Selling property through your own website

[Kiam Kelly]

To Winston Wolffe:

Can you please let me know the appropriate place to start this thread? I realise this is not a "for sale" forum, and do not want to breach the Rules

To Tubs: It would be great to discuss this further - how can I get in touch?

 

[tubs]

To Winston Wolffe:

Can you please let me know the appropriate place to start this thread? I realise this is not a "for sale" forum, and do not want to breach the Rules

To Tubs: It would be great to discuss this further - how can I get in touch?

Just sent you a PM

 

[WinstonWolfe]

To Winston Wolffe:

Can you please let me know the appropriate place to start this thread? I realise this is not a "for sale" forum, and do not want to breach the Rules

Read this then stick it in Caveat Emptor....

http://www.somersoft.com/forums/showthread.php?t=89

 

[evand]

I've done this successfully previously to sell some land that i owned. Its a great example of whats called called 2 step marketing.

The first step is - for eg, a small print ad in a newspaper, the 2nd step is the one page website.

The beauty of it is that you cant put enough information in the initial ad to sell the property so you drive people to your website where there is all the info any prospect would want....pictures, copy, video etc to sell the property. I even had the contract availabe as a pdf download from the site.

And the cost is just about free for the site.

Dont try to drive traffic to the site via the web, thats too difficult (read expensive) for a one off marketing campaign. Use offline ads ads in newspapers, mags, flyers etc. Maybe some free online classified sites like gumtree.com.a would work well but i never needed them.

Your best bet is to place small classified ads in the weekend papers. They are not too expensive and can drive a lot of traffic to your site. there are plenty of other offline methods to drive traffic but thats probably the easiest and fastest way for a beginner.

Also, the copy in the initial ads and the website is all important. But thats another story altogether.

One day RE agents will wake up to themselves and change the ineffective way they sell property. By the way, i'm a part time marketing consultant.

 

[RumpledElf]

I even had the contract availabe as a pdf download from the site.

Where can you get contract templates from, or is this something to engage a conveyancer for?

I'm tempted to sign up an agent with a non-exclusive arrangement. He gets his $3000 if he sells it, I keep it if I find a buyer myself. Will they let you do that?

 

[Kiam Kelly]

Where can you get contract templates from, or is this something to engage a conveyancer for?

I'm tempted to sign up an agent with a non-exclusive arrangement. He gets his $3000 if he sells it, I keep it if I find a buyer myself. Will they let you do that?

I have got contract templates from REIQ (in Queensland) or from a real estate agent with whom I have a really good relationship.

Some agent do allow you to sign up an agreement where they get a commission only if they well and if you find a buyer, they get no commission. Other agents do not like this type of agreement.

 

[Property Meister]

ive also thought about this as well,

what about something like a free realestate advertising service, basically a free version of re.com.au

sure traffic will be low and hard to get, but if its free, and you are selling a home, wouldn't you just put it up???? and then maybe charge a bit later?

 

[evand]

You dont need a contract template.

I had the contract made up as normal with a conveyancer and took it to Officeworks where they scanned it and turned it into a pdf file which they gave to me on a CD disk. I then uploaded the pdf file to the website.

Its the same as handing someone the contract except they download it from the website instead. they can print it instead of you. (or the agent)

You have to attempt to make it as easy as possible for someone to make a decision to move forward.

Which is why the website strategy is so good. You can include all the info they need, and more. Photos, copy, videos, contract, Google Map links etc etc

I sold my land in 2 weeks for over the asking price. I had so many enquiries. I'm sure my marketing skills helped but it will work for anyone with a bit of effort.

As for your 2nd question. What you are suggesting is called an open listing. Agents rarely do that as they could be wasting their time for no reward. Understandable.

Where can you get contract templates from, or is this something to engage a conveyancer for?

I'm tempted to sign up an agent with a non-exclusive arrangement. He gets his $3000 if he sells it, I keep it if I find a buyer myself. Will they let you do that?

 

[leitch1967]

Hi everone

Just wondering if anyone has tried selling property directly through the Internet themselves? I don't mean just listing on one of the Private Sales websites, but developing your own website just to sell the property. If so your ideas would be welcome.

Hi

Why not go through e.g. Realestate.com.au which ensures you will get the traffic and direct them to your website via a link??

 

[RumpledElf]

You can't sell without an agent on realestate.com.au. If you could, everyone would do it.

 

[Property Meister]

I see everyones point about being impossible to have a site with no traffic, advertising, budget etc. etc.

but what about your own one... say its free for the first 3 years until you become big

ill give an example. say its a crappy used car market,

ive got myself, a car, say $10k, $15k, $20k, $25k, $30k in value, fairly common so not a once off, or limited or unknown brand.

so I go to the usual, carsales, trading post, autotrader or whatever,

pay my $30-$50 per ad, for one or 2 or all of them, if Im desperate or ultra keen to get rid of it, and you see a site which says free advertising, with very few cars, wouldn't you say, oh what the hell, ive got the photos and description already, ill just put it up and try my luck....

I would.... just a thought.

 

[Spectre]

A tangent of this was discussed some time ago. We recently had a client sell a place on www.happeningrealestate.com.au - I believe its more for Brisbane/QLD'ers though. It caused some angst with some of the REAs on the forum I think.

Client reckons that Domain is a waste of time though and all the leads came out of the re.com inquiries.

But end of the day, he did sell it for what he wanted and didnt pay REIQ. And all he paid in Comm was $590.

 

[HomeBuyAU]

I think creating a website to sell your own properties is well worth the effort. The costs and time could be very small and even if you have to take some time to learn the basics of developing and running a website it could be a good skill to have for a number of other situations.

I would suggest you get your hands wet by starting a free blog on a subject you enjoy and then once you have a little expeirence then buy a domain name and a hosting package and get you own site up and running.

I've been a pro web designer for many years since the mid 90's and now I own my own business running my own websites but the funny thing is most of my sites now run on the free Wordpress backend. Wordpress is very easy to use and it does everything for you as far as html etc goes.

 

[Kiam Kelly]

Hi Monsoon

I'd send you a private message to discuss this further with you....but as a relative "newbie" to forums, I can't seem to work out how to post a private message Can someone please assist sill me? Or could you please send me a message Monsoon? I seem to have worked out how to reply once someone sends the message to me.
Thanks

 

[Property Meister]

maybe one of the experts could tell me briefly....

how does re.com.au and domain charge their customers.

I understand that re.com.au is only for agents, while domain is not only for agents only...

is it like a subscription service??? where the agent pays $x per month and they can advertise as many as they want or is it like tiered, eg 0-20, 20-40, 40-100, 100+ with different pricing strucutures?

 

[HomeBuyAU]

Hi Monsoon

I'd send you a private message to discuss this further with you....but as a relative "newbie" to forums, I can't seem to work out how to post a private message Can someone please assist sill me? Or could you please send me a message Monsoon? I seem to have worked out how to reply once someone sends the message to me.
Thanks

Hey feel free to discuss it here as I'm sure everyone want to continue this discussion. If it's that private then I might not want to give that information out anyway but I'm happy to help or answer any questions you have and there are a number of web people here on this forum that can also give you some tips. If you do think it would be better to pm me and you have something you would rather keep private then just make a few more posts on other subjects and you should be able to pm I think!

 

[Jacque]

To send someone a private message right click on their name and the options to PM (amongst others) will pop up.

As far as setting up a website for your property goes- great idea but possibly may be overkill as Domain makes it pretty easy for you to display all you need to about your property anyway. Overdoing it may turn off some buyers, as they just need to know the basics first, before investigating further.

When I sold privately, I used Domain, a sign, local flyers and a local RE ad in the newspaper. Worked a treat- Domain and the sign got the most hits, and both were well worth the small investment. The largest investment is in your time, negotiation skills and property presentation. Best of luck selling

 

[RedPanda]

Saving on REA comm always seemed pretty tempting to me but never thought of doing it before. This thread has definitely influenced me so much that I'll give it a go when I need to sell and if not go back to REA

I have experience and knowhow of Internet Marketing or Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and I have spent a few years doing that and I currently have websites that are currently on first page of search engine rankings and therefore make me some passive income. But without a lot of content there's only so much you can do to drive traffic to a website. But I'll give it a go anyway when need be.

 

[Matt Mc]

Have just done exactly this, as an addition to normal marketing rather than a supplement to it.

www.26canopus.com.au
www.70winlock.com.au

 

[Cashflow]

Hi Kiam

You can sell your property both privately and through a real estate agent. You simply use an open agreement with the estate agent that also allows you to show and sell the property yourself. If the sale comes from a purchaser you found you pay no commission. If the sale comes from a purchaser who was introduced to the property through the real estate agent then you pay the commission. Agents aren't keen to use this method but shop around until you find one that will. After all, if they have a so called "waiting list" of purchasers this method shouldn't threaten them.

Make sure you get an independent valuer to value your property first. This way you can do your own research on which price your property should sell for. Start by comparing your property to previous comparable properties sold and ones that are currently on the market. If you have a building report and pest inspection report this would also be handy. If repairs have been made since these reports have receipts to show that they have been carried out, if not, obtain three quotes for each problem that you can show to possible purchasers.

I previously sold a property myself using by placing a two line text only ad in the local paper which directed the purchaser to a website listing. On the website listing I could display a variety of photos and a huge amount of text including details of house/land etc plus general suburb enough. If the property is in a smaller town include local development plans especially incoming businesses, growth in population and council plans of upgrades to infrastructure etc. If you are looking to market to an investor include all outgoing expenses for property ie water rates, council rates etc plus possible likely rent. Also spread the word through my own network - emails, work notice board, local community - flyers on boards, letterbox drop for surrounding area, finance broker, solicitor, accountant. A For Sale sign is also a must. As most buyers do drive around the suburbs they are interested in or have family and friends on the lookout for them.

If there has been any renovations you need to have council approval documentation.

Have all these ready when your property is inspected that way you will be abe to answer questions immediately.

Hope this has been of some assistance and look forward to hearing how your sale goes.

Peter
www.cashflowcalculators.com.au
www.privaterealestate.net.au