Selling your home faster? Some tips. (Updated) – Usable for RENs too.

It’s not the best time to sell a property, especially a secondary one. A real estate negotiator just told me that owners are taking forever to sell. Well, whether we are selling because we need the money to upgrade to a bigger home or we are selling because we are scared the market will crash, I think the main concern is always time. You see, assuming we take 6 months to sell a house of RM500,000 which we have fully paid for, that’s already a loss of potential RM10,000 in interest. Yes, I am serious!  RM500,000 x 4 percent interest per annum x 6 months is RM10,000. Note that this is based on the most conservative number because assuming we use some of the proceeds to buy a good stock, our ‘loss’ from selling slowly is much higher! In fact, if we had bought a Real Estate Investment Trust giving us 7% returns per annum, we may have lost nearly RM18,000! Dear RENs, please do tell this to the owners too because most of the time, they want the BEST price but it’s at a huge cost to them… Beyond just time, the following would be things we should take note of too. Applicable to owners who REALLY wants to sell.
1) Count emotion out. – The buyer does not have the same feeling as you. You may have stayed there for many years, you may love the property, you may love the neighbourhood but the potential buyers just want the lowest price possible. It’s not about who wins or who loses. It’s just market price. Sell higher than market price and you will have to wait till all the cheaper units are sold first. Sell lower than market price and your unit should be sold first, assuming everything being equal. Decide.. ok?
2) Attractiveness of your property – Get a good REN. They would usually have access to other units in the same development and would be able to advise you on where your property actually stand. Truth is, there is no need to get 10 RENs. Just get a good one and he or she would already have all the connections to all other RENs within the same neighbourhood. If your property is truly ‘bad looking’ versus everyone else, please be realistic. If however your property is fully renovated, then stepback and objectively understand if the renovation is still up to date, TODAY.
3) Impress the buyers – Making sure your property is in its best condition helps. New Paint helps tremendously but as long as your paint is still looking acceptable, then chances are it is ok. Fix any lights which are not working. The toilet flush may need just RM100 to fix but if your prospective buyer could not flush after he has gone to the toilet, you have just lost your sale.
4) Get ONE GOOD REN – No, you do not need 10 different RENs, seriously. One good REN already have the networking with all other RENs. How to find a good one? Go online. Search for the project you are selling, look at the RENs who are selling the same project. The good ones usually puts more effort; more pictures, more explanations, a nice photo of himself or herself etc. No guarantees but it’s better than any Tom, Dick or Harry.
5) Messy is a no-no. – Yes, when it’s still your home, you can leave the newspapers lying around. However, when you have prospective buyers, make sure you tidy the place up. Buyers buy due to emotion, definitely not just the price because your property would not be the only one on sale. Prices are usually not that big different too because it’s always based on demand vs supply. Just imagine going into a retail store where everything is in a mess. You have lost the interest to buy….
6) A clean home is a better home – Spend RM100, hire two of those temporary maids for 4 hours and get them to help clean up the place. Investment is needed for a better ROI. By the way, RM100 is nowhere near the loss I mentioned above, if you take forever to sell your home.
On a personal note, I was trying to sell my Kelana Jaya condo for 3 months at RM450,000 before my good friend, Barry of Chester Properties – 016 2388308 told me that painting the home helps. I spent RM1,600 to repaint the home and for your information, it was sold within days at RM465,000. That was around 4 years ago. Perhaps I am just lucky? 😛  All the best in selling your home and use the proceeds for something even better! Cheers.
written on 4 Nov 2017
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