Selling a Townhouse and Getting Top Dollar

Brett and I sold our townhouse (which we bought off the plan) 6 years ago in March of this year.

Neither Brett or I had ever sold a property before - so a big learning curving was to follow.

I think we have all watched shows like The Block, Selling Homes Australia, Grand Designs, Renovation Rescue (the list is endless)…. So we had a few clues as to what we should do.

In February we interviewed agents and decided on “J” from LJ Hooker – loads of experience, sold 4 properties in the complex and held the highest sold price in the complex.

We didn’t want to do the norm as far as marketing, photography etc – “J” and I worked on a tailor made marketing plan for the demographics of the potential buyer we wanted to attract – when you want top dollar you have to pitch it right!

We started the process of de-cluttering, removed personal items, cleaning and basically making our home a “display home”. We hired in furniture, re-styled room décor to suit the potential buyer – the list was endless!

We found out that there was another couple in the complex that were wanting to sell up and were looking at using our real estate agent!!! We went into all systems go mode to get our townhouse on the market first!

We hired professional “Glamour” Real Estate Photographer “C” owner of Lucid Photography http://www.lucidphotography.com.au/ to take the images and work her magic. We made all of the press and online deadlines and presto our townhouse was on the market!

Unfortunately during the time of listing and the open house I was in Melbourne and Perth for work and Brett had to hold the fort!

Brett can now add “Open House” styling expert to his resume!

While were in selling mode we were also in buying mode, which meant we had seen lots of properties and display homes (the what to do a what not to do)!

The plan was:

- To play relaxing music
- Set the tablescape on the dining table
- Cat and Dog off site for inspections
- Nice smelling room defuses in each room
- Absolutely no sign of us ever living there

We ended up selling our house before the open for inspection day (we sold within 3 days and for above the asking price), although we still had an open house as a "just in case" and had 5 people on a waiting list if our first sale didn’t go through.

As you can see from the photos (below) they really did sell the house before the buyer arrived.