How To Sell Your Gold Coast Home WITHOUT an Agent 

10 Step Guide

10 Steps to Sell Your Own Home

Are you tired of slick-talking sales agents and all their greasy ‘charm’? Well, fret no more! This guide is your ticket to selling your home privately while still fetching top dollar.

We've decided to spill the beans on how you can navigate the real estate jungle solo. So, buckle up and indulge in a 10-step journey of spilled trade secrets that will leave you saying, 'who needs those agents anyway'?

1. The Free Appraisal

In real estate, one offer seems to permeate the market with an overwhelming presence—the cringy and often eye-rolling "FREE APPRAISAL." Agents flock to your doorstep, waving their appraisal services like a magician's deck of cards.

It's an undeniable fact that this offer has become over-saturated in the industry. But here's the twist—it remains the single most valuable proposition in all professional services (yup, I said it…just think what a lawyer or accountant charges for their time).

Seasoned agents, immersed in the intricacies of the market, possess a wealth of knowledge that cannot be taught. Their daily interactions with buyers grant them unique insights and a refined understanding of the ever-shifting dynamics within the Gold Coast real estate landscape.

In this context, a free appraisal is your gateway to years of experience that you simply don't have as a first-time seller. They possess the insights necessary to guide you through the labyrinth of improvements available in preparing your home for sale, ensuring your improvements are worthwhile and will yield the maximum return (turning the guest bedroom into a man cave will not add as much value as you think!).

Let's ring this free offer dry! We recommend seeking the counsel of the three most reputable agents in your area.  If possible, look for an agent who has a home similar home on the market (or one that has just sold) as this will give you great insight into where the demand for active buyers lies for homes like yours right now.

Again, it is FREE, and agents would line up at the door with no obligation attached. You'd be crazy not to utilise it! 

2. Prepare Your Home for Sale - Embracing Simplicity and Expertise

In the quest to sell your home for top dollar, there's a timeless mantra that rings true—less is more. Open spaces without clutter rules over everything. Make the tip your best friend and let go of everything clogging your space.

Take a moment to assess your furnishings. Are they dated or no longer in sync with the current market trends? If the answer leans towards a regretful nod, then congratulations! Many owners are unable to swallow their pride and accept that their taste may not align with the current market.

Engaging a stylist boost sales prices by an estimated 10% on average. How much would that equate to for your home? Enough said.  

And let’s get real for a second. If your home has the creamy yellow walls that dominated the 90’s (how was that ever acceptable…but I digress), then a fresh coat of white paint is a ‘no brainer’. This is by far the best ‘bang for buck’ improvement you can do. It will breathe new life into your space not only making it look brighter, but also more spacious (hint: space and light equate to $).

We must emphasise that embracing professional help when needed is not a sign of weakness, but a testament to your commitment to achieving the best outcome. On the Gold Coast, we recommend utilising Creative Renovation Studio's Free Initial Consult (another Gold Coast FREE service to utilise!).

3. Professional Photos & Video

We've all seen those cringe-worthy photos taken with terrible lighting on a potato-quality camera with crap everywhere (sadly, most ‘for sale by owners’). This will make genuine buyers cringe and run for the hills. On the other hand, ‘bargain hunters’ eyes will light up with joy. They will target your home as a discount like Mick Fanning seeks a behind the rock tube at Snapper.

Photos and video of your home is a buyer’s first impression of your property and is something that you need to outsource to a professional. Just think of the lengths every successful company goes to shine the best light on their products (would Apple market their newest iPhone with a cracked screen and dog hair lodged in the case?). Here, we are talking about your biggest asset, allow it to shine!  

Alas, I have you covered with the best videographer and photographer on the Gold Coast. As your home is sparkling thanks to implementing Step 2, it's as simple as enlisting the expertise of Max Real Estate Creations for captivating videos and the Social Lab for eye-catching photos and floor plans. 

4. Realestate.com.au and Domain

Realestate.com.au does not allow private individuals to use their coveted platform to list their home (subscription fees real estate agents pay are just too tasty!).

There is a solution, but in includes the fatal flaw of putting your home under a "For Sale by Owner" brand, which shines a spotlight over your home that only attracts savvy bargain hunters; eliminating the emotional buyers who will pay the premium you are after.

Let us take a moment to ponder the fate of homes thrust under the "For Sale By Owner" banner. Alas, not all who venture down this path possess the wisdom and foresight that grace your perceptive mind (evidenced by you not only reading this blog but getting this far). Sadly, it only takes a few bad eggs to ruin it for everyone.

Most 'For Sale by Owners’ venture this path as they diminish the role of real estate agents, naively assuming snapping lacklustre photos on their phone and unleashing a rambling, disjointed listing description with six paragraphs on their tool shed will suffice.

Believing agents do nothing and ‘a home sells itself’, they skip every step above and simply put their home up on realestate.com.au for a completely unrealistic price, and of the quality as if they were selling a mouldy fridge on Facebook Marketplace for $50. This ‘mouldy fridge listing’ never stands a chance, as it’s in a sea of professionally marketed homes priced correctly.  

These bad eggs diminish the brand, and discredit owners like yourself who want to put in the work and investment to sell their own home in a professional manner. Using this avenue would be akin to marketing a vegan health restaurant under the golden arches of McDonalds; it will dampen all of your honest efforts.

Never before has a ‘for sale by owner’ brand acted as a gatekeeper to weed out the bad eggs. Well, we’re here to change that! We are eager to embark on an experiment and will allow you to utilise our premium subscription with Realestate.com.au and Domain free of charge to market your home under the Riley Real Estate banner (may as well make use of all those monthly payments to shake up the industry).  

Here at Riley Real Estate, we must be in love with not making any money. We’ll even throw in the signboards, open home flags, and everything you need to market your home like a professional free of any charges from us.

Our motivation being we believe in the ‘For Sale By Owner’ model, and are not so delusional as to believe that everyone needs a real estate agent to sell their home.

So let’s partner up! All it takes is a mere 15-minute ‘gatekeeper’ conversation where we can assess whether your price expectations are not too inflated and align with the market (which they should be if step one is implemented), and most importantly, whether you have the time to implement the processes that go into representing a home professionally.

Let’s remove the stigma of ‘for sale by owners’ and achieve results that rival the best agents!

The best real estate agents exude a genuine love for the property that is contagious. Who better to exude that to buyers than the person who knows and loves the home more than anyone, YOU.  

5. A Social Dilemma...

Enter the realm of social media sorcery, where the powers of Google, Facebook and YouTube continue to astonish us. It has never been easier to target in-market buyers looking for homes exactly like yours. 

If you’ve seen the Social Dilemma, then you are aware of the power of these algorithms and their ability to intimately understand each user, and leverage that to market products that align with all their wants and desires.

A savvy digital marketer can leverage this -almost magically - and target active buyers looking for homes exactly like yours. Every major successful company leverages this power in their marketing…why wouldn’t you with your biggest asset?

And that's not all. You can also re-target buyers who have engaged with your listing and follow them around the internet until they finally fold (scary, right?). Frequency builds trust and the more you can get your listing in front of interested parties, the more it will resonate with them.

Buyers may believe your home’s constant presence is a sign from the universe but, it is only a savvy homeowner marketing their own home even better than a pro (most real estate agents don’t outsource this to professionals who know how to correctly leverage it!).

If you are not a wizard at the magic of social media marketing, engage the help of a professional. The Social Lab have sold countless homes exactly like yours, for above market value, simply due to their social wizardry.

Don't make the mistake of so many 'for sale by owners' and cut marketing costs - it could cost you hundreds of thousands dollars in missed opportunities!

6. Two-Week Expression of Interest Campaign

Prepare to become the master of your own destiny with an Expression of Interest (EOI) campaign with a closing date in two weeks. Utilising this campaign is a cunning masterpiece, designed to:

a.) Gather buyer contacts: without a price listed, buyers are forced to enquire for a price guide. In doing so they provide invaluable contact details which you can utilise to re-market to them later (ex: open-home text reminder, new price email, digitally target ads, as per step above).

You may be thinking that listings without price are annoying and will turn off some buyers. However, we have found that not to be the case with serious buyers, especially with only a two-week campaign. It is in buyer’s best interest for the home’s price to be rooted in the feedback of the live market.

b.) Spark urgency: Your home is never more exciting to the market than when it is first listed! The 2-week closing date leverages this excitement and sparks urgency for serious buyers to get through the door and do all of their research and due diligence quickly.

You want to sprint out of the gate as your home only has one shot at the energy of a ‘fresh to market’ listing!

c.) Gather buyer feedback: An Expression of Interest Campaign invites buyers to put forward offers of where they see the value.

You may think not advertising a price is lazy. But it’s the opposite in fact! It allows you the opportunity to provide a comprehensive Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) where you can control the narrative and educate buyers, rather than simply telling buyers a price. A buyer is much more likely to act if they have come to the value themselves, as opposed to being told.

In the CMA you should try your best to use only the most comparable homes (buyers are not stupid and you will lose trust if far superior homes are included). Lean on the market reports you received from agents in step one (how handy was that free appraisal in step one, still providing fruits!).

The goal is to get as many offers in the two-week campaign as possible. If executed well, this process will result in one of two outcomes: you accept an offer (congrats!); or you are armed with extensive buyer feedback to price your home competitively.

7. Enquiries - don't let the spark die! 

Thanks to all of your marketing efforts, sparks are flying with enquiries flowing in like Burleigh's current on a cyclone swell! 

I compare enquiries to a spark when kindling a fire. It needs to be nurtured immediately while the buyer is engaged and in real estate mode, or else it will fizzle out. Make sure your email notifications are on and call the buyer right when the enquiry comes in. The buyer will be amazed by how prompt you are, and will in turn share much more. 

The goal of the first call is to achieve one thing - getting the buyer through the door of your home. Spark excitement, and close the deal by registering the buyer for one of the open home times advertised. 

For email inquiries, provide the buyer with an info pack that goes beyond what's available online. We recommend providing an in-depth comparative market analysis as the enquiry is almost always asking for a price guide.  

8. World-Class Open Homes

Congratulations, your marketing efforts have achieved their main goal: getting buyers through the door of your home. Now it's game day! 

Firstly, ensure you schedule the open for a time where your property shines best. For example, if you have an East facing home, schedule the open home in the morning to ensure your home is flooded with natural light (remember: light and space is highly desirable).

In terms of preparation of the home, the bulk of this work will have already been completed in Step 4: Prepare Your Home for Sale. Now it's just time to add the final touches:

• Flick on every light - remember, light and bright spaces. 
• Light your favourite candle - want each buyer to walk in with the feeling, 'wow, this smells nice'!'
• Remove all family photos - allows buyers to picture their own family living in the home.
• Play music that suits your home - on the Gold Coast, I love playing a Jack Johnson playlist. 

Now your home is scheduled, ensure that you have at least one other person to help run the open home. Ensure you are both dressed professionally, with your friend taking details at the front door. With your friend taking details outside, you can freely roam and answer any buyer questions inside. 

We cannot stress enough how it important it is to call back each buyer on the same day as the open home. This will differentiate your home from others on the market as most agents wait until Monday to gather buyer feedback. Further, it will allow you to catch the buyer while the excitement of your world-class open is fresh in their mind, prompting much more detailed feedback.

If you wait until Monday morning, you will be competing with every other agent for the attention of the buyer (serious buyers tend to view multiple open homes) and will receive a lot more 'no answers' as they are back at work. Remember, speed is your friend! 

9. The Dance of Negotiation

It's time to whip out those negotiation skills of yours, as this is likely highest leverage negotiation you will ever embark on. We aren't haggling over a $10 shirt in Bali, but rather a multi million dollar home! 

The goal in any negotiation is to build competition and urgency amongst buyers. Thus, leveraging the closing date of your EOI campaign is a great tool to use in order to prompt buyers to put offers forward. A multiple offers scenario is your best friend as a homeowner. 

This allows you to provide each buyer with a ‘Multiple Offers Form’ that they must sign acknowledging that they need to put their best offer on the table now as they may not be given another opportunity to increase.

In a situation with only one offer, we recommend ensuring that it comes in the form of a signed contract. This allows you to cross out the buyer’s purchase price and write in your own counteroffer and sign the contract.

This arms you with a signed contract to send it back to the buyer stating that the house is theirs if with a simple initial on the new price. The power of being one initial away from owning the home cannot be understated. It holds much more weight than going back and forth throwing out unbinding offers and numbers.

10. Embrace the Legal Realm

Congratulations, you've reached the final act! But before the curtain falls, it's crucial to navigate the legal waters with finesse. Engage a conveyancer or lawyer to ensure a smooth transfer of ownership. They'll help you navigate the complex laws and regulations surrounding property sales, ensuring you don't stumble upon any unexpected hurdles. Remember, knowledge is power, and with the right legal support, you'll protect your interests and ensure a triumphant finale to your home-selling adventure.

We are here to help

We cordially invite you to join us on a noble quest to eradicate the undeserved stigma surrounding the practice of selling a home by its owner. Embracing this concept requires discernment, for it may not suit every individual. However, for those with the willingness to invest their time and undertake the necessary endeavours, there exists no rational impediment to achieving remarkable outcomes.

While selling your home, numerous factors remain beyond your jurisdiction, heightening the significance of exerting control over every aspect within your purview. By diligently implementing these ten essential steps, we wholeheartedly believe that you shall unlock the full potential of your home's sale, while concurrently amassing substantial savings, amounting to thousands of dollars, which would otherwise be surrendered in commissions.

Thus, we implore you to seize this opportunity, embrace your autonomy, and endeavour to navigate the path of the 'for sale by owner' with confidence and assurance. Together, let us shatter the preconceptions and forge a new era of empowered homeowners achieving unparalleled success in the realm of property transactions.

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