Auctioneer Tom Panos is seeing a ‘list now, launch later’ strategy

Home sellers are flying under the radar with a brilliant selling strategy that could lead to a January boom, Tom Panos writes.

Tom Panos says sellers are getting the jump on the competition this Christmas.

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Real estate insiders have long known that, barring economic factors, the best time to buy has been December and the best time to sell January.

In December, there is leftover stock needing to be sold by residual vendors, as many of the buyers head to Westfield, the beach, or Christmas gatherings and press pause on their open house viewing.

One of the dilemmas for vendors right now, is whether to list on the market before Christmas or after. While you do have time to go onto the market now, you would be cutting it fine. This December will run longer than others due to the time lost during COVID lockdown and restrictions. December 19 for example looks to have a lot of auctions this year. I myself cannot take any more bookings for that day.

Christmas and January will be more active for property this year.

A great strategy many use is called ‘list now, launch later’.

What this means is that an agent lists your property and has it on their books but without launching a full marketing campaign. This allows a vendor to catch a buyer who might be looking over the festive season and may pay a premium price because not much else is on the market.

It’s always much better to sell in isolation than in competition. This trend will be more profound as people won’t be travelling overseas for holidays this year. REA says December and January is a strong period for consumers on their portal. This period will be even more profound due to the massive appetite of buyers to get in, as fear of missing out is clearly on their minds.

Tom Panos calls an auction in Burwood.

The added benefit of this strategy is that if the property is not sold, the agent and vendor has an advantage when launching in the new year by having access to photographers, styling and advertising preparation before everyone else. Traditionally most vendors would come on after Australia Day and the Australian Open. This year agents are already getting ready to launch early to mid-January.

So what does this plan look like for a vendor?

1. Get your agent to look at your home and list it. At most you will have a board up and an advert up on the portals saying forthcoming sale. Photos should be done.

2. Don’t put a price on it.

3. No other marketing.

Properties quietly listing now can pick up buyers ahead of an official launch date in January.

Your agent might have a buyer or come across someone who wants to look at it right away and that’s okay. Sometimes you can get a top offer in the first few days.

Finally, one important factor is that the market is hot. It’s the best I have seen it. Back in March, real estate analysts forecast the market would drop between 10 and 30 per cent. They have since revised their forecast. But after 35 years of real estate, I realise things change quickly. In a few months we will see the end of JobKeeper and mortgage repayment holidays. These wind-ups could take out some of the steam. That’s why I have seen a number of my clients who have done well in property over the years looking at a ‘sell high, buy low’ strategy. Right now, there are lots of buyers. What we don’t know is what March will look like next year. Many experts say the market will be strong for most of next year, but the same experts said real estate markets would be massacred this year. No one sets the market. The market sets the market.