lowball" offer we received so far..... and it doesnt really qualify as lowball.
there are 46 houses for sale in Baulkham Hills with 4 beds and in price range 600-700K. All the feedback we had from agents was that it was taking 2-3 weeks longer to sell than previously.
It seems that the agent we are using has a number of properties 'under contract", so they have some pent up demand.
It is a reasonably high land content, because the house is positioned to maximise the land content.
But to be honest, the level of interest has taken us by surprise.....

as you say that's hardly a low ball. 'plus' in Brisbane atm generally means we've been trying to sell for a while and we don't want to reduce the sticker price any-more and will accept offers close to the price +.

glad to hear it;s different for you.

 

[Jacque]

Good on you Penny- I know those agents will do their best to maximise the final price so keep us posted.

I'm not surprised you have a lot of demand- Decent 4x2x2 houses in this area under $700K tend to sell well and, as you know, there are lots of buyers out there right now. Though your house doesn't necessarily attract the 25% of FHBs there's still a burgeoning market for families in the area up to $700K. Given all the movement with the upcoming NW rail link I also think this should assist with prices in the Hills area, B/Hills included.

My brother sold his beautiful North Rocks home recently after 1 week on the market for full asking price- who says there's a slump?!

We are sensing a change in the market and its not all about FHB's either. Lots of investors coming out of the woodwork, more activity and missing out on properties that previously we wouldn't have all point to a more equal balancing of supply/demand occurring in the suburbs we work in. The strongest markets are for median prices with the good old "bread and butter" well kept and located homes selling best. Nothing really changes....

 

[ldriver]

That's great news Penny- good luck with a speedy sale + great price by next week

 

[pennyk]

Our interesting week continues.. we ended up with 6 offers.
The agent went back and gave a deadline of 12 noon today to submit their best offer.

Again, we had 6 offers, all within 10K of each other.
So, we knocked out the 2 lowest offers, plus one high offer but where the buyer was needing additional time to organise finance.

That left us with 3 offers.... the agent went back to them to see if we could get a clear winning offer.

The result of that is that we have 3 offers from 3 very qualified offers all at exactly the same price!! None of them will increase beyond their current offer.

So, we have given ourselves an hour to select between them... but it will primarily on gut feel rather than any logic, because the logic is equal between them!!

 

[locko24]

Congrats Penny

Slightly aside - does a .25% really make that much difference? I'd be suprised. After all, on 600k, that's less than $20 per week!

 

[wobbycarly]

WOW - completely different story to our neck of the woods. We're going to opens and we're the only ones there. And while we've had a lot of "interest" (read "lookers"), we've not had any offers yet. Most of the lookers need to sell somewhere else first - vicious cycle.

Well done penny, take it while you can!

 

[pennyk]

Congrats Penny

Slightly aside - does a .25% really make that much difference? I'd be suprised. After all, on 600k, that's less than $20 per week!

I think its probably just psychological.
Actually the family we have ended up selling it to have been looking for over 12 months, but had some fairly specific requirements in terms of location/ features, which we just happened to have. So, I dont think it affected their decision.