Considerations when selling a home

As a homeowner, buying your home was probably one of the biggest investments you ever made. So when it comes to selling your home, you need to make sure the process runs smoothly to reap the benefits of that investment.

Most homeowners hope that they can sell their homes quickly and make a decent profit, especially if they have owned the property for long enough for it to have appreciated in value.

There are many reasons for selling a home including upsizing, downscaling, making a profit, job transfers or retirement. However, each of these has the same goal: to sell your home within a reasonable amount of time while ideally making a financial profit.

Once you have decided that you are ready to sell, you need to take a number of factors into consideration to make sure the process is efficient and beneficial for you. 

Right Price

If your house is priced correctly, within the first few weeks of being on show you are more likely to attract a serious Buyer and to sell your property within a reasonable amount of time.

A key factor when selling a house is its price tag. Every Seller should know what their property is worth and researching values of comparable properties can be a useful benchmark. Buyers can easily find out what other homes in their suburb, street or complex have sold for by checking Property24's home values. As the Seller, doing similar research will be a useful guideline to help you establish a fair market-related price: one which is not too high or too low.

Timing

Most homeowners hope that they can sell their homes quickly and make a decent profit, especially if they have owned the property for long enough for it to have appreciated in value.

It would be ideal to be able to sell when market conditions are just right and you are able to get a good financial return, but for most Sellers it is not possible to hang on for the market to improve. Also, it's worth keeping in mind that the market you are selling in is also the market you are buying in, which is a factor people often forget.

A Seller will be more likely to sell a home with greater ease when the property is in a sought after location regardless of timing, but if this is not the case, the Seller should consider a sale during a preferred season. 

Seasons

It may be easier to sell a property during the warmer months, when your home and garden look most attractive and those shopping for a home are more likely to venture out to attend show days.

Based on current statistics, this is when homes listed online receive the most amount of interest from the buying public.

However, throughout the year there are always Buyers, so if you have to list your home during autumn or winter, there are other ways you can create interest. Having a fire going in the fireplace adds to the warmth and ambiance on show days, while additionally displaying warm and inviting images as part of your online property listing can catch a potential Buyer's attention.

Market

When selling, you want to take into consideration three essential market factors:

1.      The current property market - is it a Buyers market or a Sellers market?
2.      How homes for sale are doing in your area - for how long, on average, do they remain on the market?
3.      The interest rate - are the interest rates currently low or high?

When the interest rate (the percentage charged for the use of money in the form of a home loan) is high, it can negatively affect the Seller after a sale, upon the purchase of a new home. If interest rates are lower, it could be a great time to trade up to a more expensive home without enduring a significant increase in your monthly financial obligations. However, the interest rate can fluctuate, and as such one should never purchase a home without looking at the affordability of Bank repayments should the interest rate rise.