How to Sell a House in Sydney and NSW – 10-step Insider Guide

1. Preparing Your House for Sale

Preparing the house for sale

The first step in selling your house is ensuring it's in the best possible condition. This means decluttering and staging your home to appeal to potential buyers.

Here are some great tips for this:

• Clear out or store any personal items
• Make sure the furniture is arranged in a way that makes the space look open and inviting
• Maintain the lawns and gardens so that they're neat and tidy. Even we always notice a good lawn when we're out pounding the pavement! If you can impress us, you can impress anyone.
• Next, look at any minor repairs or updates that need to be made. This can be anything from patching up that hole in the wall to replacing outdated fixtures.

Not only will these tips make your home more appealing to buyers, but they can also increase its value or, at the very least, create fewer objections and allow for a smoother sale.

2. Choosing a real estate agent

Choosing the right agent in Sydney and NSW

The next step is choosing the right real estate agent. This is a key factor in ensuring a successful sale. In today's market, it's important to look for an agent who has outstanding processes and uses a combination of both old and new technologies to reach more buyers and sell your home faster and for the best result.

Transparency is also crucial in this process. Ensure your agent is willing to thoroughly explain their process to you and keep you informed throughout the sale. However, the most important factor is to choose an agent who is honest about your property value. If you interview multiple agents and some are promising you a sky-high price without any proof, there's a good chance they may not be being truthful. This can result in having to continuously reduce the price at their behest (knowingly), which can be a frustrating and disappointing experience.

3. Setting the Right Price

Once you have your home prepared for sale and a reliable real estate agent, it's time to set the right price. Understanding the local housing market is key to pricing your home correctly. Look at recent sales data to understand what buyers are paying for similar homes in your area.

To expand on this, we want to teach you a bit about how we do this so that you can implement it in the same way. Let's start with the common mistakes:

How NOT to value a house

When we say to compare against "similar homes", we mean it! A commonly appearing case study is a vendor who approaches us to appraise their home but at the same time tells us what they believe the value is. In fact, we always ask for their opinion before we even get started. It's important to us to gauge a homeowner's expectations. It's worth noting that their answer cannot and will not ever impact our appraisal price. As mentioned, considering all agents need to provide proof of their estimate by law, you'll find out very quickly if this is happening.

If once completing the appraisal, we find that the homeowner's expectations are well above the market, it's usually down to one of three reasons:

• A trusted friend or family member has simply told them a number (we call this "Uncle Lewie")
• They may be under the impression that a specific feature or location provides more value than it does
• The houses they chose to compare against weren't quite "similar" enough

The third point here is the most important for this particular process. The process we're about to explain is known as the Comparative Market Analysis, or "CMA", and this is the proof agents must provide you. In this example, the homeowner is comparing 3-bedroom homes, but their comparison looks like this:

Their Home:

• Built in 1960
• Fibro or Clad
• 400sqm
• Updated 20 years ago

The home they're comparing against:

• Built in 2000
• Brick home
• 600sqm
• Renovated recently
• On the other side of the suburb

Yes, they're both 3-bedroom homes. Though this is absolutely going to give off the wrong idea of what purchasers are paying for "homes like yours". This may be an extreme example, but it outlines most of the possible mistakes at once. So how is it done properly?

How to value a house

Here's our cheat sheet for how an agent selects properties to compare against in their CMA:

• Distance to the property, usually within 2km or in streets that offer similar value (i.e. water views, high side, private school zones etc)
• Sale date, usually property sold in the last 6 months or less if conditions have recently changed
• Build date. It's important to maintain a similar style and era
• Land size. In most parts of Sydney, this is the most crucial, as land is where the value is
• Storeys. An obvious one
• Beds, Baths, Cars. Basically, how hospitable a property is. How long can a family stay in this property comfortably without outgrowing it?
• Other features. Some buyers will offer more for a pool, and others offer less due to maintenance and child safety. Most purchasers offer less for a Battleaxe, and some may prefer it.

Now, you won't always find properties that perfectly match your own. The point is to compare, so the more different recently sold properties you look at, you'll start to see where the value of your property and its features might fit in amongst them. Sometimes this can be a difficult task for a very unique home with very few comparables. This is where an agent's expertise comes into play. We can look at other eras and account for market different market conditions and we even have strategies to have the market tell us what the value is.

It's important to consider the fair market value of your home, which is the price a buyer would be willing to pay for your home in today's market. Your agent can help you determine the right price to set for your home, taking into account the local housing market and the condition of your home.

Pricing strategies

It's also important to consider pricing strategies. There are strict laws surrounding underquoting to prevent misleading the market. On the other hand, overpricing your home can lead to a longer sale and potentially losing out on potential buyers, especially in a market that is travelling downwards. Your agent can help you determine the best pricing strategy for your home.

4. Marketing Your House

Marketing your home

Once you've set the right price, it's time to market your home. The key to a successful marketing campaign is to create a listing that stands out from the competition.

This can include:

• Advertising on portals like realestate.com.au and Domain
• Professional photos
• Virtual tours, videos
• Drone shots
• Location shots etc

These are essential to showcase your home's best features, and the ad copy should also tell a story, not just list the features.

Open houses and private showings are also crucial in the marketing process. They allow potential buyers to see your home in person and get a feel for the layout and flow. Your agent will be there every step of the way to ensure your home is marketed effectively.

5. Obtaining the contract of sale

Before you officially list your property, however, your solicitor or conveyancer will need to have created the Contract of Sale. This is what both parties will be signing in the event the sale is successful. This can take anywhere up to a few weeks so allow plenty of time for this. Your LGA or Council will need to provide your solicitor with crucial documents which can take time.

6. Navigating the Offer

Navigating offers when selling a house

Once you start receiving offers, it's important to understand that some purchasers may make requests as a condition of the sale. These are conditions that must be met before the sale can go through. It's important to work closely with your agent and solicitor or conveyancer to navigate these contingencies and ensure that the sale goes smoothly.

In addition, your agent will provide insight into whether any given offer is the one you should take. They will know the conditions of the market and whether or not an offer is a lowball or something to actually consider.

7. Exchange of contracts

Exchange of Contracts

So we’ve accepted an offer we’re happy with. What’s next is the exchange of contracts or “exchange” for short. There will be two exact copies of the contract printed. This is the point where you will sign one and the successful purchaser will sign the other. Each contract is then sent to the opposite party’s solicitor or conveyancer. This is why it’s called “exchange”.

It’s important to note that after exchange, the sale is purely in the hands of the solicitors or conveyancers and no longer with the agent. We still serve to communicate where it will be helpful, but all requests and correspondence are now to be handled through them instead.

Once exchange has occurred, the settlement period begins, as well as the cooling off period if the sale wasn’t at an auction.

8. The cooling-off period

The cooling off period and holding deposit

What is a cooling off period?

Put simply, once an offer has been accepted, the purchaser must put down a small, fixed holding deposit. The holding deposit is always 0.25% of the purchase price and must be paid for the cooling off period. At this point, the property is secured and can’t be purchased by anyone else. The standard length of the cooling off period is five business days, and this is usually the time when the purchaser carries out their due diligence. This usually comprises of a building and pest inspection if one doesn't already exist, and the bank valuation at the property.

Is there a cooling off period after an auction?

The answer is no. There is no cooling off period for auctions. Inspections are usually carried out during the auction campaign before auction day. A successful auction will enter straight into the settlement period.

9. The settlement period

The settlement Period

Once the cooling-off period ends, or at the end of a successful auction, we arrive the final stage. The purchaser pays the remainder of the deposit which is 10% of the purchase price as standard. The standard length of the settlement period is 42 days from the date of exchange. This means the settlement period begins on the same day the cooling off period begins, not after it ends.

Does settlement period include weekends?

The answer is yes; unlike the cooling off period, it does. Not much is involved on our side during the settlement period; everything is happening in the background between the solicitors or conveyancers.

10. Settlement day

Settlement Day

Congratulations we’re at the end of the process, it’s settlement day! The day where everyone’s dreams come true and you can finally, hopefully, get a full night’s sleep. The purchaser is entitled to one final pre settlement inspection before settlement occurs. This is most commonly carried out on settlement day to ensure everything is out of the property and it is in good condition. At some point, the conveyancers will notify the agent that everything has settled, funds are transferred and the buyer gets the keys, marking the end of your selling journey!