Selling your home off-market… is it as great as it’s made out to be? Let’s talk about whether selling your home off-market is really getting you the possible sale price!
Now, there are a lot of agents out there saying that selling your home off-market is the way to go. But what they often fail to tell you is the drawbacks of selling this way which can often end with thousands of dollars left on the table!
I understand how selling off-market can seem appealing. It could save you on up-front marketing fees and you may be able to avoid the inconvenience of hosting Open Homes.
HOWEVER, what they aren’t telling you is there is absolutely no way they can guarantee you are achieving the highest possible price unless they can get your property in front of 100% of the market. This is absolutely impossible to do — no matter how big your buyer database may be!
Below are 3 topics to think about if your agent is suggesting you sell your property off-market!
Topic #1: Supply & Demand: In a changing market, anything is possible!
In a changing market where the demand is higher than the supply, it is essential to get your property in front of 100% of the market! There will be someone out there who WILL see more value than others, BUT for this to happen everyone needs to know your home is for sale!
Sometimes it can be “right buyer, right time” and the offer may be too good to pass up — and that’s great! But there are some things to consider here;
- How do you know it’s your ‘BEST OFFER’? I know from my own listings, the lowest feedback price to the acceptance price can often vary on average by $50,000. That’s a massive gap, and you know what? That’s totally okay!
- We don’t want everyone to buy it, we just need to find the PERFECT buyer willing to pay the best price!
- Is the buyer making the offer just an AVERAGE buyer or are they your PREMIUM buyer?
Without taking your home to market, you may never know…
Topic #2: Negotiating an Off-market contract
So here’s my advice if you decide to sell off-market. Don’t budge on your acceptance price! If the offer isn’t in line with your price expectation, why would you settle without knowing if there is a better buyer out there!?
Great professional marketing will cost you between $1K – $2K dollars. However, maximising your exposure and putting your property in front of as many buyers as possible, could net you a higher sale price!
So, let me ask you… if you could invest $1,000 to potentially make an extra $10,000, would you do it?
By selling off-market, you could be leaving a lot of money sitting on the table and this is something I’m not comfortable recommending to my clients. I can’t honestly tell my owners an offer is the very best price they can achieve if we don’t put it in front of everyone!
On the other hand, I can totally understand why buyers love Off-market sales! They hardly have any buyer competition and often score a better deal because of this!
Topic #3: Contracts are not always a done deal…
So, you’ve accepted an off-market sale…congratulations!
But, what happens if something was to go pear-shaped with the sale? Often, the owner is now left in the lurch and would have to take it to market anyway! The issue now is you’ve lost precious time and because nobody knows the property exists, you don’t have backup buyers on standby!
By not having your property in front of buyers, you’re missing the constant flow of enquiry that you would normally get on market. If a contract falls over, I usually have backup buyers I can immediately contact that have shown interest in the property whilst it’s been under contract. This also keeps buyers motivated to meet deadlines, which in turn puts the seller in a much better position.
I ALWAYS continue marketing my properties until the deal is DONE for this exact reason!
Let’s wrap it up!
So should you sell off-market? It depends on your circumstances. I personally believe the cons far outweigh the benefits, but of course, this is just my opinion.
At the end of the day, if you are selling, make sure your agent is working FOR YOU and ensure they have your best interest at heart!
As the saying goes, “you can’t sell a secret!”… Well, you can, but the result might not be as good!
If you put your property in the wrong hands, I promise it works out to be far more expensive in the long run…
If you’d like to have a friendly chat about anything property, I’m just a phone call away!
