When does it benefit to use auction?
Using auction as the method of sale is most effective when the property is unique or the buyer interest is expected to bid high and the sale sale price is difficult to determine.
Can I use both auction and private treaty to sell my property?
Yes, this is often referred to as a combination sale. Often the auction is promoted initially in the marketing and, if there is insufficient interest for the auction to work, it is converted to a private treaty sale using the price feedback from buyers to set the private treaty price at an appealing level.
How do you decide on the price to promote for my property?
This process is called a Comparative Market Analysis. Your agent will research current similar listings for sale and recent similar properties sold and will apply some other industry formulae to best approximate the likely selling price.
How will you market my property?
Before we develop a marketing plan, we first identify the best strategy to get you the highest price. Once we have the strategy in place, we then take the appropriate marketing options to make the strategy work. Those options could include social media marketing, signage, Love Realty website, domain.com, realestate.com, Just Listed campaign, print media, robot marketing, webbooks, open homes or database marketing (using text, email and direct calls).
What happens at an Open House?
Our agent or agents will attend your home and advertise it as open for inspection. Members of the public attend the open home at the nominated time, usually a 30-minute period, and after they have given us their personal details, we allow them to look through the home. We then follow them up usually on the same day to obtain their feedback and hopefully to identify a buyer willing to make an offer.
Will you also conduct private viewing?
We love private viewings! Private viewings allow us to find out more quickly what the buyer likes and dislikes about the property. This gives us an immediate opportunity to overcome objections and find out a price at which the buyer would consider.
What happens if I don’t receive any offers for my property within a month?
Well-priced properties often sell within the first few days of going on the market. However our team will closely monitor the response to your property and make adjustments to marketing and price (with your approval) and if necessary, well before the end of the first month. Best offers come early.
What happens after an offer is made?
Our team will make every endeavour to ensure an offer is genuine. Our recommendation to a buyer will be to put the offer on a contract of sale so our seller can see the offer is genuine. This also enables us to include all other conditions of sale if any.
What is the process from the acceptance of an offer through to settlement?
Once the property concludes its cooling off period of 5 working days (and any other conditions such as finance has lapsed), the contract then becomes “unconditional”, sold signs will be erected and your solicitor takes over carriage of the matter from there until settlement.
When and how do I pay the agent fee at settlement?
Generally, the agent holds the deposit in the trust account and upon settlement deducts their fees from the deposit, sending you the balance within 1 to 2 working days. Your solicitor similarly, will take their fee from the other settlement monies and send you the balance of those monies in around the same timeframe.
When and how will the sale funds be transferred into my account?
Before settlement, we will post you a form to fill in with your account details for direct deposit. This needs to be returned to us as an original document (not scanned or emailed). Alternatively, you may want a bank cheque or trust account cheque, however, you would need to make this known before settlement.
Do I have to attend an open house or can I have a private inspection?
You are able to attend either, however if there is a scheduled open home, it may pay to contact the agent to see if you can view prior, to avoid competition.
Is the listed price what is expected by the vendor or can we offer less?
Properties are often advertised with a price range rather than a fixed price. However, our recommendation is always to submit your best offer on a contract of sale to prevent other buyers from starting a new negotiation while you are negotiating.
What happens during an auction?
The auctioneer will call bids from the crowd in attendance and once the bids have exceeded the owner’s reserve price, the auctioneer will usually call the property on the market. This means any unchallenged bids after that point will win the auction.
Will you communicate every offer to the vendor or only the ones you think they will accept?
The law requires the agent to submit every offer to the owner unless the agent has written instructions to the contrary from the owner.
Can I be gazumped after making an offer?
The law requires all offers to be submitted to the owner until the owner has signed a contract with a buyer. Once you or your solicitor have the buyer’s signed contract, you cannot be gazumped.
What reports do I need to order and do I organise these myself?
Common practice is for the buyer to obtain a building inspection report and pest inspection report on the property. The agent may suggest some inspectors to use in which case you can organise your reports or your solicitor/conveyancer would do this on your behalf. Generally speaking, it will be quicker if you organise your own and at this stage of the process, time is of the essence.
Who pays for the reports?
Typically, the buyer pays for Pest and Building reports. Sometimes the owner will supply these however unless the buyer pays the inspector for them, the buyer has no legal recourse for their accuracy.
What is the process and timeframe from making an offer through to settlement?
Once your offer has been accepted, you would be exchanging contracts with the seller and settling within 4 to 6 weeks.
What happens if I’ve got concerns on final inspection?
Whilst the agent will be present at the final inspection, any concerns at this point in the proceedings would need to be referred to your solicitor/conveyancer. The owner is required to leave the property in a tidy and clean condition, always subjective as it is what they percieve this expectation to be. Remember, the agent has no/little control over the final presentation of the property.
When will I get the keys to my new property?
Once settlement has occurred, the solicitor for the owner will send a communication to the agent authorising the release of the keys to you. This generally happens within two hours of settlement. The agent will then provide all keys, remotes, codes and or instructions as to which the owner provides them.
How will you market the availability of my property for lease?
We advertise your rental property for lease on realestate.com.au, domain.com.au and loverealty.com.au and then conduct open homes during business hours, after business hours and on weekends, plus if requested we do private viewings for tenants who cannot get to the open home.
How would you profile and qualify prospective tenants for my property?
It is in the agent’s best interest and your’s to carefully select a new tenant. We adhere to a rigid application process seeking rental references, financial history including bank statements, employment references and a TICA check which is a public register of tenants who have a bad history.
What happens if the tenant of my property falls behind in their payments?
We have a zero-tolerance policy for rental arrears and your property manager checks daily for any developing arrears situations. We assertively follow up with text, email and voice communications with the teants who fall behind as well as keeping you, the owner up to date with the situation.
If the situation can not be resolved, there are avenues we can persue to take back possession of the property.
What is the process if maintenance work needs to be done on my property?
Typically the tenant or a routine inspection shows up maintenance issues which are directed to our maintenance management team. Repairs over a predetermined amount are referred to the owner for approval and then if necessary quoted and then actioned.
Urgent repairs where the owner cannot be contacted are required by law to be attended to immediately such as no hot water serivce, electrical danger or blocked sewerage pipes.
How often do you inspect properties?
Legally we can conduct 4 routine inspections within the calendar year. When tenancies begin we conduct the routine inspections every three months however once we are satisfied the tenant is looking after the property we conduct inspections approximately every six months.
What happens if the tenant has damaged my property?
Willful damage can be deducted from the tenant’s bond if vacating or if they are remaining in residence, the tenant would be invoiced for the damage. Tenancy law is very strict and defined regarding what might be considered “fair wear and tear”.
What information will you provide to me for my tax purposes?
At the end of every financial year, we provide a comprehensive statement on each of your rental properties with the information your accountant will require to maximise your tax deductions.
Many property owners take the additional step of obtaining a depreciation schedule to ensure the best possible text deduction outcome. These can be obtained from specialist companies set up for the purpose.
How do I apply to rent a property?
Our rental department uses 2Apply for rental applications, you can access this online application through the property listing. When you attend an open home the agent will also be able to send you a link to apply, as you must have inspected the property prior to the application being approved.
Otherwise, you can speak with the agent or contact our office to be provided with paper application forms to complete and return along with all required documents.
What information do you consider in choosing the best tenant?
We consider previous rental history, rental and employment references, proof of financial stability and any other information an owner would feel relevant in making their decision to lease their investment property to you as an occupant.
Also, provding photos of where you currently reside can make your application stand out by giving the owners confidence in how the property will be maintained.
How would I pay my rent?
Our preferred method of payment is MePay, set up through our system provider Property Me. Tenants are able to set up custom, automatic or manual payments for their rent and recieve reminders when payments are scheduled or due.
Our team are able to assist with the set up of this, however alternate methods are avaliable if you speak with your property manager.
What is the process if the property needs repairs and maintenance?
All maintenance and repair requests can be lodged through our system Bricks & Agent, or on the Property Me tenant app. Our tenants are provided with information on lodging requests through these platforms at the time of lease signing.
Our maintenance team will then contact the tenant to organise or discuss.
What happens if the landlord refuses to make vital or urgent repairs?
It would be unusual for the landlord to refuse vital or urgent repairs however should this situation arise, there are laws in place to protect the tenant's rights and safety, as per their lease agreement.
How often do you inspect properties?
At first we inspect every three months until we are satisfied the new tenant is looking after the property, then generally every six months ongoing unless otherwise required.
What happens when I vacate the property?
When tenants vacate a property, they must leave the property in the condition it was when the property was leased. Prior to vacate, tenants are provided with a checklist of items to go over before handing back keys.
Any issues identified after keys are returned, will need to be recified at the tenants expense.
What happens to the bond I have to pay and when would I get it back?
The bond is held by the Rental Bond Board and is refunded to you after you vacate the property and the property owner is satisfied the bond refund requirements have been met.
