I have to be brutally honest here.
Your home is not the only one in the market.
There are plenty of choices available and buyers can be nitpick on the smallest of issues and walk away. I have seen this happen dozens of times throughout my real estate career.
For someone who gets paid only after a sale has gone through, I can’t leave anything to chance.
As such, before I even put up your listing online on the property portals – there is a comprehensive checklist I go through as I help to set up your home for viewings.
Here are 4 things you can expect in your journey of selling your home:
#1: Be prepared to pack and clean up your home
It is absolutely necessary that your home is packed up and cleaned nicely to almost showroom conditions – especially when viewings is happening soon.
The chance to make a first impression is only once.
Do this effort once and it will pay off in spades.
For this client, I highlighted all the problem areas that the might have missed out or never noticed.
To you – it is an everyday appliance.
To the outsider – a potential buyer viewing the unit – it is untidy junk.
For this HDB flat in Punggol, I managed to sell it off within just 3 weeks on the 1st viewing.
#2: If you have pets, do house them somewhere else or a pet hotel
I once handled this case of an 872 sqft 3-bedroom condo at Tampines Trilliant. They had a lot of baby stuff like toys, extra fridge for the breast milk etc.
All these additional appliances made the house look even smaller.
They also owned a dog which occupied the entire common bathroom.
I told the owners politely that the once you opened the front door, I could smell the dog already.
I shared with them that sometimes when Malay buyers visit, it might be extremely distracting or distressing for them.
Thankfully, they didn’t mind shifting the dog to the parents’ place during the duration of the sale.
For parents, I understand the challenges of doing this if you have young kids.
You can minimise the mess by allocating a kids play area in a separate room and doing your best to keep other places in your home spotless.
#3: Ambience is key in selling your home fast
During viewings, I take the time to setup the place to create a calm and soothing ambience to all who are coming to view the place.
Just like entering a scented lobby with faint background music at a hotel can help create a memorable experience, a similar experience can be recreated at the homes that I sell.
With simple scented candles and background audio playing on a bluetooth speaker from my curated Spotify playlist – potential buyers can fall in love with the place.
Make no mistake – buying a home is an emotional process. To attract serious offers, we have to take serious steps.
I learnt the importance of creating the best ambience possible when I could not get a buyer for this Pasir Ris Whitewater condo for 8 months back in 2020.
The circuit-breaker period also did me no favours.
Below were the photos I used to market the unit for 8 months.
These photos don’t look too bad right? I thought so too.
However, in a development where every unit looks good – competition is going to be tough.
I realised that due to the bare condition – the buyers focused only on the negative traits like the funky wallpaper, stained flooring, leaking aircon, damaged cabinets, and the facing of the unit which is towards the western sun.
In fact, a potential buyer decided to buy a 2nd floor unit rather than this 14th floor unit just because they didn’t like the condition of the house.
So I decided to take drastic action.
With the blessings from the owners, I undertook the following:
- Removed the funky wallpapers
- Repainted the walls white
- Engaged a professional cleaning company to remove the stale smell after 8 months of vacancy
- Brought in modern Scandinavian furniture to showcase the placement and possibilities
Ta-dah! A world of difference in the atmosphere and ambience.
After this makeover with complete staging, this unit was sold within just 2 weeks.
Yes, when you first don’t succeed, try and try again!
#4: If you are committed to sell, it doesn’t matter how bad the condition is
This is a 36-year old HDB flat located at 448 Tampines St 42.
Of course I wish every unit I market looks like a beautiful showroom.
But… it is always wishful thinking! LOL.
This was a good challenge and I am grateful that the sellers agreed to take up my suggestions.
I gave the owner 2 weeks to take all the things that they still wished to keep and throw away what they no longer need.
Following which, we spent $1500 to arrange for the disposal, whitewashing of the walls and professional cleaning of the house.
Below are the after photos. These are the images I used to market this unit.
Within just 4 weeks and about 5 viewings – I managed to sell this unit sold at a respectable price.
Conclusion
With the right preparations, a unit can be off the market very quickly.
This is especially in this current pandemic-induced hot property market.
In 2021, you can expect that your homes to be sold rather quickly as people are turning to the resale market to get a larger and more comfortable home.
In fact, I realised fancy videos are no longer necessary now – the unit is sold before the video has even been edited!
With the construction of new homes being very much delayed, a lot of buyers who are unable to wait are pushing up demand for ready-to-move-in homes.
Reader questions like the one above rarely have a clear-cut answer. The "right" move depends on your finances, timeline, long-term goals, and how much downside you're prepared to accept if things don't go to plan.
That's the hardest part of any property decision, not finding information, but understanding what it means for your situation before committing.
Over time, that's also why we decided to work with agents who shared the same data-driven and advisory-led approach behind our editorial, consultants who could help readers think through decisions more objectively, rather than simply push transactions.
Today, the team has worked with more than 2,000 clients across over $5B in property transactions.
Even older HDB flats that are more than 10 years old are commanding prices that are higher than the last transacted prices of 2019 and 2018.
This is aligned with the rising HDB price index which hit another high during the first quarter of 2021.
Take note, pre-pandemic – the HDB price index has been on the decline for at least 20 quarters.
Ultimately, selling your home is a signal to closing an important chapter in your lives.
It is not something to take lightly and I recommend to consider selling only when you have clear plans for your next home.
What I can say is that 2021 presents a unique opportunity to sell your HDB home especially when the price has been on decline for recent years.
I am not sure how long this trend will last but for now, I can see demand remains strong.
How do I know?
As of April 2021, some of my current listings can easily get about 20-30 enquiries each and majority of them are very serious buyers who have been searching for a home for awhile.
If you are keen to explore further, feel free to contact me for a no-obligation discussion so you can discover options that are available to you.
The questions our readers send in are rarely about the market in general. They’re about a home they’re considering, a timeline they’re working towards, or a trade-off they’re trying to make.
That’s where we usually help readers go a step further, applying the same research and decision-making framework behind our articles to their own situation.
If you’re facing a similar decision and would like someone to help you think it through before you commit, you can book a one-to-one consultation here.
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