3 Must-Consider Factors when You Think of Selling your Property

Although every situation is unique with different factors like job transfers, loss of a partner, down-sizing or upscaling to be taken in consideration when deciding to sell your property, all homeowners want to do so without a financial loss. As the primary home is the single most important financial investment most people make in their lives, owners want to make the correct decision so that the process is a viable and smooth one. Once you have decided to sell your property, important factors to investigate and keep in mind are:

Market Conditions

Apart from numerous factors to consider, the most important are:

1. What type of market is it the moment you decide to sell your property? Is it a Sellers’ or a Buyers’ market?
2. What is the current interest rate – is it high or low?
3. How long on average do the properties for sale in your area stay on the market before successfully sold?

With the number of properties normally lower on offer for sale, a typical Seller’s market put pressure on prices and it normally escalates. This was typical during the years leading up to mid-2017 and the buoyant sellers’ market pushed prices to very high levels. During 2018 the slowdown stepped in and prices were especially corrected downwards during 2019.

With the recession and COVID-19 putting brakes on the market, the cut in interest rate to an all-time low by the Reserve Bank to 4% and thus followed suite by all financial institutions added a stimulus to the lethargic market and sales started to improve. However, the biggest improvement occurred in the sector up to R2m while the higher price brackets still experience a lag in sales.

Pricing

In most situations, the longer a property is on the market, the lower the realisation of the selling price will be. And your chances to attract a serious buyer within the timespan to achieve your asking price will also slip away.

With information available on most people’s fingertips and numerous platforms available for buyers to do research about an area’s property value, the best option will be for a seller to do extensive research about the value of similar properties in their area that they will compete with. Websites like Private Property and Property24 are excellent sources of information to ascertain who your competition is.

If priced competitively and correctly, a property should attract a lot of interest within the first few weeks of the marketing process. The longer a property stays on the market due to incorrect pricing, the lower the price at the end will be. A very useful tool to use here is to ask you estate agent to do a Competitive Market Assessment (CMA) of your property for you before you decide to put it onto the market – they are not professional valuers.

Timing

As most homeowners want to sell their homes at a profit, the timing to put it up for sale can also be critical.

It will be best to do thorough research of the current market conditions and if possible, wait for the correct market condition (sellers’ market) to sell it.  However, not all sellers can wait for a market to turn into a sellers’ market and then the second very important factor will be the area that your property is located in – the more popular the area is like close to good schools, the quicker the sale will be.

With South Africa’s well-known outdoor lifestyle, houses listed during spring and summer attract the highest number of visitors as buyers are more prepared to venture out and attend show houses. It is also the time where most gardens and outdoor living areas portray a more inviting picture for potential buyers.

Contact Andrea Naudé , Harcourts Voëlklip, Hermanus