After catching up with Empowerwealth, it was decided to offload two underperforming investment properties. Because I’ve just gone through the process of selling two properties, I’d like to share some things I picked up along the way that can potentially save you thousands of dollars when selling your property.
However, before I share my suggestions, I need to give a shout out to Myles (from Upside) our agent who went above and beyond to sell these two properties – he saved us thousands of dollars!
How to save money when selling your property
It’s important to find a trustworthy agent, someone who is transparent about their fees. An agent who discloses how he earns his commissions is crucial because it indicates if they have ulterior motives when setting your sale price.
Below are some questions I asked when searching for the ideal agent.
– Do you offer any discounts on your commission if I bring across more than one property to sell?
– How do you manage the tenant to ensure a smooth sale process?
I had a tenant in each property so it was important to me that my tenants were treated with respect during the sale process as I know it can be very stressful for them to have inspections every week.
– How much do you charge for marketing and how will you market the property?
– Is there any chance before paying the marketing fee to send out a pre-sale email to your database to see if anyone is interested in the property?
This is a great way to test the waters and avoid paying the expensive marketing fee as you can utilise the agents’ existing database to see if anyone on their database is interested in your property.
– If I sign over the two properties exclusively to you for 60 (or 90 days) and it doesn’t sell, what options do I have to approach another agent to sell the properties?
– How much do you think you can sell each property for and why?
After developing a relationship with Myles, there were some other tactics I picked up which also helped me to sell each property faster and for a better price:
If the property doesn’t sell, is the agent willing to work with another agent to help offload the property and split the sale commission?
How will the agent report to you each week of the performance of the openings? As a seller you want this process to be as stress-free as possible. Make sure your agent is transparent with their results.
Also, how will the property be presented? Will the agent add any special touches to make the property even more appealing like playing music, using flowers, spraying lovely scents?
Another important thing is to trust your gut instincts. Before we settled with Myles, I spoke to a handful of agents, and some were so cocky and arrogant that I knew it wasn’t going to work. Don’t feel pressured into signing anything; at the end of the day, the agent works for you to try and get the best result possible. If you’re not sure at the start, make sure to ‘only’ sign the contract for 30 days. By default, the contract might say 90 or 120 days. However, if you feel you need to test the waters with the agent, make that time frame shorter.
If you have any other tips from personal experience of how you can find the right agent for you as well as more tips to save money when selling a property – let me know and I’d be happy to add it to this list.
Here are some other money and business related posts you may be interested in:
How my accountant saved me $27K
How my Rentvesting Facebook post received 600 likes in 24 hours
I can’t get enough of The Access Economy
