{"id":220745,"date":"2018-01-23T16:45:07","date_gmt":"2018-01-23T14:45:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=220745"},"modified":"2018-01-24T09:17:00","modified_gmt":"2018-01-24T07:17:00","slug":"the-most-important-thing-you-need-to-consider-if-you-sell-your-house-this-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wealth\/220745\/the-most-important-thing-you-need-to-consider-if-you-sell-your-house-this-year\/","title":{"rendered":"The most important thing you need to consider if you sell your house this year"},"content":{"rendered":"

Big decisions regarding high value assets can be risky during uncertain times, but is the<\/span> only option to<\/span> hang tight until our political future is decided?<\/p>\n

Tony Clarke, MD of the<\/span> Rawson Property<\/span> Group, shares his thoughts.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur property<\/span> market<\/span> is definitely going through a period of contraction,” said Clarke, “but not all of that can really be attributed to<\/span> politics. We\u2019ve been seeing a slowdown in<\/span> growth over the<\/span> last 18 months. Ups and downs are a natural part of the<\/span> property<\/span> cycle, and certainly don\u2019t mean there are no opportunities out there.”<\/p>\n

Clarke is confident that the<\/span> market<\/span> will recover in<\/span> time, he believes property<\/span> will remain a secure and profitable investment over the<\/span> long term, and advises buyers and sellers to<\/span> adjust their approach to<\/span> account for current trends.<\/p>\n

“The<\/span> cost of finance is rising, and inflation is eating more and more into people\u2019s disposable income,” he said.<\/p>\n

“That means fewer people are qualifying for bonds<\/strong>, and the<\/span> ones that do qualify are more likely to<\/span> be conservative with that spending power. As a result, there are going to<\/span> be fewer buyers on the<\/span> market<\/span>, which means less competition for listings, and far less tolerance for overpriced homes<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n

According to<\/span> Clarke, this is one of the<\/span> most vital elements for sellers to<\/span> consider if they\u2019re going to<\/span> achieve a favourable sale.<\/p>\n

“Buyers these days are very well informed when it comes to<\/span> value, and can spot an overpriced property<\/span> from a mile away,” he said. “During a seller\u2019s market<\/span>, they may be willing to<\/span> push their budget a little \u2013 particularly if there\u2019s competition for the<\/span> purchase \u2013 but in<\/span> the<\/span> current climate they\u2019re just going to<\/span> look elsewhere.”<\/p>\n

This, according to Clarke, can result in<\/span> a stagnant listing that sits on the<\/span> market<\/span> for months, if not years at a time \u2013 a situation guaranteed to<\/span> drop the<\/span> eventual sales price far below its true market<\/span> value.<\/p>\n

“Stagnation is a real risk for sellers in<\/span> today\u2019s market<\/span>,” he said, “which makes it incredibly important to<\/span> ensure your listing is groomed to<\/span> be as attractive to<\/span> buyers as possible. It\u2019s not just about price, either \u2013 it\u2019s a combination of great photographs, compelling descriptions, and smart marketing placements that ensure your property<\/span> gets seen by the<\/span> right people.”<\/p>\n

Data from FNB’s Estate Agent Survey for the fourth quarter of 2017 showed a further increase in the estimated average time of homes on the market prior to sale, to 17 weeks and 2 days.<\/p>\n

This continued a broad rising trend which began early in 2016, from low of 11 weeks and 1 day at the beginning of that year, it said.<\/p>\n

In addition to a rising average time on the market, an increasing percentage of sellers has ultimately been required to drop their asking price to make the sale.<\/p>\n

“At the end of 2017, this estimate stood at 95% of total sellers being required to drop their asking price, up from a previous 93%, continuing a broad rising trend from 78% as at the second quarter of 2014,” FNB said.<\/p>\n

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Read: Great news for home buyers in South Africa \u2013 bonds are being granted at better rates<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Big decisions regarding high value assets can be risky during uncertain times, but is the only option to hang tight until our political future is decided? Tony Clarke, MD of the Rawson Property Group, shares his thoughts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":117710,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12755,9880],"tags":[76,26,10751],"class_list":["post-220745","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-property","category-wealth","tag-fnb","tag-headline","tag-rawson-property"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=220745"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220745\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":220763,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220745\/revisions\/220763"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/117710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=220745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=220745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=220745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}