How much is your place worth?

It’s the big question that many home owners want answered and it’s the question that is asked when a home owner gets an agent around to do an appraisal on their property.

There is an obvious answer. Well, that depends … but let’s try to give a better answer than that.

All things being equal, your property is worth more than it was worth between 2014 and now. Happy days.

However, when that home owner asks the question about what exactly the property is worth there are some things to consider.

If I am doing the appraisal on your place, I will probably suggest some things you can do to increase the potential price of your home.

Some of things won’t cost you anything but they will help you get a better price. Other things might cost a bit of money but I won’t suggest them unless they add more value than the cost of the work.

You only get one chance at a first impression and that first impression occurs when your potential buyer pulls up out the front and looks at the house and grounds.

If you had pressure cleaned the roof and driveway, would that have improved that first impression? Absolutely.

Does the peeling paint on your hardi-plank exterior create an impression about the rest of the property in the mind of the buyers as they walk towards your front door? You bet it does. Some people have already knocked 50 grand off the listing price before they’ve even stepped inside because they assume the peeling paint is only the start of what’s going to be wrong.

Apart from presentation, there is the marketing. There is that old chestnut that some sellers use: “You only need one buyer.” And that is true. But that buyer needs to see and feel he or she is in competition with other buyers for your property.

You’re not going to get the best price for your property unless the buyer who loves it the most feels they have to compete with other people to get it.

I’ll do a whole column on marketing one day but a point I will make here is that the write-up needs to target the right buyers. It needs to connect with the people who want it the most and create an emotional response before that buyer has even been to see the property.

The write-up needs to say more than “three bedrooms, two bathrooms in a nice suburb”. People have different criteria and no property is right for everyone but the write-up needs to convey to all the potential buyers of that specific property that this is the one they must not miss seeing.

That is part of what creates the competition among potential buyers. And when there’s competition for your property it won’t be me telling you what the property is worth … it will be the buyer who loves it the most. And that person’s got the money.

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