Selling your Property?
If my property is not on YouTube, it cannot sell.
If you are planning to sell your property, making a YouTube video is not the only way to do it. There are about 50,000 resale Condo and HDB sold yearly. If you do a quick scan on YouTube, there is probably a handful of new YouTube videos on property sale a day. That would approximate to about 1000 videos a year. Given the stats, only 2% of the properties are shown on social media.
So how do you sell a property effectively?
Follow these 7 steps for an effective Sale.
1) Check Selling Status
HDB
For HDB, you would have to meet the Minimum Occupation Period. Many would have assumed that if you reach 5 years upon TOP, you could sell your flat. However, there are certain situations that may require a longer MOP.
For example, flats bought under Selective En Bloc Redevelopment Scheme requires 7 years from date or selection or 5 years from the date of occupation whichever is earlier. Flat bought under Fresh Start Housing Scheme has a MOP of 20 years.
The MOP also excludes any period where you do not occupy the flat
Private Properties
While Private Properties are not subject to MOP and you could sell them at any time, they may be subjected to Seller's Stamp Duty (SSD) depending on if you had bought it when it was introduced. To avoid SSD, it is recommended that you sell your property after the third year of purchase.
SSD is calculated as follows (On and After 11 March 2017)
Up to 1 year -12% More than 1 year and up to 2 years - 8% More than 2 years and up to 3 years - 4% More than 3 years - No SSD
2) Understand the selling timeline
Some owners with extra funds would opt to purchase a new property first before selling the old one. While others would need to sell first before a new purchase.
HDB resale takes 8 weeks to process. Private property will take as long as 3 months since the OTP is signed. Understanding your timeline is important especially if you are looking to buy a new property to replace the old one.
3) Get an Agent - Go Exclusive
Now that you have determined that you can sell your property and am comfortable with the timeline, what's next?
There are some who may consider marketing their own properties. While marketing a private property may be less complicated than the tedious HDB process, there are pros to engaging a professional to do the work for you.
Why should you employ an agent?
An agent would help you qualify as a potential buyer. These include checking if the buyer gets Approval in Principle (AIP ) from their bank before OTP and ensure an emotional free negotiation process.
Agents will be able to advise on the pricing of your property base on insights such as comparative marketing analysis, home valuation and documentation.
Agents would be able to stage your home more effectively for viewings as well as property listing
Time is the most precious commodity, instead of spending weekends to market the place yourself, these can be done by the agents. Moreover, agents with a larger pool of network and experience would know which is more effective in bringing potential buyers to view your property.
Save yourself the hassle of paperwork. Incomplete paperwork or errors might lead to the termination of the sale. Worse still, you might be liable for any losses the buyer might face if it is the result of your negligence.
After deciding on employing an agent to market your place, the next is to decide if you should use one or multiple agents. While many have the notion that having multiple agents means you will sell your houses faster, this misconception is further from the truth. All agents use the same platforms for property listing. Moreover, if you employ more than one agent to market, the motivation is lesser since the commissions are less certain. There are also instances where your selling prices is compromised as competing agents might have a 'price war' to get a buyer.
On the other hand, having an exclusive agent mean that you have a motivated and dedicated person to market your place. Without the need to compete with other agents, the exclusive agent will have your full interest at heart. Given that the exclusive agreement has a set timeline, the agent would more likely have more urgency to close your sale.
The usual agent fee starts from 2%. There are instances when an agency charges up to 5% for commission especially if staging and videography are involved. Not all properties require a 5% fee. An effective agent would be able to advise on the right stradegy in marketing your proeprty.
At Private Home Collection, the additional benefit is that we would leverage on our platform. All listings will be marketed by not one but multiple in-house agents under an exclusive agreement. That means you would get the benefits of exclusive service and at the same time enjoy the wider marketing coverage.
Make an appointment with us here to find out more.
4) Check Property Valuation and set a selling price
Before you market your property, there are two things to do. Get a property valuation and a Comparative Marketing Analysis (CMA). Your exclusive agent will be able to assist you in both. This is to ensure that you do not under price or overprice your property and would allow the agent to market your unit more effectively.
5) Stage the Property
The next step is to do a spring cleaning of your property. If you look at property listings on Property Guru or youtube videos, you would have noticed how spick and span the properties are. These are not by chance. Stage your property so professional photographs and videography can be done. Additionally, do maintain the condition when viewings are arranged. An agent would be able to assist you with this.
6) Market the property
Once you have employed an agent, marketing will be done by them. The traditional way is to use property portals such as Property Guru or 99.co. These days, a combination of marketing on social media such as Facebook, Instagram or even Tic Tok are used. Agents also rely on their network to market your property.
Some agents will also provide staging and videography. Due to the costs involved in this, there might be additional charges if these options are taken up. As to its effectiveness, it would depend on a case-by-case basis.
Lastly, house viewings would be conducted. Here are a few tips for house viewings
Spring clean your home. Remove as many personalised items (such as photos). Potential buyers would like to visualise the property as their new home and thus decluttering would aid in this visualisation.
Make sure your unit is cool. If you have the air-con turn it on.
Get rid of foul smells. That means no cooking during the viewing.
Ensure that the entrance is clean up as well. The first impression counts!
7) Issue OTP
The last part and probably the most important part is the closing of the deal. To have a successful closing, it is best to leave the negotiation process to the agent. As an owner, one may find it difficult to detach emotional response in a negotiation. For example, you might let the seller know that you are in urgent need to sell. As a result, the buyer has an advantage in the price negotiation.
Once the agent concluded the deal, an OTP will be issued and you are on the way to a sale.
What happens after issue OTP?
Depending on the type of property sold. there are different timeline to the conclusion of the sale. It is now a waiting game to conclude the sales. In the meantime, you can use this period to conclude the purchase of your next home or investment!
HDB
The buyer has 3 weeks to exercise OTP. Thereafter, It will usually take about 8 weeks to complete the transaction During this period, you would need to made endorsement and payment. HDB will also have a technical inspection for approval.
In some instances, you could request a temporary extension of stay for up to 3 months. This would have to be negotiated with the buyers before OTP.
There are certain conditions to be met before this is allowed.
Have committed to buy a completed property (can be another HDB flat or private residential property) in Singapore at the time of the resale application, i.e. exercised an Option To Purchase or signed a Sale and Purchase Agreement
Not be renting out the whole flat at the time of resale application
Be the contra party if the transactions are under the Enhanced Contra Facility
Private Property
Before the handover, you can extend an invitation to the seller once you move your stuff out. Once that is done, your purchase is complete!
Selling your property?
Sell your property at the right price and at a comfortable timeline. Make an appointment with us to help you take the next step in your property journey.
