For some sellers, letting go of their home isn’t part of a long-term plan. It’s a necessity brought about by their financial situation. Maybe their lender has given them notice to sell. They can’t manage their mortgage repayments anymore. Career changes, relationship breakdowns – the reasons for financial pressure are many and varied.
For people in those situations, time suddenly becomes very important. If your situation is pushing you towards a sale, don’t be overwhelmed. You’re still in control of the situation and you deserve the right outcome from your property sale.
We’ve helped countless sellers under financial pressure with their property sales. Today, we want to take a look at what those sales look like and what techniques we use to get the best outcomes for our clients.
A Real Estate Trend
Financial pressure influences selling decisions across Australia, so don’t think you’re alone if you’re in this situation. Almost one in four mortgage holders are currently considered at risk of mortgage stress, well over a million households across the country.
Selling under pressure doesn’t mean you’ve failed. Lots of people are in the same boat. Your circumstances have shifted and the sale needs to be handled with care, and that’s okay
The Pressure of Time
If you’re under financial pressure, you need the money from your property sale fast. Yesterday, preferably.
That brings a sense of urgency to proceedings. What’s important is not to let that look like desperation. Desperation can be seen as a sign of weakness in negotiations. You don’t want ruthless buyers to be able to exploit the fact that you’re at a vulnerable time financially.
Time might be tight, but you still have plenty of space for the basics of good marketing and selling. The right real estate agent will help you resist panic and maintain transactional integrity throughout the process.
Common Mistakes
We see the same mistakes over and over from sellers under financial pressure. These include:
- The property gets overpriced in the hope that a single buyer moves in to save the day.
- A real estate agent who promises a quick sale but doesn’t have the track record to back up his claims.
- The seller wants to get the property over the line, so agrees to restrictive conditions.
We don’t want these mistakes to happen to you. Things get complicated if they do – contracts fall over, renegotiation is required, you end up not getting the price you deserve for your home.
With an experienced guiding hand giving you clarity, all of that can be avoided.
Henry’s Approach to a Financial Pressure Sale
Here are the core pillars of our approach to selling homes when financial pressure is involved.
Strategy
Time is important, which leaves little room for error. That means your strategy needs to be spot on. To us, this is twofold:
- Pricing and expectations of price need to be realistic. Artificially inflated prices will lead to delays and a lengthy renegotiation process. A below-market price means you end up dissatisfied, and can also lead to an overwhelming number of buyers looking for a cheap deal.
- Marketing needs to be purposeful and clear. You want to attract serious buyers who are ready to act and avoid time-wasters.
Honesty and Transparency
Honesty and transparency are important at all times in real estate. In a financially pressured sale, even more so.
While buyers don’t need to know all the ins and outs of a seller’s situation, they do need clarity on timelines and expectations. Firm boundaries on these will allow the sale to move forward efficiently. It will also filter out the tyre-kickers.
Transparent communication from all parties, in particular the real estate agent, keeps everyone on the same page. When details are murky and information is kept hidden, deals fall through.
Leveraging Interstate and Overseas Buyers
When you’re under financial pressure, speed becomes the new currency. It’s even more vital that the agent you choose has a massive network online and offline. The Henry Wong Team® has a large network of interstate and overseas buyers that we have built up over the years. It stretches across Australia and beyond our borders, with healthy inroads into wealthy Asian communities looking to invest here.
When we list a property, our network hears about it first. The listing gets early traction without relying on the main real estate portals. We can often sell a property this way before it even goes to market.
This large offline network is supported by our online community – it consists of over 21,000 social media followers across Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram.
Using those networks strategically is how you get a fast sale while avoiding extra stress.
Experience
This is an important point – when you’re selling under financial pressure, it’s not a standard, cookie-cutter transaction. That means your cookie-cutter real estate agent won’t cut it. They won’t have the experience or the knowledge to handle the situation.
You need an agent who understands the moving parts and the timelines. A team that appreciates that there is less margin for error, and can remain calm under pressure while keeping everyone calm around them.
That’s where experience shows. When you’re choosing a real estate agent, make sure you land on one with a track record in your type of selling situation.
Contact the Henry Wong Team® for Reassuring Advice
My team and I are here for you, whatever your real estate situation. We’ve got years of experience helping sellers who are under financial pressure. We’re not a cookie-cutter agent – we can adapt our skills and knowledge to help you, no matter what.
Get in touch today if you have any questions.
