Frequently Asked Questions

My property is not located on the Gold Coast will you still sell my property?

When I am ready to sell my house what are some of the things I should do?

Low Commission, No Commission, Capped Commission, Fixed Fee... How do you differ from other real estate agents with similar claims?

What if the normal commission to sell my house is under $6950, how do I save money on commission?

How do you or I decide what price to list my property for sale.

What if I want to list my property for more than you recommend.

Q. Does cheap commission mean cheap service?

A. Absolutely not. When you choose Citycoast Property as your real estate agent you are assured of full professional service. We do everything you need us to do we just choose to charge you a low commission

Q. My property is not located on the Gold Coast will you still sell my property?

A. Currently Citycoast Property has real estate agents who service the Gold Coast city and Gold Coast city – Brisbane corridor. If your property is not within or bordering these areas then unfortunately we cannot represent you at this time.

Q. When I am ready to sell my house what are some of the things I should do?

A. When selling your home or property please try to think of the exercise as a commercial transaction. Everyone wants to sell their property for the highest amount so by doing a couple of simple things (and setting aside emotions temporarily) you can make your property more attractive to buyers and hopefully achieve a better selling price and shorter selling time.

- Clean and Fix

Unless you're selling a 'knock down' or 'serious renovator', nothing distracts a buyer more than dirt/mould and obvious maintenance issues. Buyers will happily point out faults with a property (however small) if they think it will reduce the price they can buy it for. By giving them less to criticise, you are increasing your chances for a faster sale and a higher price. Also, the cost to do minor cleaning and repairs is often far less than the discounts buyers will demand when the presentation of a property is less than ideal.

It can be helpful to have a friend visit and point out little, but easily fixable faults and areas needing a spruce. Replacing blown light bulbs, plugging a hole in the wall and repairing a broken fence panel will be worth it in the end if people don't notice them.

Cleaning also includes yard and storage areas. Mow the grass, pick up after your pets (please) and hose down the driveway and home exterior. Just think, "if it gets me an extra thousand or two is it worth doing?"

We recommend investing in a house cleaner even for an initial ONE-OFF CLEAN. Often a fresh set of eyes can see things that you perhaps have become oblivious to. It's also far easier for you to maintain a clean house than find the motivation to overhaul a "relaxed" one.

- Odour Control

Please remember that smells are very important too. If you are a smoker or have inside pets please consider having your carpets, curtains and fabric couches (these all absorb smells) steam cleaned. Again, chances are you can't smell your own cat or dog, but someone else with a sensitive nose definitely will and they may discount your property because of this.

Likewise some smells can create a positive atmosphere. Recently baked bread or ground coffee and fresh flowers can enhance the fragrance of a house.

- Remove personal items and clutter

Try to be objective and think "does this item contribute to the interior style of the home?"

It's interesting how there are so many property shows on television that suggest that all it takes is a bit of handy work and interior design to completely transform a home and achieve thousands more in a sale. To be honest they're right! Been to a display home lately? If not, visit one and see how happy you feel when you see clean, organised interiors. Makes you want to move in right?

However, unless you're prepared to make this type of investment we are not suggesting that you go out and employ a decorator or start hiring furniture just yet. Try and make your home look as much like a display as possible with the things you have. Remove every non-essential item that does not enhance the look of the room and store it away safely. Less is often more and it will allow the buyer to see the room and property for its true beauty and imagine themselves living there. We suggest you temporarily hide away, collectables, glamour shots and kids toys. Clean sparkling surfaces win every time! (Just also remember to hide the spray bottle and dish towel).

- Take the animals for a walk and hide the pet toys/food.

At Citycoast Property we LOVE animals. In fact many of us own pets ourselves. However, not everyone is as animal loving as we are. For someone who is afraid of dogs or has cat allergies for example, seeing a dog bowl in the kitchen area or a kitty litter in the bathroom might just be enough to turn them away.

- Prepare yourself to not take feedback personally

Just because you fell in love with your house at first sight doesn't mean everyone else will. Just because someone doesn't appreciate the house layout or the size of the pool or perhaps your favourite feature wall colour, doesn't mean they're critisising you or your taste. As we said, buyers love to pick fault with anything they can. Sometimes this feedback is just petty and unproductive but sometimes it can offer a key insight into why your home may not be selling. Sometimes a number of small insignificant things can add up to create enough of a distraction for a buyer. If we feel this feedback will be helpful then we will tell you. Don't take it personally. Treat it like a commercial decision with two options - fix the issue or leave it alone knowing that this will be a factor for some buyers.

Q. Low Commission, No Commission, Capped Commission, Fixed Fee... How do you differ from other real estate agents with similar claims?

There are various real estate options available to sellers. Citycoast Property believes in offering full professional real estate agency services for a reasonable fixed low commission of $6950 including GST or a 1% capped commission including GST if your property is over $700,000.

You may find a low commission or no commission real estate agency happy to help list your property for sale. However, be aware of those who require you to handle the inspections and negotiations yourself. Real estate agency models we've seen range from charging sellers a "listing fee" to get you onto mainstream websites, right through to charging various fees for each additional service on a sliding scale (separate fees for open homes, private inspections, ongoing web listing fees etc).

Regardless, we feel that many of these options provide only a half hearted solution that more often does not result in a sale nor gives sellers the highest possible sale price for their property. But we feel this way about private selling as well. It does not work well for most people.

Unfortunately, once a property is listed for sale and buyers see it sitting idly on the market, people tend to become a little suspicious and the property can lose its 'new listing glow' - one of the best tools it has to excite buyers to inspect.

When you sell your house with Citycoast Property you receive the full attention of our real estate sales agents, a professional marketing strategy, free open homes / private inspections and access to a variety of advertising options. We get paid to SELL your property, not to LIST your home on our books. We also do not make money from any advertising you may choose to undertake. Our business model works because it's about 100% service for less.

Q. What if the normal commission to sell my house is under $6950, how do I save money on commission?

If your property is valued less than $200,000 then the normal real estate agency commission will be less than our usual $6950 including GST. In this event we will still reduce our commissions so that you save 10% off the regular amount. To discuss how we can best help you save on selling your lower priced property please phone our Gold Coast office.

Q. How do you or I decide what price to list my property for sale?

The pricing strategy for a property is probably the most important decision you will make after you have decided to sell. Get it wrong and you can find yourself on the market for a lot longer than you hope for and too often, selling for less than you thought. Citycoast Property sales agents have access to a professional property database (the same one that bank valuers use) that allows them to research recent and historical sales in your area, to see what is currently on the market for sale and to know how long it's been on the market. When a Citycoast Property representative first visits you to discuss the potential sale of your property they will bring with them a document called a "CMA" or comparative market analysis. This CMA will compare your property to others currently on the market and those that have recently sold. We will ask you to take this information into consideration when agreeing on the most suitable asking price for your property.

Q. What if I want to list my property for more than you recommend?

When you employ Citycoast Property as your real estate agent to sell your property you are assured of our service and loyalty. It is our job to give you our professional recommendation and look out for your best interests but we are ultimately instructed by you. We will ask you to list your home for sale at the price that we think is fair market value and the price that will attract the right sort of buyers for your property. Whilst it is true that 'you can always go down', this thinking will often ruin the opportunity to capture the interest of buyers when the property is 'NEW' to the market. Again, once you lose this 'new listing glow', you can never really get it back. Buyers become suspicious and you find yourself having to lower the price again and again to entice people to inspect your property.

If the market is 'slow' and you discover that you may not get the price you originally hoped for consider these things. What are my holding costs to keep the property month after month? Is this money better invested or spent elsewhere and can I make up the difference by getting out and into something else quicker? Am I looking to buy something else, and if so can I also get a bargain if I sell my property as one? How is this situation affecting my life and my family? Will we be emotionally better off once we sell and move on?

It's also very important to remember that if you're planning on trading up (ie. selling your property to buy something more expensive), then selling in a soft market is the best thing to do. If you lose 10% on the sale of your property, but the more expensive property that you buy also loses 10%, then you're overall benefit is greater.

For example. If you want $450,000 for your property but sell it for $405,000 this is a 10% loss equalling $45,000.

But then if you purchase a property originally valued at $600,000 but get it for $540,000 (a 10% loss equalling $60,000 to them) then you are actually $15,000 better off!