Expert reveals how to get the best price for your home

DON'T assume that because the property market is hot, that you will automatically get a good price

ABOVE: Leading real estate expert Tom Panos with Regional General Manager, Northern NSW and Brisbane West, Rod Harris. Picture: Supplied

SELLING your home for the best price is a marathon not a sprint.

Vendors must engage real estate agents who take an intelligent approach to combine print and and online marketing, rather then looking for a quick sale because it could add 10% to their sales price.

This is the advice from Tom Panos, Australia's leading real estate marketing expert and Sky business commentator.

Mr Panos visited the region on Thursday and said he considered the Northern Rivers property market be very hot, meaning fewer homes for sale and competitive buyers.

He was also very impressed with the standard of real estate professionals, he said.

"A great real agent, well-trained and with exceptional marketing can add up to a 10% premium on a property verses an unskilled agent with no marketing," hesaid.

"So selecting a great agent can have a significant impact on your financial net worth, considering the Australian family home remains a capital gains tax-free commodity."

Mr Panos said sellers need to understand by engaging a savvy real estate agent who understands the benefits of using a holistic market strategy combining online and offline marketing.

"In a hot market a lot vendors make the mistake the mistake of thinking there's no need to market their home because everything is selling as there's lot of buyers," he said.

"But in fact selling your property, it's not about how quickly the sale is made, it's about house price maximisation."

Getting the top price for your home can mean waiting a little longer, he said.

"There are four buyers types; a local buyer, out of area buyers, passive buyer and active buyer and vendors need to make up their minds are looking for the first buyer or the best price," Mr Panos said.

"What we have seen in the past is buyer who pay a 10% premium are usually very passive, they are hidden and what makes them so hard to find is that they don't even know they are about to buy a home."

Mr Panos said print media when used in conjunction with online media, vendors achieves consistently higher sales prices.

"What we have seem in the past is different media attracts different kinds of buyers and while the internet is very efficient and very effective at finding active buyers, print is extremely good at identifying a passive buyer who may not be registered on a real agent database or on the realestate.com website," he said.

"Whenever a vendor is thinking of selling., what they should be doing is covering all bases because marketing in real estate works in combination but not in isolation."

Mr Panos said vendors should ensure the agent they engage to sell their property will market their home in print and and online.

"Each week the Northern Star publishes a comprehensive real estate guide," he said.

"And the great the great thing about agents in the Northern Rivers is there is abundance who market their vendors properties really well and use all forms of marketing."

"Vendors must find out does this agent have a strategy all about short days on market, turning it over and getting it sold quickly," he said.

"Or has this agent a truly holistic approach to treat it like a marathon and not like a sprint, so what they are going to do is ensure they use all the marketing element because if they don't, how will they know they have achieved all the potential buyers."

Mr Panos said he was impressed how The Northern Star is embarking down a path of creating marketing excellence in the real estate community.

"They are using the latest innovative marketing strategies being used in Australia and overseas on house price maximisation on the new connection economy," he said.

Originally published as Expert reveals how to get the best price for your home