‘Not asking enough’: Four ways Perth homeowners are underselling

As the Perth property market skyrockets to new heights, it might come as a shock to learn locals are getting undercut, says one property strategist.

While our eastern state counterparts are now said to be “asking too much”, with houses in Sydney and Melbourne lingering on the market for six months or longer, the west is bucking the trend with new advice we should be asking for more as homes go under offer in just days.

Revolutionary Real Estate property marketing strategist David Kaity says Perth home owners are underselling despite Perth’s hot property market.Credit: David Kaity

Revolutionary Real Estate property marketing strategist and ‘vendor guardian’ David Kaity, said being in the “hottest market in the country”, was leading Perth vendors into a false sense of security that saw them underselling homes without even knowing it.

“It sounds crazy to be using the word “underselling” in such a hot market, but it is happening, I would argue, in most transactions in WA … probably somewhere around 70 per cent,” he said.

Kaity said there are four trends coming out of the market that led vendors to believe they were getting the best deal instead of using those trends to their advantage.

The first, is selling ‘off-market’, or to a real estate agent’s direct database of buyers.

While a vendor might be happy with the price, they will never have the opportunity to test the market, says Kaity.

The second is agents “bragging” about selling homes in shorter and shorter amounts of time.

“It’s incredible; ‘sold off market’, hooray, ‘sold in three days’ hooray – it takes time, even in a hot market, for enough people to discover the listing; for them to inquire; then to inspect; maybe inspect a second time; to receive an offer; and then have those offers negotiated,” he said.

“You can’t condense that, you can’t compress that artificially into one or two days, because you’ll miss out on achieving the best sale price.”

Eliane Da Silva sold her home Lake Coogee for $87,000 more than first offered thanks to a few simple tips.Credit: Eliane Da Silva

Selling a home ‘as is’, believing buyers under pressure will overlook defects or make their own changes is also hurting home values.

Cost-effective improvements like flooring and painting, right down to the smell of the home can impact its appeal.

Selling via auction is another big no-no.

While in person auctions are not so common in Western Australia, the trend of online auctions is rising.

“I’m not necessarily advocating greed or for people to ask for more than they can get, I’m advocating for discovering what the absolute highest that a buyer is willing to pay.”

Kaity advises a hybrid sale method, where homeowners play a greater part in the sale of their home with support from an agent or industry expert.

Former Lake Coogee homeowner Eliane Da Silva turned heads when she hosted her own home open in July 2023.

Originally offered $772,500, she eventually walked away with $860,000 cash in hand.

“I had so much fear, I didn’t want to open to the public, I only wanted to do a private opening,” she said.

“In the end I had such a good time, and you have more control, you’re the owner so you can answer people’s questions about the house.

“The couple that ended up buying my home came four times.”

When offering advice to other homeowners looking to sell, she said patience was key and a little bit of help styling a home made a bigger return than it cost.

“I missed out when buying so many times because I asked questions and I wanted to know everything and consider everything about the home I was buying,” she said.

“This is the biggest purchase of your life, you need the time.”

According to the latest data from the Real Estate Institute of WA, homes and units in WA are currently on the market for a median of 10 days, up from 9 days in August and 8 days in May.

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