As a top Sydney-based buyers agency we know just how important it is to buy a property that is going to perform over the long term.
We regularly speak about buying high-quality properties in blue-chip locations as these have shown over a long period of time, to generate strong capital growth.
While buying the right property is critical, there is one aspect of property investment that can be overlooked and that’s what happens when the time finally comes to sell. A lot of people tend to not put much thought into selling but that can be a huge mistake as we’ve seen first hand.
One of the most effective ways to boost your sales price is to do a renovation and some styling and staging.
Many people are hesitant to put extra money into their property only to sell it off. But the results you achieve with a simple renovation can be very impressive. It’s also worth noting why a renovation is a good idea and how it ties into our overall investment strategy.
The core of what we do is to identify high-quality properties in blue-chip locations. Invariably, these locations are very owner-occupier driven, because of all the great features they have to offer such as access to beaches, restaurants/cafes and of course employment.
When you’re looking to sell your property it’s important to think about what other owner-occupiers (who are the likely end buyers) actually want.
It’s also worth understanding that if you want to achieve a sales price that is above what the market might be offering, you need to get multiple parties interested and get them bidding against each other to drive up the price.
If you’ve purchased a good property in a blue-chip location, you’ve already done a lot of the hard work. However, it’s important to remember that many owner-occupiers don’t want to buy a home and then turn around and spend more money and time renovating it.
If you’re in a position where you can do the work before the sale, you’re very likely to attract more buyers who are prepared to pay a premium for your property. That’s how you can really boost the end value and improve your return on investment even more.
We recently had a client that was looking to sell their property that did need a little bit of work. Not a huge renovation, but it certainly needed to be tidied up and styled well. Because the vendor felt it was not required, they didn’t do the work. When the time came to sell, they couldn’t find any buyers.
Fortunately, the vendors spoke to us and we suggested some paintwork, fixing up a few small things and also styling the property effectively for sale.
Things like styling and staging are really underrated and it’s important to remember, that most buyers aren’t that imaginative. If you are able to give them a preview of their new dream home, it’s going to make it far more powerful.
Ultimately, this vendor spent an extra $30,000 and got the property up to a really good standard.
When the property went back on the market a second time, not only did it attract a lot more interest, but potential buyers were able to come in and feel like it was a home they could see themselves living in.
The property ended up selling for $300,000 more than the vendor had hoped for thanks to the small initial outlay and some clever styling.
Our experience shows that when you invest in styling, you can get a 1000% return on it most of the time. It’s because people will want to move into the property straight away – they’ll see that they don’t need to invest further into it.
A home that is ready to move into is incredibly appealing to owner-occupiers and these are the type of buyers you want to be targeting when you sell. That’s how you can maximise your return on investment.
