You see many homes today marketed by Auction, Tender and Deadline Sale/Set Date of Sale.
This is because these sellers are serious and buyers understand they are serious about a result. They also know this because properties marketed using these strategies have strong marketing campaigns, another indication the seller is serious, and buyers love serious sellers.
Let’s look at the benefit of setting a Deadline;

• Everyone knows the date you want it sold by. You, your agent and the buyers. Everyone is focused on a result. After that the buyers may have missed out.
• Three, four or five weeks on the market maintains interest and stops the property rolling into that danger zone of too long on the market.
• No price is published so buyers don’t know your maximum.
• They all have strong marketing to identify all potential buyers.
• It also means we can structure a sensible marketing campaign investment because we know the expected time on the market.
• The deadline makes buyers do their homework, such as Valuations and Building Inspections prior to the sale, so there maybe less conditions. Remember Auction is always unconditional.
• Any sign of competition should have buyers making their best offer and if need be, removing any conditions that weaken their offer. We all like certainty.
• You know that open homes won’t go on for week after week, you know you are sold, you can make your next move comfortably knowing the best campaign to find the best buyer for your property has done its job.

94% Success Rate for January 2011

At this time of the year many people ask if it is a good time to sell their  property. The reason they ask is because the Christmas break is coming along and they are not certain if their  house will sell before Christmas and what happens over the holiday period.
Upon further examination their concerns are about the issue of less real estate publications being published and that many buyers may be out of town on holiday. Whilst both these factors are relevant there are others to consider:

• If you really need to sell, or want to sell, you need to be on the market.
• Buyers on transfer for work are more active over this period.
• The internet is advertising your property 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
• If the timing is right, build your campaign to launch with the last real estate publication of the year (two-three weeks exposure) and then in first one in the New Year, or
• Decide now, list now, but launch in January

Over the last Christmas and New Year months we put together a special marketing campaign to help our clients get their home or property sold.  We had tremendous success with 94% of the properties marketed this way SOLD!  We believe that the time is now right for another campaign and invite you to take advantage of this exciting opportunity.

While the Rugby World Cup was an economic success for many in the tourism, hospitality and retail sectors, it was, unfortunately, a bit of a distraction to real estate sellers and buyers.  Next  up we have the 26th of November election – all indicators are that following the election we can expect continuity of leadership and direction for another three years.  With interest rates for borrowing continuing to be available at attractive, low rates this should encourage people to make major buying decisions.   The demand for property on the North Shore is very strong.  Here at Harcourts Cooper & Co we manage over 1,100 residential properties and last week we only had one vacant property on our books.  This situation is driving more buyers to the market as demand for rental accommodation is clearly overpowering supply.

Our 94% record from last year shows how well the Christmas and New Year campaigns can work.  Our management and sales team are keen to successfully sell your property and have committed to being available right through December and January to ensure that the buyers who see your property advertised through our special marketing campaign can be immediately introduced to your property.  If you wish to take advantage of this opportunity and be part of another huge success, talk to any of the Harcourts Cooper and Co team today.

SUCCESS IS CONTAGIOUS!

Last week Pip and I sold a home that had been on the market for 2 years with another company. What did we do that was different? It’s winter and once again there is a shortage of homes. Properties that have been on the market a while are moving.

Selling your home in winter in New Zealand presents it owns challenges. As I write this it is pouring with rain, and cold. Homes just do not show well in this weather, and both buyers and sellers are often reluctant to get out and look at property.

But, at this time of the year, buyers are serious. Many buyers like to look at homes in the winter months, because they see them in a different light. The weather will filter out any tyre kickers and nosy neighbours. And when you sell in winter, you’ll be the one shopping for a home in spring, when all the other houses come on the market. There’ll be a bigger choice and you will be cashed up and in a good position to buy.

In winter there is often a shortage of homes of all types. Many real estate agents begin to focus solely on buyers because there are so few homes on the market. Multiple offers, and bidding wars result. Houses that seem stale, suddenly sell.

And its a lack of listings that is prompting this buyer competition. When there are fewer properties to see real estate agents concentrate their attention on the few that are on the market, it’s easier to stand out in the Property Press and on the Internet, and more buyers visit your property.

There are steps you can take to brighten your home and make the showing a great experience for your buyer.

Here are my 9 tips:

1 First Impressions:

• Sweep up leaves!
• Footpaths and decks can be slippery, especially if there is a moss or mould about. Wet and Forget is a great product and easy to use, and will remove moss and mould. For a quicker result, a water-blaster will do the trick.
• Unblock drains and especially gutters. A blocked gutter and rain will often put a buyer off right away.
• If you live in an area with heavy frosts, sprinkle sand over your footpath.
• Put a container for umbrellas by the door, and have a doormat handy. Make sure that buyers have somewhere to put their shoes out of the weather.
• Buy a daphne in a pot for the front door. The scent is welcoming.

2 Let The Sun In!

• Pull up the blinds, open your curtains and push back the drapes on every window.
• Turn on every light in the house, including appliances and wardrobe lights. Bathroom vanity lights, table lamps and rangehood lights all help make a home more attractive.
• Try putting some spotlights behind furniture especially in darker rooms and corners.
• Don’t forget to turn on the lights in the garage.
• If it is gloomy outside or at dusk, if buyers are coming, don’t forget to turn on outside and garden lights.
• Trim tree branches away from windows and paths, remember the weight of wet tree limbs will make them hang lower.

3 Warm Up!

• A warm house will encourage buyers to stay, especially on a cold day. Buyers really appreciate a warm dry home.
• If you have central heating or a heatpump, turn up the heat a degree or two, and then turn it back to normal (about 20 degrees) just before buyers visit. This will stop a noisy heatpump turning on when buyers visit or at open homes.
• Turn up underfloor heating especially at the front door.
• Turn your dehumidifier off and put it away when open homes or buyers visit.
• Light your fire. Make sure the damper is open, so there is no smoke. Make sure the firescreen is up and don’t leave the fire unattended for long.

4 Creating a Mood.

• Try a bit of romance!
• A couple of champagne glasses and a champagne bucket on the coffee table in the lounge, with some candles (don’t light them!).
• Lots of cushions and a throw across your lounge suite.
• Set the dining table, as though for a romantic meal.
• Get some winter flowers.
• Set a breakfast tray on the bed in the master bedroom, with a coffee cup, napkin and newspaper!
• Roll up some hand towels, tie with a ribbon and place artistically on the vanity in the bathroom.
• Hang two plush bathrobes
• Add some special soaps, lotions and shampoos.

5 Music Music Music!

• Turn on some music. The best is some soothing classical, or perhaps jazz.
• Turn the TV off.
• Don’t turn on a commercial radio station, Concert radio is fine, but better to fill a CD changer or perhaps use an iTunes collection.

6 Scent

• Please don’t spray room deodoriser around or use plug in air fresheners, some people are allergic.
• Don’t burn candles or oil scents for the same reason.
• It can be  a great idea to bake some biscuits or bread, it’s even better to put a few out for buyers when they come!

7 Make Your House Shine!

• Washing the windows inside and out will let more light in.
• Clean cobwebs.
• Bleach the grout around your sinks, tubs and showers and if necessary replace it.
• Polish up your chrome fittings in the bathrooms.
• Clean the refrigerator and oven.
• Vacuum daily
• Wash and wax wooden floors.
• Dust the furniture, ceiling fan blades, and lighting. Some lights attract insects, make sure they are clean.
• Empty your waste and recycling bins.

8 Use Timers and Other Technology

• Plug table lamps into a timer to turn off and on automatically.
• Consider motion sensors to turn light on outdoors, or in your garage and basement.
• Set up a crock pot to make soup or a casserole when buyers are coming!
• Turn off you answering machine.

9 Information

• Try taking some photographs of the exterior, and especially the view, or use the photos taken for your marketing and put them on display. When people visit at night or on cloudy days they will be able to see the view and outdoors.
• Make a display of photos of your garden in spring or summer, especially a pool or BBQ  area in use on a hot day.
• Make a display of information about the home. Special features, like an antique chandelier, a famous architect, or a dormant plant in the garden, will give you home a little difference that could clinch a sale.

Harcourts Cooper and Co wants to take your North Shore property to China. Your property can be showcased to millions of visitors at Expo 2010 in Shanghai, China, including our database of Chinese millionaires and billionaires. Don’t hesitate -  if you would like to know more right now, click here!

Here’s why you  need to market your North Shore property, right now, at Expo in Shanghai. This offer is exclusive to Harcourts Cooper and Co, and reservations close soon.

“The person of virtue makes the difficulty to be overcome their first business, and success only a subsequent consideration”- Confucius (551-479BC)

Many owners of big ticket properties have been finding it difficult to find buyers within New Zealand who have access to sufficient funding to purchase their big ticket home, property or large land holding. And yet here, on the North Shore, Harcourts Cooper and Co have had considerable success selling waterfront, large land holdings and development projects to our Chinese neighbours.  If you want your property sold on this market you need  exposure to Chinese buyers who are cashed up and ready to buy. Here’s another quotation;

“If Mohammed can’t go to the mountain, let the mountain come to Mohammed!”

We are very excited to offer you a unique opportunity to market your property with Harcourts, on our mission to Expo 2010, Shanghai, China

Why…

• China has surpassed the United Kingdom as the largest group of immigrants to New Zealand.
• The Chinese see New Zealand as a safe and secure, clean and green country to invest.
• Between Feb 2009 and Feb 2010 New Zealand gained 3646 new permanent/long term residents from China.
• The latest Chinese rich list shows that the country is now second only to the United States in the number of billionaires it generates.
• Five years ago there were only 100 people in China with a net worth of $150 million; today there are over a thousand.
• China has the world’s fastest growing economy.
• Visitor arrivals to New Zealand from China are up 41% in February 2010 compared to the same month last year.
• Chinese media says the country has spent much more on the Expo than was spent on the Beijing Olympics.
• We have access to databases of Chinese millionaires and billionaires who have shown an interest in investing and living in New Zealand.

Guanxi (Shanghai) equates to “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know”  If you’d like to know who Harcourts and Cooper and Co know in China click here.

When…

19th, 20th, 21st August 2010- Harcourts Cooper and Co have hired New Zeaalnd Central, NZ’s Trade and Industry Headquarters in Shanghai. Take a look at our HQ here.

23rd, 24th, 25th August 2010- Harcourts Cooper and Co have secured the VIP corporate lounge in the New Zealand pavilion on site at the Shanghai World Expo where we are hosting by invitation 600 clients over the three days to showcase your big ticket property. Here’s the corporate lounge, waiting for you and your property.

Who…

Matty Ma, Harcourts No 1 Salesperson for 2008, 2009, 2010 will lead our mission to China.

Our multi lingual team of highly experienced real estate sales people, chosen for their expertise within the industry and supported by translators, administration  and IT staff will travel to Shanghai. View the team here.

Harcourts has seven real estate offices trading now in Shanghai and will be working closely with them for support in our endeavour to sell you property.

Want to know more about Expo? Then visit www.shanghai2010.co.nz.

Want to know more about showcasing your property at Expo 2010 in China this August. Sign up here!

A selection of Harcourts Cooper and Co sales to Chinese buyers in 2009-2010:

945 Kahikatea Flat Road, Dairy Flat, Oct 09, $3,700,000

1546 State Highway 17, Diary Flat, $2,180,000

10 Quail Drive, Albany, 3.4h lifestyle farm, $1,840,000

Group Deal, 28,30,32, 34, 46 Killarney St, Takapuna, $1,860,000

1367 East Coast Road, $1,565,000

62 Edward Jonkers Drive, Riverhead, 2.46h lifestyle, $1,920,000

166 Lloyd Road, Riverhead, $1.750,000

34 Marguerita Place, Hobsonville, $1.189,000

26 Pupuke Road, Takapuna, $1,189,000

4 Wilson Road, Dairy Flat, $1,100,000

664 State Highway 17, Dairy Flat, 4.0h, $1,439,000

1428 State Highway 17, Dairy Flat, 2.7h, $1,439,000

50 Rosedale Road, Albany, Development, $6,000,000

56 Kowhai Road, Campbells Bay, $1,033,000

11a Aberdeen Road, Castor Bay, $1,040,000

89 Forrest Hill Road, Milford, $1,200,000

11 Lomond St, Takapuna, $1,1oo,000

88 Oak Manor Drive, Albany $1,330,000

Harcourts Cooper and Co wants to take your property to China! In August 2010, our multi lingual team will showcase and sell your North Shore property in the VIP corporate lounge at the New Zealand Pavilion. Want to know more? Send me an email right away!

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Adwrap for 100a Aberdeen Road Campbells Bay

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My readers know I’m passionate about property marketing, home staging and architectural photography.

After meeting with Bronwyn Jackson last Thursday I was introduced to what I now consider the missing link in the property marketing mix. It is smell.

AROMATHERAPY TIPS FOR SELLING YOUR HOME by Bronwyn Jackson

We know scents conjure up emotional responses and we also know that first impressions can make a huge impact on selling your property.

Therefore the smell of your home is very important, not only in the making it smell nice but in the emotional impression it gives out to prospective buyers.

The “Smell to Sell” is a commonly accepted real estate strategy that often brings great results.

The power of specific scents warms up prospective buyers and makes them instantly feel at home inyour home.

Here are some keys tips on what you can do with essential oils in your home so it smells fresh, homely and sets a beautiful environment & atmosphere as they are walking around your house.

It has to be inviting, warm and friendly and we can certainly make this happen with fragrancing your home with essential oils

Firstly, when the client first walks into your house they should smell an uplifting fragrance that will emotionally make them think of ‘home’.

A lot of people are aware of how the smell of baking wafting out of the kitchen has become a cunning way of creating this.

The trouble with this, it has got a little obvious and people get suspicious easily, thinking “that old trick of freshly baked bread smell” and so it can conjure up negative or “what are they hiding” reactions.

Whatever your opinion on this though, while creating a nice alluring smell in the kitchen the smell doesn’t seem to waft beyond the kitchen or hang around, and more importantly it might only smell good to people who are hungry (and then their mind may drift to eating rather than thinking about buying your house).

Also it doesn’t mask any unruly or ‘not so nice’ smells that your potential buyers could still smell.

Essential oils are the easiest, most efficient way to create this homely feel and uplifting atmosphere that gives potential buyers a great feel or vibe about your house.

THE NUMBER 1 TIP

Have an essential oil diffuser in the hall way or in the area that the prospective buyers walk into first, and have at least one other vaporiser going in another prominent area in the house.

You need to have the aroma obvious but yet subtle and you need to have them lasting for the two hours or so of the open home.

Have the oils vaporising a good 5 minutes prior to the open homes so by the time the first person walks through the door the aromas are eminent.

In the diffusers have quite a few drops (10-20 depending on the size of the area) of firstly a refreshing oil such as lemon, tangerine, bergamot & add to that another oil such as cedarwood,  rosewood, palmarosa (7-10 drops) .

Or you could pick up a pre-blended Green Remedies’ ‘Smell & Sell Synergy’ which has these kinds of smells in it but it is also blended with secretive essential oils that have been known to actually increase sales.

This blend will make people want to buy your home or as an agent this synergy will get you in such a top positive go get ‘em attitude.

If everything else with the house ticks all the boxes, having these aromas in the environment will definitely be a winner.

For any questions or to order the “Smell & Sell” essential oil synergy visit our website   www.aromaspa.co.nz.