Expert claims vendors are losing tens of thousands of dollars with one slip up

THIS city terrace sold for $1.4 milion recently. But the owners would have gotten much more if it wasn’t for one crucial error.

WHEN 229 Denison Street in Newtown in Sydney’s inner west hit the market recently, the owners were confident it would fetch around $1.6 million.

After all, a similar house right next door had sold for $1.58 million less than a year before — so when they received an offer for $1.55 million last month, they turned it down.

But it was a move that would end up costing them a whopping $85,000, with the four-bedroom home eventually selling for just $1,465,000.

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It was a similar story when 70/252 Willoughby Road, Naremburn sold last week for $665,000.

The price guide for the one-bedroom apartment had been between $700,000 and $750,000 — and the owners also rejected a higher offer than the property ended up selling for earlier in the campaign.

Buyer’s agent John Carew of Mayfield Property Buyers, who purchased both properties on behalf of clients, said those examples reflected a “surprising trend” that had been occurring right across Sydney recently.

The owners of 70/252 Willoughby Road, Naremburn also ended up rejecting an offer that was higher than the property eventually sold for. Picture: Supplied

“There are still a large chunk of vendors with 2017 pricing expectations,” he said.

“In a lot of instances the original price guides for the property are too high. This means they’re not engaging with the buying market which causes limited interest early on.

“It goes stale, ends up getting passed in at auction, and in many instances they’re having to then bring the price below market value.”

He said the market had changed dramatically in the past year or two.

“In the boom time it almost didn’t matter (what) the price guide (was), you were almost guaranteed to have 10 bidders with plenty of competition,” he said.

“But if you don’t get the price guide right in the first days now, it’s very challenging for vendors to secure a good result.

“It’s really important for vendors to be listening to agents in this market, because they’re the ones out there talking to buyers on a daily basis and they are across the results.”

Mr Carew said it was an important lesson for sellers to adjust their expectations.

“People who are placing their expectations on a sale that happened 12 months ago and who don’t listen to advice and get their presentation, marketing and pricing correct are running a high risk of their property going stale and selling at a discounted price compared to what it should be,” he said.

However, he stressed homes were still fetching solid results when the sellers managed to get the “marketing, presentation and pricing” correct — but he warned Sydney homes were now unlikely to attract the same level of “frenzied competition” there had been in 2016 and 2017.

On the flip side, Mr Carew said there were “really good buying opportunities” on the Sydney market at the moment for buyers who were willing to “move quickly” and make an offer that took advantage of current conditions.

He said it was also a good time for first homebuyers who were previously priced out of the market, first-time investors and those wanting to upgrade to a bigger home.

229 Denison Street, Newtown NSW 2042 recently sold for $1,465,000 — well below what the owners were after. Picture: Supplied

He said savvy potential buyers should take advantage of properties that had already been on the market for a while, especially now during the final “peak” weeks before the summer holidays.

And for buyers, Mr Carew said the best strategy was to consider early offers, which can “often be the best in a tricky market”, and to nail the pricing from the get-go.

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