How to sell your home on the internet and save thousands

The internet has become one of the most powerful and useful tools when it comes to selling your home. Gone are the days of limited print campaigns to advertise your home and having to rely on real estate agents to sell your home. Now, thousands of Australians are grasping their new-found freedom by taking the reins, managing their own sales process and bypassing the agent to save commissions.

But how has the internet afforded us such freedom and what’s the best way to use it to effectively sell your property?

Direct access to buyers

These days, 90% of Australians use the internet to search for property. As a seller, you have a vast pool of interested buyers literally at the end of your fingertips. Many real estate agents still recommend incorporating traditional print and face-to-face methods as part of your marketing strategy, but the truth is print campaigns and traditional advertising methods are unnecessary and expensive.

Yes, everyone loves a good skim through the property pages as part of their Sunday morning read, but the people you want to target are the active buyers. The buyers actively searching for property like yours – and the majority of buyers do this online.

According to the NAR (National Association of Realtors) Home Buyer and Seller Generational Trends Report 2019, the first step taken in the home search process among all generations of home buyers is to search online for properties.

And why wouldn’t they when they can find properties that match their budget, lifestyle and needs in one simple search?

Today, the filtering and targeting capabilities of realestate.com.au and Domain are so sophisticated, you’re able to get your property in front of relevant buyers more quickly and effectively than traditional marketing methods ever could.

Market research

A big part of a successful sales strategy comes from understanding your local market. Markets fluctuate constantly, influenced by infrastructure, population, economics and many other things. So, timing is everything if you want to secure top dollar for your property.

The internet is filled with useful resources to research the dynamics of a market, so you can pick the best time to sell, set the right price and understand the demographic you’re selling to.

Corelogic is one of Australia’s leading property databases, providing comprehensive reports and coverage of residential markets. And both realestate.com.au and Domain provide everything you need to know about a location, including suburb profile snapshots, previous sales and rental stats, pricing and competition.

And you don’t have to rely on real estate agents to list your property. PropertyNow has all the required registrations to list your property on all the leading real estate platforms, giving you direct access to buyers looking for your type of property (without having to pay commissions).

Greater convenience and reach

These days, buyers can read descriptions, view every room and get a complete sense of your property without having to leave their living room thanks to photographs, videos, floorplans and virtual tours uploaded to the internet.

The internet has opened up a world of convenience and transparency for viewing properties, especially appealing to remote and overseas buyers. But this level of exposure is also great for sellers, increasing your reach and avenues to promote, and saving you time as you can get away with scheduling fewer open inspections. Some buyers are happy to make an offer based purely on the viewing material available to them online.

The opportunity to go viral

Before the internet, we had to rely on word of mouth to spread the word. Now, social media offers the opportunity to go viral, dramatically increasing your reach for a fraction of the cost. And with 7 out of 10 Aussies now using Facebook, 1 in 5 using Instagram and 1 in 6 on Snapchat – it’s hardly surprising.

Social media is visual, interactive, fun and viral. It’s also incredibly personal. You can make an intimate connection with buyers, answering their questions, responding to their comments and communicating with them directly.

Why not use the power of the internet to sell your home?

Thanks to the internet, you have the control and freedom to sell your own home and save thousands in agent commissions. PropertyNow has all the tools and resources in place to walk you through the sales process – you can start by reading our step-by-step guide to get better informed about your options.