How long does it take to Sell a House?

There is no right or wrong answer to this. It all depends on how you price your property and how good your property photos and write up is. The average time you should aim for when your Selling your property is to have the home sold within 8 weeks. After 8 weeks on the Market, property listings tend to get a bit stale and you may seem buyer enquiry drop.

Will only doing internet advertising be enough to Sell My House?

This is a great question, and this overwhelming response to this is, YES! - Almost all Home buyers today are online. Australia's most popular Real Estate websites are realestate.com.au & Domain.com.au. These are really the only 2 main website you want to focus most of your attention on.

Both realestate.com.au & Domain.com.au receive Millions of unique visitors each month from people looking purchase or rent Homes all across Australia.

When is the best time to Sell My House?

Now is the best time to Sell your House in Australia. The buyer Demand for property in Australia has grown substantially in recent years. Properties are sold by owners in less than one or two days – without using real estate agents. There has been a huge push for vendors to sell privately and deal directly with potential buyers.

If you are selling your Home, it's very simple to do it yourself, and it can easily end up saving you tens of thousands of dollars in Real Estate commission and expensive advertising fees.

Spring time has always been a good time to Sell Properties Australia-wide. Also in the lead up to, or during school Holidays or New Years, as these are times when people are usually planning on relocating.

How much do Real Estate Agents charge to Sell a House?

Real Estate agents in Australia on average charge anywhere from 2% up to 4% commission to Sell a House. Large cities like Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne & Perth, the average Real Estate commission is usually around 2.5% to 3.3% of the sale price of the property.

On top of this, some agents will also additionally charge the GST on the Real Estate Commission, so be sure to check this before signing any documents.

By Selling your Home with Sale By Home Owner, you do Not get charged any commission on the sale of your Home in Australia.

How to Sell Your own Home Privately?

Selling your own Home Privately in Australia has never been easier, follow the steps below:

Step 1: Decide on an asking price

This is something thats usually done between the Real Estate agent & the Home owner, however it’s perfectly fine (and easy) for you to set your own asking price. The key here is to do your research; go to the 'SOLD' section of realestate.com.au & see what similar properties are selling for in your area. This is exactly what Real Estate agents do when they are determining an appropriate list price for your home. There's often a disparity between a vendor’s asking price and what a property actually sells for, so the Sold section is without a doubt the best place to get your comparable sales from. You can visit the SOLD section of realestate.com.au by clicking this link & inserting your property suburb.

Step 2: Give your house a tidy-up

If you’re selling your property privately then your time is money! By having your house  tidied & ready to go (perhaps with a fresh lick of paint here and there), you’ll be making your house much more sellable… and a quick sale means no more having to spend your time showing people around! - If you do decide to paint, only use neutral colour schemes, that light-coloured shade of green and purple that you love soo much, probably isn't going to appeal to the general population. Here's a link to the Bunnings website to help you pick out a nice theme sell your home.

Step 3: Start advertising your property

According to research, most buyers are likely to move between 5 and 15Km's away from their current homes. This means that if you’re selling your privately, the most likely buyers are going to be someone in your area!

The great thing about todays day and age, is that MOST buyers are looking online! - So its absolutely crucial to have your property listed on websites like realestate.com.au or domain.com.au. This is where the overwhelming majority of Real Estate agents get their buyers from. Our 'For Sale By Home Owner' service also offers a number of other advertising options such as Photo signs, Open Home signs, Open Home flags & Facebook marketing.

Step 4: Arrange viewings

It is usually the job of the Real Estate agent to organize inspections & viewings, however this is incredible simple to do. Whenever a buyer calls or emails you, simply arrange a day and time that they buyer can come & have a look at the house. Most buyers appreciate you letting them look around the house on their own, as a lot of buyers feel uncomfortable with the owner or agent standing over their shoulder (eagerly awaiting to see if they want to buy the home). It's best to just greet them at the door, briefly explain where the bedrooms and living areas are, and let them walk around at their own pace. Most inspections only take around 10 to 15 minutes.

A lot of buyers aren't ready to make a decision right on the spot, so when they are done looking, make sure they have a property brochure (which you can print Free from our website) with your contact details on there. Ask them to get in touch if they would like to make an offer, or you can get their contact details and give a follow up call the next day. It's literally that simple.

Step 5: Negotiate a price

The most important part here is to decide how much you are willing to accept beforehand, and focus on not going below that figure.

Don’t worry too much if you have to turn down an offer; it’s really quite common, and so long as you do so in a friendly and cordial way then you will still be leaving the door open just in case the buyer decides to come back later with a revised offer.

Step 6: Accepting an offer

This will usually be done verbally in the first instance, but be sure to ask the buyer to send written confirmation via email or post. This won’t be legally binding (nothing is until the exchange of contracts) but the bigger the paper trail the better. Most of our 'Sale By Home Owner' customers get the buyer to fill out or letter of offer form which can downloaded Free from our website

Should you use a Real Estate Agent to Sell your Property?

Does it make sense to pay an Agent $15,000 to Sell your Property? Lets break down the average time an agent spends on Selling your property. For example, over an eight-week campaign, the agent could hold six open inspections, each for about 30 minutes = 3 hours total. Over that same period, they may spend an additional 3 hours talking to prospective buyers and another two hours for miscellaneous tasks. All up these tasks work out to be a total of approximately 8 hours. For this, you pay them $15,000, which works out to $1,875 per hour!

When you Sell your Home yourself, you're not paying anyone an hourly rate, or an agreed percentage of your sale, the entire Sale proceeds are yours to keep. There's also no additional pressure to take offers that don't meet your expectations.

What do you need to do to Sell your House Privately?

Here are our top 10 steps to selling your house without an agent.

1. Make the house more sellable

If you’re going to do the job yourself, make the process as easy as possible. In other words, make your house as sellable as you can.

People don’t want to see your clutter, they want to see the rooms, and anything that will negatively detract from being able to see them clearly is a bad thing.

While kitchens and bathrooms are the rooms that can traditionally sell houses, sellers thinking of renovating theirs should think twice.

Unless you are prepared to do a good job on changing the kitchen, don’t change it, just tidy it up, maybe replace any damaged elements, and put a quick lick of paint over any hideous 1970s wood panelling. That way, people can see they can live with it until they can afford to change it.

2. Set a list price

With your house looking its best your next job is to set a price. It is here where you would normally rely on the help of an estate agent. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t do it alone. Indeed, you may be better off.

Some local agents are guilty of inflating valuations.

It’s a cruel trick to give you false hope on value and a tactic designed to flatter you into using that particular agent. Contrary to popular belief, No agent can obtain a price higher than another. The market is the market, thanks to the power of the internet.

Do your own research instead. Check the Sold section of realestate.com.au/sold and compare your home to the homes recently sold in your area.

3. Write a good description

Your price has been set and you’re ready to show buyers how great your property is. But first you need to write a few lines about your home to help entice buyers through the door. You may be tempted to write a detailed account of how wonderful it is, complete with examples of your interior design skills, but keeping the information concise and to the point is more productive.

Most buyers skip through lengthy narratives. The most important elements are lots of internal photos and a floor plan. Use bullet points and small paragraphs, don't make your write up look like a short novel.

4. Take the best photos

This is important, very important. Photos are pointless – and even counter-productive – if they don’t do the property justice.

Images used to market a home should be specific to that property. If it’s a remote rural property then purchasers will want to see a range of shots that show the property off – the land available, the views, the locality and the property features.

If it’s a modern day property in a central location then lifestyle shots showing the fixtures and fittings may be of more interest.

In almost all cases the communal living areas should be shown at their best, along with the most appealing angle of the front and a couple of decent garden shots, looking both to and from the house.

You can search for good, cheap local Real Estate photographers on a website called photographers.com.au. This can potentially be some of the best money you've ever spent, as it can pay dividends once your property has attracted the right buyer and Sold.

5. List the property

IF you decide to “do it yourself” without any agent, you will need to take care of advertising, pricing and viewings yourself.

Make use of 'Sale By Home Owner' websites like SaleByHomeOwner.com.au. These websites charge no commission to sell properties, instead making their money through targeted advertising and optional services via charging 'a lot' smaller fee upfront.

Sale By Home Owner can get your property listed on all major Australian Real Estate websites & in a lot of cases, can actually get your property 'more' exposure than most local agents.

6. Arranging viewings

Real Estate agents are normally on hand to show your property, which is beneficial for those people who work during the day. However, to avoid paying estate agent fees, you could enlist the help of family or friends to show potential buyers around your home while you are at work. Or simply arrange viewings for evenings or weekends.

Sale By Home Owner has an option for home owners to advertise designated Open Home times so that any potential buyers can come and view the Home for example on a Saturday from 10:00am to 10:30am.

7. Negotiating a price

When Selling your Home yourself, when it comes to the financial dealings of home selling it’s important to keep a clear head and not become intimidated by price negotiation.

Decide how much you are willing to accept beforehand and don’t go below that figure – regardless of how nervous you may be or how anxious you are to sell the house.

If you turn down an offer always try to do so in a friendly manner; you want to be able to leave the door open just in case you do decide to accept the offer further down the line.

Keeping communication friendly also means the buyer will feel comfortable approaching you should they decide to increase their offer.

8. Accepting an offer

When you’re ready to accept an offer do it verbally in the first instance and then via email or post. But remember nothing is legally binding until the exchange of contracts, having spare contracts on hand is usually a good practice, you can get a solicitor to draft you up a blank contract prior to, or during the sale.

9. Instruct a solicitor

Once you’ve accepted an offer, you’ll then need to instruct a solicitor or conveyancer to sort out the legal work. Just as you would when employing the services of any professional, be sure to do your research in order to find a good one.

Licensed conveyancers tend to be cheaper and do the same job as solicitors. Shop around and try to gain recommendations from friends as to who they may have used.

10. Deal with renegotiations

Once a buyer has instructed their own surveyor they may want to renegotiate the price of the property. This can be if something negative has appeared in a building and pest inspection or council searches, or If they have found something wrong with the property they may feel their original offer is no longer fair.

Can you Sell Your Home Privately?

Selling your home privately can be an excellent way to save thousands of dollars on sales commissions. However, most homeowners feel unprepared to sell their home without the help of a real estate agent, according to the "Wall Street Journal." While the services that real estate agents provide 'seem' invaluable, homeowners can also take several steps to successfully handle the entire transaction on their own.

1. Improve your Homes value

If you’re going to do the job yourself, make the process as easy as possible. In other words, make your house as sellable as you can.

People don’t want to see your clutter, they want to see the rooms, and anything that will negatively detract from being able to see them clearly is a bad thing.

While kitchens and bathrooms are the rooms that can traditionally sell houses, sellers thinking of renovating theirs should think twice.

2. Set a realistic list price

With your house looking its best your next job is to set a price. It is here where you would normally rely on the help of an estate agent. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t do it alone. Indeed, you may be better off.

Some local agents are guilty of inflating valuations.

It’s a cruel trick to give you false hope on value and a tactic designed to flatter you into using that particular agent. Contrary to popular belief, No agent can obtain a price higher than another. The market is the market, thanks to the power of the internet.

Do your own research instead. Check the Sold section of realestate.com.au/sold and compare your home to the homes recently sold in your area.

3. Write a good write-up for the Home

Your price has been set and you’re ready to show buyers how great your property is. But first you need to write a few lines about your home to help entice buyers through the door. You may be tempted to write a detailed account of how wonderful it is, complete with examples of your interior design skills, but keeping the information concise and to the point is more productive.

4. Take great photos

This is important, very important. Photos are pointless – and even counter-productive – if they don’t do the property justice.

Images used to market a home should be specific to that property. If it’s a remote rural property then purchasers will want to see a range of shots that show the property off – the land available, the views, the locality and the property features.

If it’s a modern day property in a central location then lifestyle shots showing the fixtures and fittings may be of more interest.

In almost all cases the communal living areas should be shown at their best, along with the most appealing angle of the front and a couple of decent garden shots, looking both to and from the house.

You can search for good, cheap local Real Estate photographers on a website called photographers.com.au. This can potentially be some of the best money you've ever spent, as it can pay dividends once your property has attracted the right buyer and Sold.

5. List the property online

IF you decide to “do it yourself” without any agent, you will need to take care of advertising, pricing and viewings yourself.

Make use of 'Sale By Home Owner' websites like SaleByHomeOwner.com.au. These websites charge no commission to sell properties, instead making their money through targeted advertising and optional services via charging 'a lot' smaller fee upfront.

Sale By Home Owner can get your property listed on all major Australian Real Estate websites & in a lot of cases, can actually get your property 'more' exposure than most local agents.

6. Arranging viewings or Open Homes

Real Estate agents are normally on hand to show your property, which is beneficial for those people who work during the day. However, to avoid paying estate agent fees, you could enlist the help of family or friends to show potential buyers around your home while you are at work. Or simply arrange viewings for evenings or weekends.

Sale By Home Owner has an option for home owners to advertise designated Open Home times so that any potential buyers can come and view the Home for example on a Saturday from 10:00am to 10:30am.

7. Negotiating a sale price

When Selling your Home yourself, when it comes to the financial dealings of home selling it’s important to keep a clear head and not become intimidated by price negotiation.

Decide how much you are willing to accept beforehand and don’t go below that figure – regardless of how nervous you may be or how anxious you are to sell the house.

If you turn down an offer always try to do so in a friendly manner; you want to be able to leave the door open just in case you do decide to accept the offer further down the line.

Keeping communication friendly also means the buyer will feel comfortable approaching you should they decide to increase their offer.

8. Accepting a buyers offer

When you’re ready to accept an offer do it verbally in the first instance and then via email or post. But remember nothing is legally binding until the exchange of contracts, having spare contracts on hand is usually a good practice, you can get a solicitor to draft you up a blank contract prior to, or during the sale.

How do you Sell your House without an Agent?

Follow the steps below for everything you need to know about Selling your House without an agent:

1. Make the house more sellable

If you’re going to do the job yourself, make the process as easy as possible. In other words, make your house as sellable as you can.

People don’t want to see your clutter, they want to see the rooms, and anything that will negatively detract from being able to see them clearly is a bad thing.

While kitchens and bathrooms are the rooms that can traditionally sell houses, sellers thinking of renovating theirs should think twice.

Unless you are prepared to do a good job on changing the kitchen, don’t change it, just tidy it up, maybe replace any damaged elements, and put a quick lick of paint over any hideous 1970s wood panelling. That way, people can see they can live with it until they can afford to change it.

2. Set a list price

With your house looking its best your next job is to set a price. It is here where you would normally rely on the help of an estate agent. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t do it alone. Indeed, you may be better off.

Some local agents are guilty of inflating valuations.

It’s a cruel trick to give you false hope on value and a tactic designed to flatter you into using that particular agent. Contrary to popular belief, No agent can obtain a price higher than another. The market is the market, thanks to the power of the internet.

Do your own research instead. Check the Sold section of realestate.com.au/sold and compare your home to the homes recently sold in your area.

3. Write a good description

Your price has been set and you’re ready to show buyers how great your property is. But first you need to write a few lines about your home to help entice buyers through the door. You may be tempted to write a detailed account of how wonderful it is, complete with examples of your interior design skills, but keeping the information concise and to the point is more productive.

Most buyers skip through lengthy narratives. The most important elements are lots of internal photos and a floor plan. Use bullet points and small paragraphs, don't make your write up look like a short novel.

4. Take the best photos

This is important, very important. Photos are pointless – and even counter-productive – if they don’t do the property justice.

Images used to market a home should be specific to that property. If it’s a remote rural property then purchasers will want to see a range of shots that show the property off – the land available, the views, the locality and the property features.

If it’s a modern day property in a central location then lifestyle shots showing the fixtures and fittings may be of more interest.

In almost all cases the communal living areas should be shown at their best, along with the most appealing angle of the front and a couple of decent garden shots, looking both to and from the house.

You can search for good, cheap local Real Estate photographers on a website called photographers.com.au. This can potentially be some of the best money you've ever spent, as it can pay dividends once your property has attracted the right buyer and Sold.

5. List the property

IF you decide to “do it yourself” without any agent, you will need to take care of advertising, pricing and viewings yourself.

Make use of 'Sale By Home Owner' websites like SaleByHomeOwner.com.au. These websites charge no commission to sell properties, instead making their money through targeted advertising and optional services via charging 'a lot' smaller fee upfront.

Sale By Home Owner can get your property listed on all major Australian Real Estate websites & in a lot of cases, can actually get your property 'more' exposure than most local agents.

6. Arranging viewings

Real Estate agents are normally on hand to show your property, which is beneficial for those people who work during the day. However, to avoid paying estate agent fees, you could enlist the help of family or friends to show potential buyers around your home while you are at work. Or simply arrange viewings for evenings or weekends.

Sale By Home Owner has an option for home owners to advertise designated Open Home times so that any potential buyers can come and view the Home for example on a Saturday from 10:00am to 10:30am.

7. Negotiating a price

When Selling your Home yourself, when it comes to the financial dealings of home selling it’s important to keep a clear head and not become intimidated by price negotiation.

Decide how much you are willing to accept beforehand and don’t go below that figure – regardless of how nervous you may be or how anxious you are to sell the house.

If you turn down an offer always try to do so in a friendly manner; you want to be able to leave the door open just in case you do decide to accept the offer further down the line.

Keeping communication friendly also means the buyer will feel comfortable approaching you should they decide to increase their offer.

8. Accepting an offer

When you’re ready to accept an offer do it verbally in the first instance and then via email or post. But remember nothing is legally binding until the exchange of contracts, having spare contracts on hand is usually a good practice, you can get a solicitor to draft you up a blank contract prior to, or during the sale.

9. Instruct a solicitor

Once you’ve accepted an offer, you’ll then need to instruct a solicitor or conveyancer to sort out the legal work. Just as you would when employing the services of any professional, be sure to do your research in order to find a good one.

Licensed conveyancers tend to be cheaper and do the same job as solicitors. Shop around and try to gain recommendations from friends as to who they may have used.

10. Deal with renegotiations

Once a buyer has instructed their own surveyor they may want to renegotiate the price of the property. This can be if something negative has appeared in a building and pest inspection or council searches, or If they have found something wrong with the property they may feel their original offer is no longer fair.

How do I Sell my House Privately in QLD?

If you're considering selling your Home privately in Queensland (QLD), the main thing to consider is whether its an option to sell your Home without an Agent? The answer is Yes, you certainly do. 

Step 1: Preparing the contract of sale

The first step is to get your contract of sale drawn up by a solicitor  or conveyancer before advertising your property online.

If there are swimming pools, you should either get a pool safety certificate from a licensed inspector, or give the purchaser a Form 36 – ‘notice of no pool safety certificate’ before selling (accessible from QBCC at https://www.qbcc.qld.gov.au/ ). A copy of the completed Form 36 must be sent to QBCC before settlement. The purchaser must obtain a pool safety certificate within 90 days of settlement.

Step 2: Pricing Your Home

It is illegal to misrepresent the property’s sale price. The selling price cannot be less than that quoted by the agent or the minimum amount you would accept. To research your price, you can:

• You can look for comparable sold properties and for sale properties on the Sold section of realestate.com.au/sold 

Step 3: Private Inspections

You will need to allow purchasers to inspect the property through open homes or private inspections once the property is advertised. Potential purchasers may therefore request a copy of the contract of sale.

Step 4: Receiving the offer

For Property sales, In most cases, offers take the form of a signed contract for sale of residential property. Have your solicitor or conveyancer examine any progressions made by the purchaser to the sales contract.

In the event that somebody makes you an offer on your property, you may take a holding deposit of the total or a nominated fractional sum. This should be held in your solicior’s trust account and it so to be returned if the offer is rejected or the contract is terminated.

Step 5: Signing the contract

The following step in the lawful procedure of selling a property in QLD is for you and the purchaser to both sign the contract of sale. Two copies of the agreement are required, one for you to sign and one for the purchaser to sign. You should sign your copy, and give it to the buyer to sign also.

You can now consider changing the status of your property to “Under Contract” on SaleByHomeOwner.com.au, however it is recommended to keep a record of all enquiries from other prospective buyers just in case the deal fall through.

Step 6: Exchange

Exchange implies that both you and the purchaser have signed a copy of the contract of sale and have exchanged the contract with each other. Exchange doesn’t really need to happen face to face, it could be by means of mail or by means of a third party, for example, your conveyancer. Remember that you and the purchaser aren’t lawfully bound until all copies of the agreement have been signed and exchanged.

Step 7: Cooling Off period

Save some exceptions, in QLD, the buyer of a residential property is entitled to a cooling off period of five business days. The cooling off period initiates from when the purchaser receives a copy of the contract of sale signed by both parties. At this time, the purchaser can cancel the sale but will have to pay the seller a termination penalty of up to 0.25 per cent of the sale price. The deposit must be reimbursed within 14 days.

To pull back from a deal, the buyer must notify the seller or their agent in writing, sign it and deliver it by 5pm on the fifth day. They can do so in face to face, by email or fax.

The cooling off period can be cancelled or reduced by notifying the seller or their agent in writing.

The amount of the deposit is payable by the purchaser and ought to be held in trust after cooling off (e.g. 10% of the purchase price less holding deposit).

An essential thing to remember with respect to cooling off periods in QLD is that they only apply to the purchaser, once you’ve exchanged contracts, you can’t just cancel the sale as a Seller.

Step 8: Settlement

Settlement is agreed by yourself and the buyer, and generally is 30 to 90 days after exchange yet both parties can agree to a different period. At settlement the purchaser ‘settles’ their purchase by paying the whole amount. 

Can I Sell My House Privately after listing with an Agent?

So your home is for sale, and you've signed a contract with a Real Estate Agent, but you've been able to nab a buyer through your own efforts. Maybe it was through word of mouth or your aggressive push on Facebook, but someone is writing you an offer and really wants to buy your house. Having found a buyer on your own, are you still legally obligated to pay real estate fees or commission? Here's how to know if you're still liable.

Read your listing agreement

In most states, a seller and an agent draw up something called a listing agreement. The listing agreement details the rights and responsibilities of the seller and the Agent, and usually outlines the circumstances when a Real Estate commission is due.

During an Open listing, the seller still has the rights to sell the property themselves without having to pay Real Estate commission. If it's during an exclusive agency period, the owner may have to still pay the agent, or possibly wait until the end of the exclusive period to sell the property themselves.

Does Sale By Home Owner charge any commission or additional fees?

Sale By Home Owner does NOT charge any commission or additional fees on the sale of your property. There are no hidden costs or sneaky practices here.

You do have the option to Upgrade your ad on realestate.com.au, which is completely optional. Your Home can be Sold quite easily without the need to upgrade, however if you want to increase the visibility of your ad and appear higher and more prominent in the search results, then upgrading your ad might be a good option for you.

You can find out more about upgrading your and pricing here.