Redwing,

Despite messages to the contrary I have just read…I know of, and have assisted with hundreds of private sales. Especially in the major metropolitan areas, you can do a great job selling privately!

Good looking, well thought out advertising and marketing is the key.

Some tips:

Sign: Large, large phone number, attractive relevant photo (not the one of the front of the house! der!), about 6 feature points.

Advertising: Use domain.com.au, good value advertising at $195 per month. Realestate.com.au doesn’t allow private sellers [angry2].

Use local papers if it’s necessary for your suburb (in some suburbs the local paper is the bible, in others the SMH or the AGE are enough). Put those real estate agents’ proposals to good use: Look up the prices of the ads in the local paper and try to get the paper to give you the same rate as the real estate agents, otherwise they’ll quote you twice that amount and it becomes uneconomical very quickly.

Tip: Don’t let the local paper “design” your ad for you. They usually look tacky and unprofessional. Ask a “graphic designer” friend or phone up a local graphic artist and get them to do it. It’s worth the extra hassle and small expense to make it look great!

Try appointments first, they certainly get the more committed buyers. However some suburbs operate best on open for inspections:

Don’t do your own opens. It works better if a friend/your secretary does them for you. The friend should ask the exiting person if they like the property, if they’re interested, if they’d like the owner to phone them to discuss the price/make an offer.

The negotiation shouldn’t be difficult if you stick to your game plan and have done your research properly. Just be your natural self and be happy and polite to speak to. If you’ve priced the house correctly, everything should proceed smoothly.

There’s plenty more tips, so let me know if you want me to post more.

Best of luck to all private sellers – vive le revolution!

Cheers, Kate