I would love to hear from anyone who has sold their home or IP privately, and what they learnt from it. I'm currently doing a book review on this subject and would welcome real "human interest" stories
Hi Jacque, Which book? We bought two properties off the plan in a new estate in Canberra and then sold them 20 months later during the boom, for a "reasonable" profit We sold them privately. Firstly, we decided to sell them untennanted. Once cleared, we tidied them up and put a for sale sign in each window with the mobile phone number; this actually got a couple of inquiries. Since we only lived 10 minutes away it was easy to open the house if an appointment was made. We also advertised in the paper, which wasn't very successful. About half the inquiries were from agents offering to sell the properties for us for an increased amount (which after their commission was of no further benefit). In a number of calls they posed as buyers for about 15 minutes before disclosing that they were agents - really annoying. Putting 'no agents' in the ad doesn't stop this. Note, we valued the houses carefully and set a price that was fair, but slightly less than if it included an agent's commission (splitting the saving). We also listed both houses on allhomes.com.au. The total cost at the time was $330 per house, inc GST. The response was immediate and the lady who inquired and visited the properties on the first day ended up buying one. The internet ad also attracted more agents, just in case we needed them ... The second house took an extra 3 weeks to sell. We used a few more newspaper ads unsuccessfully; total cost less than $100. Ultimately, the property was sold using a self painted "open house" sign at each end of the street (made from recycled wood and paint - total cost $3). Because it was still a new suburb, the signs attracted some of the many potential buyers just cruising around to other open houses and checking out the new suburb in general! We ran the open houses ourselves and prepared our own black and white for sale flyers with a basic photo and details. TIP: get an old mobile phone and a new pre-paid SIM card ($30) for receiving all inquiries, etc. When that phone rings you know its about that property. After the sale is complete, throw the SIM card away. This way your personal numbers are protected and you don't get further unwanted calls after the sale. We look forward to hearing of other experiences. Regards, Dave & Karen
Jacque, good tip on dealing with agents and the commission on buyer. Hopefully I won't have to sell any more - I prefer to collect IPs than sell them! Dave
Me too If they're performing well. Actually I've just about finished the book review and found it a very worthwhile read- lots of commonsense ideas, but sometimes it's good to have them reiterated by a decent writer to reinforce such ideas in one's psyche Look out for the review soon.......
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