Cool market? Be cool
You can still get a good price on the sale of your home even with the property cooling measures - with the help of a smart agent
COMMENTARY
The conventional wisdom is that when Singapore property prices are in decline and sales volume is down, it is a bad time to sell.
This is true if your property tracks, or correlates with, the decline in the national price indices.
But if it doesn't, you can do quite well selling your home if you skilfully navigate the unpredictability of the property cooling measures.
First of all, take heart that even throughout the most effective periods of the cooling measures, plenty of sellers have done quite well.
For example, in November, according to SRX Property, half of the buyers of District 9 properties paid more than $80,000 above the X-value, which is the computer-generated appraisal for private resale flats.
In the HDB town of Geylang, half of the buyers paid more than $8,000 above the X-value.
Recently, SRX Property identified 175 private condominiums that achieved their best-ever average price per square foot during 2014.
The reason these sellers have done well boils down to the ability of their agents to market and negotiate.
By definition, the buyer has the negotiating advantage because supply exceeds demand.
However, the cooling measures have produced an atypical buyers' market that gives the selling agent room to manoeuvre.
The Government has used taxes and restrictions on financing to reduce demand, which has put downward pressure on prices by changing the supply-demand equation.
However, the market does not believe these cooling measures are permanent.
As such, the fundamental value of an individual home has not changed significantly. In some cases, its fundamental value has increased.
A shrewd, knowledgeable real estate agent can exploit this fact on behalf of his seller.
There are three interrelated areas your agent should focus on when selling your home: differentiation, networking and negotiations.
First, your agent should differentiate your home from the overall market's trends, the competition and recent comparable market transactions.
In some cases, your agent might recommend home improvements that you should make to help it stand out and justify its price.
Even during the malaise of the cooling measures, a smart agent with access to data and information can build a strong marketing case that differentiates your home from the competition.
Second, your agent should use the power of digital, mobile networking to reach out to likely buyers and their agents.
Targeted networking increases the probability of finding and qualifying buyers who recognise that your offering is the right home at the right price for them.
Third, if your agent has properly differentiated and networked the home and brought you highly qualified buyers, then the final negotiation should fall into place.
Your agent would have already laid the groundwork and subtly made the case for the value of your home throughout his interactions with the buyers and their agents.
The net result should be a willing buyer and a willing seller.
As counterintuitive as it may sound, you do not have to sell your home at a discount during this period when the cooling measures are still in place.
Every day, sellers are walking away from deals happy because they have agents who have helped them navigate the rough waters.
Sam Baker is co-founder of SRX, an information exchange formed by leading real estate agencies in Singapore to disseminate market pricing information and facilitate property listings and transactions. For more information on buying, selling or renting Singapore property, visit SRX.com.sg.
As counterintuitive as it may sound, you do not have to sell your home at a discount during this period when the cooling measures are still in place.
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