“Everyone said I was nuts doing this but the satisfaction I got by getting everything I wanted (price, lengthy settlement and gloat factor) was sooooooooo worth it.”
Read Vicki’s interview below to find out how the process went for her selling on Australia’s east coast.
Were you hesitant before trying private selling? What made you decide to give it a go?
I was confident I could sell our home but had many bad experiences as a buyer with other self sell websites.
So I tested the market with PROPERTY NOW by pretending to be a buyer so see if they were responsive to my inquiries. They were amazingly prompt, helpful and did everything they promised. As a seller I then checked out their website and the format made sense, it was easy. I rang them several times to see if they would help me if I got stuck with anything during the sale and once again they were amazingly helpful.
Do you have any interesting, fun or unique stories to share about your experience?
The house next door to us was for sale at the same time as ours. He paid $100K in marketing & agent commissions, sold in 4 weeks and had to be out 2 weeks later.
We paid $694 to PROPERTY NOW, plus $600 for photos & custom sign boards (privately), got an extraordinary sales price which took only 14 days, and have negotiated a 3 month settlement which was what we wanted. So thrilled.
When you sold your property yourself, how did it feel? Was it empowering? What are you going to do now?
Everyone said I was nuts doing this but the satisfaction I got by getting everything I wanted (price, lengthy settlement and gloat factor) was sooooooooo worth it.
What do you plan to do now that you’ve sold, how will the sale benefit you?
We have had our first grandchild & can now move closer to be with him 7 his family this is a new chapter and we have the financial capability now to transition smoothly.
If you could go back in time and give yourself some advice before selling your own home, what would it be?
I am a stylist by trade so my advice is clear the clutter.it is time consuming and painful I know but people want to SEE what they are buying. I was lucky as I had an office with some storage to house all of our stuff, but even if you have to ask a friend to let you use their garage for a few weeks or fill up your cars with as much as you can, or rent a space, it is worth it.
What was the hardest part for you personally and how did you overcome it?
We had one guy visit who was negative & didn’t like anything, that upset me because even if the house you’re viewing isn’t for you, don’t be rude to the owners. The people who bought our house were identical models of us and we know they will be happy here and love our home as we have. If we had used an agent we would not have been able to know the buyers. This, plus their cheque book of course, was important to us.
How did buyers react when they found out you were selling this way, without a traditional agent?
They didn’t even mention it. Not an issue at all.
Is there anything else you think we should know?
I was just so surprised and thankful that the staff at PROPERTY NOW were so helpful and sensible, and made their website so easy to use. There are several others out there who do not deliver, so do your homework first.