• The Legals: There is no difference between selling through a Real Estate Agent and selling privately in this respect. In both cases you need to engage a Solicitor/Conveyancer to handle the paper work (or do it yourself only if you are adventurous!)
• Pricing: Real Estate Agent valuations do not necessarily reflect market value, as the industry is rife with over quoting to get listings. We recommend getting an independent professional Valuer to appraise your home, which costs as little as $200.
• Marketing: Many sellers are talked into spending thousands of dollars on advertising (agents get advertising kickbacks!), when some of the most effective ways of finding buyers are simple and inexpensive: for example a sign outside your property, text adverts in a local newspaper, distributing property flyers to your neighbourhood and of course a web listing!
• Negotiation: Anyone can learn the basics of negotiating with house buyers effectively. Some of these include staying calm, establishing your bottom line, allowing yourself time to consider offers by never making responses on the day and further to keep all parties who have made offers in the loop until contracts are exchanged. Owner direct negotiation means you will be focused on getting the best price a buyer will pay. Agents by and large work for themselves, not the seller. They are keen to get frequent sales and the hard work involved in getting the best price for a particular client is not in their financial interest.

Visit our Testimonials to hear about how other sellers' experience of private selling was straightforward and rewarding. Read on here for more information on the sale process including Preparation, Presentation, Pricing, Marketing and Negotiation.

Preparation for the successful private seller

• Prepare yourself and your home thoroughly, so you are ready for today's informed buyer.
• Put yourself in the role of potential buyer, and always stay emotionally uninvolved. A key part of this is listing at a reasonable price, which is close to a professional valuation, so as your property does not languish too long on the market. This is a common phenomenon in real estate known as being "burnt", or overexposed to the market. Buyers think there must be something wrong with a property that has been on the market for a long time. Statistically the longer a property is offered for sale the less chance it has of getting a good price.
• You should be research based. Find out about the "how to" of the For Sale By Owner process. A good starting point is "Real Estate Without Agents" by Terry Ryder (most bookstores in Australia should stock this). Try also the popular books by Neil Jenman, such as "Don't Sign Anything" (his books are agent focussed but they point out the pitfalls of buying and selling real estate under the current agent dominated situation in Australia). Search also the considerable content on this site, the web at large and your library/bookstore to have a good background on selling real estate.
• Allocate time. You will need your weekends free to spruce up your home and show buyers through. You will need your evenings free to reply to phone calls, emails, and answering machine messages. Being easy to contact and replying promptly to messages is very important!