Selling Property in 2013

I'm probably going to sell my apartment soon but I would like to know when would be the best time to put it on the market as many people are on holiday etc?

Some other questions:

Will people be buying or looking in January?
If I sell it in January or February and the property has 2 year fixed loan until March, will that be costly for me? (property is worth mid 200k)

Also, If the neighbours apartment has been on the market for 5 months even though it's not as good as mine (quite rough from looking at the pics) will that mean I have little chance of a quick sale? (another apartment that was renovated like mine sold within weeks though before this one went on the market).

Can I get multiple agents to list it and maybe even a buyers agent?

I need a quick sale as I want to head back overseas to be with my fiancee and I have other plans for the money to make more money. I also plan to track down the agent who sold the other apartment quickly who I met once and is one of those straight talking no nonsense Aussie woman (similar to the woman who sold my last property quickly). She will be the ideal person to sell this property but the only problem is I can't stand the agency she works for as I had my properties managed by them once and they were just terrible. But I will put that aside and contact her directly and see if she can sell it for me.
 
Hiya

Market looks to be awash with buyers and not much good stock.................

Suppose it depends on where it is, and what its like, how much competing stock there is and if the price is conducive to a quick sale

ta
rolf
 
Will people be buying or looking in January?
If I sell it in January or February and the property has 2 year fixed loan until March, will that be costly for me? (property is worth mid 200k).

From about mid-January always has been considered to be a good time to list properties. People who are moving for jobs and schools are out looking.

You need to be careful with your fixed loan. That could be costly so maybe you need to check that out first and maybe insist on a 60 day or 90 day settlement to get you past the fixed term.
 
I'm probably going to sell my apartment soon but I would like to know when would be the best time to put it on the market as many people are on holiday etc?

Some other questions:

Will people be buying or looking in January?
If I sell it in January or February and the property has 2 year fixed loan until March, will that be costly for me? (property is worth mid 200k)

Also, If the neighbours apartment has been on the market for 5 months even though it's not as good as mine (quite rough from looking at the pics) will that mean I have little chance of a quick sale? (another apartment that was renovated like mine sold within weeks though before this one went on the market).

Can I get multiple agents to list it and maybe even a buyers agent?

I need a quick sale as I want to head back overseas to be with my fiancee and I have other plans for the money to make more money. I also plan to track down the agent who sold the other apartment quickly who I met once and is one of those straight talking no nonsense Aussie woman (similar to the woman who sold my last property quickly). She will be the ideal person to sell this property but the only problem is I can't stand the agency she works for as I had my properties managed by them once and they were just terrible. But I will put that aside and contact her directly and see if she can sell it for me.

The closer you get to the end of your fixed rate loan the less the penalty but ring your bank and they can tell you what it is.
You might be able to sell with a longer settlement.
I think January is when listings pick up again. Yes you can have multiple agents sell your property if you like but most people use one.
 
thanks for the replies. I did call the bank about 6 months ago and it would cost me around 4k back then so I guess by February it would be only be around $1,000 or less but I will find out like you say.... plus by the time it sells and the paperwok goes through plus with a longer settlement then it might not go through to March anyway...

That sounds positive about selling in January, I might start preparing for it.

One other problem though is the current tenant is on a 6 month lease that won't expire till February. How will it work with the tenant there? I don't want to lose them as they pay good rental and I also don't want to annoy them with having agents and buyers going in and out etc plus another agency manages it that I won't use to sell the property.
 
We are selling right now and the tenants are being a right royal PITA.

Better to sell it empty, but I would still start selling as soon as you are ready, let them run into a periodic tenancy so you can get them out with whatever notice is appropriate in your state. You might as well have rent coming in, especially if it may take a while to sell.

If they play up too much you can review things.
 
You might as well have rent coming in, especially if it may take a while to sell.

If they play up too much you can review things.

Yeah I really need the rent money right now so losing them would be a big problem.

I just realized I made a stupid miscalculation.... the 2 year fixed term finishes in March 2014 not 2013. But if it was $4,000 about 6 months ago to pay out the term then so it must surly be much less than that now I would say, maybe just over $1,000?
 
Wow....

Lots of miss information in this thread.

Market looks to be awash with buyers and not much good stock.................
Really??? You are just going to take that comment in blind faith just because you are prone to confirmation bias? The extra ................... makes the comment look like the person is being sarcastic but none the less taking a random posters comment in blind faith is silly.

Firstly, your fixed loan will cost you more than $1k to get out of if there is more than 12 months.

Secondly, the best time to sell would be at any time. Don't think that if you wait 3 months to sell because the market will be better will earn you more for your apartment. The market doesn't work like that.

If you need a quick sale give good incentives to the agent. Be willing to pay 3%+ commission. Be realistic with your price and don't be an *** to your tenants, they can sometimes be the best tool at selling your property to potential buyers.

Goodluck!
 
Yea maybe you can pay your tenants out to agree to a higher rent while your trying to sell so that it looks like its a higher yielding investment huh geogie1 http://somersoft.com/forums/showthread.php?t=82107 that's definately using tenants to your advantage

Ahhh

Would you like me to apologise for that post?

It was a brain waive that I thought seeing as the same practice takes place in commercial property. Face and Effective rents. Landlords always add incentives to so they can increase the rent and in turn increase value.

If I offended you I am sorry.
 
Well I do trust Rolf as he is a long time member here and knows his stuff but of course I would be doing more research on the market my property is in. I like the idea of offering an incentive to the agent to entice a quick sale. I'm probably more thinking about having 3 agents have it on their books.

On that subject, is there a way to find who is the top performing agent in my area, not agency but actually salesperson? My plan would be to use the agent that sold the other unit in my property within weeks of listing it and another 2 of the best performers in my area. I would probably give them incentives of maybe 3% for first month sale, 2% 2nd month sale and 1% for 3rd month sale or something like that.

As for the payout, yes it is just over $3,000 as I called them today. I guess it goes down roughly 1k per 6 months. This would not stop me from selling it though if I decide to put it on the market, I would just try to add 3k to the price or take the loss as a lesson.

As for working with the tenants, well my property is getting very good rental and probably 30% higher on average but I had to wait awhile to get a tenant but when I changed to another agent they found a tenant in 3 days as opposed to the previous one not been able to find a tenant in 1 month even with 3-4 interested parties ready to sign up. They seemed to have a problem signing tenants up and then the client would shop around before their scheduled sign up day a week later lol...

Anyway, I'm not sure yet if I will sell because having the next door unit on the market for 6 months and it looks in bad shape would affect my sale.

Investors should be interested in it as it is offering good returns, I won't post exact figures but something like sell for $270, returns $340 pw and in NSW city. I want to sell it as I need some cash to travel back and be with my fiancee and to invest in my Internet business....
 
Putting the time into researching the agent and pricing the property correctly will be the quickest way to sell fast, best not to advertise that fact too widely either unless you absolutely have to.
 
It also depends on the other unit for sale in the complex.

If the other unit is in poor condition as you say, how much more do you want for yours over their asking price?

People may see yours as good value, as compared to an unrenovated comparable for only $20K less for example. If you wait until it sells, and it sells cheap, then that low recent sale in the complex is still likely to affect your sale.

Buyers are getting smarter and often have access to online resources that can tell them the sales price for other units in the block - it also may come up on a valuation.

Depending of course on the prices and more information, it could be a smart move to price yours realistically and beat the other unit to a quick sale.

Also - having tenants and a healthy yield will appeal to investors. Is it an apartment that would appeal to investors (who's buying in the area, are vacancy rates low, other owners in block investors etc?).

If it's an investor than a stable tenant will definitely appeal. If someone falls in love with it but wants to move in at settlement, you may be able to pay the tenant out. Often a $1500 once-off is enough to move them along (especially if they've been irritated by the sales process).
 
It also depends on the other unit for sale in the complex.

If the other unit is in poor condition as you say, how much more do you want for yours over their asking price?

Hi,some good points...

I would hope for about 10k more than the other unit but realistic expectations and after some negotiating from the buyer I might expect about the same as the other units list price. I think they have overpriced their unit for the shape it is in. A fully renovated unit in the same block (of 12) sold for the price I'm hoping to get 6 months ago only weeks after listing. The unit is not renovated at all and the pictures show someone messy living in it and it looks ugly and untidy.

People may see yours as good value, as compared to an unrenovated comparable for only $20K less for example. If you wait until it sells, and it sells cheap, then that low recent sale in the complex is still likely to affect your sale.

Buyers are getting smarter and often have access to online resources that can tell them the sales price for other units in the block - it also may come up on a valuation.

Depending of course on the prices and more information, it could be a smart move to price yours realistically and beat the other unit to a quick sale.

Yes some things to think about... Mine is only painted and carpeted although the kitchen and bathroom were renovated 3 years ago by previous owner.

To make it as good as the one that sold I would have had to take out the wall to make the kitchen and lounge open up. I would have done that but ran out of time. Otherwise, it's a nice unit and much better than what it was before I done the work. It also gets a lot more rent even though it was the highest rent maker in the block prior. It has the best views in the complex and probably is the best unit because of that mainly.

I'm not sure what the other unit sold for? The data was not online last time I looked but probably is now and I will check it out but I would say they got a good price as it looked nice in the photos. The thing is that if I got mine valued now it might be quite high because of that sale but it could also lose points if they see this other one has not sold for 6 months listing. If it did sell then I would say that is a good thing as I'm not sure investors would be so happy to see that one not sold for so long and if it sold the price is quite good for the condition so that should also help.

If I list it then I would probably list in $9,000 above the other one but offer the agents special commissions and be negotiable for a quick sale. I will come out after paying the mortgage with a nice amount of cash to use on my Internet business and it will make much more money than keeping the place at least in the short term. Later I will buy more properties when I have more income but for now if I have the cash I can turn that into a lot more money as I have some solid plans to use it. So if I lose 10k or whatever it's not a big deal as I could make that back in a short time with my Internet business.

The only thing that puts me off selling it is it's my last property and I do like that fact I do have at least one property. But I have no cash right now so I need to do this to fulfill my plans. But the main thing I'm worried about selling it is if it also ended up sitting and not selling and in 6 months time it's still there but with annoyed tenants etc.

Plus my income has been low in recent times and if I wanted to buy property again in the future it might be hard to get a loan when banks see my banking history of falling back from what it once was.

So deciding to sell or not is difficult but I would like to get back overseas and be with my fiancee and get working on my Internet business and not having to get out and do a 9-5 job which I will have to do soon. But I'm worried if it does not sell then nothing is going to change either....

Also - having tenants and a healthy yield will appeal to investors. Is it an apartment that would appeal to investors (who's buying in the area, are vacancy rates low, other owners in block investors etc?).

If it's an investor than a stable tenant will definitely appeal. If someone falls in love with it but wants to move in at settlement, you may be able to pay the tenant out. Often a $1500 once-off is enough to move them along (especially if they've been irritated by the sales process).

The area is rising fast in prices, I'm amazed at the prices for property but it's in a good area but the complex is getting a bit dated now although it's in good shape but compared to all the luxury apartments selling around the same area it's looking like one of the cheaper places now sadly. But the good thing is the area is in growth and demand.

having the high rent income is good yes and it must appeal to investors but the only problem is that other units in the complex are getting lower rents than mine, I just think the other owners are not up to date or are not that worried about getting good rents but that could cause problems if investors see mine as priced a lot higher.

Moving the tenant on should not be a problem as their lease expires in February but then again I think even then you have to give them quite a bit of notice these days.

The unit does tick all of the right boxes:

high yield
close to mid city
in growth area
in university area
5 minutes walk to shopping
near public transport
central to various malls and suburbs
close but not too close to huge sports stadium
2 bdr
2 car carport
top views
quiet street
close to hospital and schools

I do beleive it could be worth another $50,000 or higher in 1 year with what I'm seeing with the area growth.
 
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