Dialogue: More than one way to buy or sell home sweet home

By GEORGE LANCASTER*

Selling residential real estate is dealing with emotions and opinions.

In seven years in the business I have dealt with a lot of people and sold a lot of property - on average I deal with 2000 people a year.

One thing that stands out is that people buy property first on emotion, then on value. If the emotional strings are not singing, one home's value compared to that of another can become irrelevant.

Certain points in a home can close a deal or lose a buyer: a dog barks next door, a neighbour gives a funny look, a loud car zooms past the house too fast. It is all emotional.

In most cases we are looking at the single biggest financial decision a person will make in their lives. I have seen people break into tears on missing out on a home they loved. Buyers cry out with joy on securing a home they love.

The experience of buying and selling property is always going to pull on emotional strings. People can never be expected to act any other way when buying residential real estate.

There is no one theory on the best way to sell a home, but equally you cannot be so narrow-minded as to say there are certain marketing methods that should never be used. For every success story there is a sad story.

But to be influenced into making a decision on how best to offer your home for sale, based on a friend's success story, or another friend's gloomy story, or an article in a paper or a magazine is wrong.

It's fine to take guidance and advice, but then look at everything and make your own decision.

Recently a property was marketed by a husband and wife team in our Remuera office. I feel everyone - even the people that bought the home - expected it to sell for maybe $800,000 at the most. When the hammer fell and the property was pronounced sold the vendors had a sale for just over a million dollars.

If they had listed this property at the highest price expectation they would probably still be extremely happy, because they would never have known its true value and this story would never have been told.

One thing is for sure - it was emotions, not statistics or valuations, that sold that property. But on the funny side of things, imagine having dinner and a glass of wine with these people, and mentioning you were thinking of selling.

As a real-estate salesman, I can only give advice. The biggest decisions made anyone contemplating selling a home is how to sell it, who should sell it and when it should be sold.

Take your time. Don't rush yourself. Make sure you're comfortable with the firm you are dealing with and the way your property will be marketed. Most importantly, you must be comfortable with the individual agent who is representing your interests.

You read terms recently in the paper: "Vendor crunching," "Kick him in the guts." This is how they do it in Australia, according to one man. Somehow I doubt it though.

We use methods such as written feedback, the market's opinion. We are, remember, a conduit through which information is passed. Good or bad, it is our duty to pass all the information on to our vendors. This is called keeping our vendors informed.

As we say in the real estate business, an informed vendor can make an informed decision.

* George Lancaster is an Auckland real estate agent.