Selling guide
4 things to do once your home is on the market
There’s still work to be done once the property is listed.
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When you’re selling a home, it’s fair to say that a lot of the work happens before the property is officially for sale.
To get to this stage you’ll have done everything from finding a real estate agent (if you want to use one) to having photos taken and setting your sale price.
But now that’s all done and your shiny new Trade Me Property listing is out there showing off your property to prospective buyers, is it time to just switch off?
The short answer is no. There’s still plenty you can and should be doing while your home is on the market. Here are some of the most important.
1. Be responsive (to either agents, or to buyers directly)
If you’re selling your home through a real estate agent, you’d expect them to be prompt in answering any queries or concerns you have. But this is a two-way street. They’ll be getting in touch to organise things like open homes or private viewings for prospective buyers, and they need you to be prompt in your communications to let them know what times are most suitable for you. This is particularly true if the home you’re selling is your primary residence, as you’ll need to coordinate closely with your agent to make sure the property is looking neat and tidy.
If you’re selling your home yourself, you’ll be dealing with prospective buyers directly. In addition to organising things like open homes, you’ll also need to field questions that potential buyers might have about the property quickly and accurately. Remember, if a buyer asks about a potential issue with your property, you need to be completely open and honest with them, or it could come back to bite you at the settlement stage.
When selling a home privately, it’s important that you're timely with your responses to prospective buyers at all times, but particularly when the market is tilted more towards buyers than sellers. When buyers have plenty of choice, they’re less likely to wait around for you to get back to them, if other sellers are more responsive.
Being responsive to agents or prospective buyers is key.
2. Keep the property looking its best
While you should have ample warning about any property viewings or open homes, you’ll still want to try and keep your home looking market ready as best you can while it’s for sale.
You never know when you (or your agent) might get a call from a buyer who’s seen your Trade Me Property listing, loves the look of your home and is in a hurry to buy. Rather than scrambling to do major tidying and decluttering, it’s ideal if you can have the property ready to view at short notice.
A good general piece of advice when selling a home is to declutter and depersonalise. We recommend putting personal items (think family photos) into storage while you’re marketing your property, and try to get rid of excess furniture and clear out the cupboards. You don’t need (or want) to make the home look deserted, but you do want potential buyers to be able to see themselves living there, which is hard when it’s full of your stuff.
3. Keep an eye on the property market
Keeping an eye on the property market is particularly important if you’re selling your home privately. If you’re selling with an agent they’ll be doing this through the course of their day-to-day job (though it’s helpful if you’re up to speed too).
Why is this important? Staying up to speed with NZ’s real estate market can help you set expectations regarding your own property sale. Of course, all homes are different, and there are myriad factors that can impact how quickly a property sells, and for what price. However, buyer behaviour is impacted by both local and nationwide factors, including the economy, the jobs market and government policy.
So, for example, if your home is taking longer to sell, you can try to understand why by looking at trends in the real estate market. You might find that a bunch of homes similar to yours have sold recently in your area, but that their prices were lower than what you’re asking. This could indicate that you might want to reconsider how much you’ve listed your home for (although this is an important decision, and not one to be taken lightly).
Easy (and free) ways to stay informed include following our Property News page, and also using our Property Insights tool. Here, you can search by address, region, district or suburb to see properties that have sold recently, and how much they sold for.
You can use our free tools to keep up to date with property trends in your neighbourhood.
4. Think about how you’ll negotiate
If your sales method allows for negotiation with prospective buyers, it’s a good idea to have a think about what you would or wouldn’t be willing to accept ahead of time.
For example, if you’ve listed you’ve set your sale price as $X, would you be willing to accept a lower offer. And, if so, by how much? This might be the case, for example, if there’s some maintenance work that needs to be completed on the home, which would mean the buyer would have to shoulder these additional costs.
But remember, there’s more than just the property price that could be negotiated. For example, buyers might want to attach conditions to their offer. Common buyer conditions include getting building inspections completed or selling their own home first. While it’d be tricky to push back against buyers getting a building inspection done, you’d need to consider whether you’d be willing to delay settlement day in order for the buyer to sell their home. Thinking about this before you enter into a negotiation won’t only speed this process up, but will also mean you're less likely to get bounced into a situation that isn’t in your best interests.
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