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TABLE OF CONTENTS Page 31. Is it Safe to Answer Your Phone Now! 62. The Problem Must Be Your Woodwork 73. What to Look for When Agents Knock 84. How to Deal with The Calls and Door Knocking 95. Should You Even Relist at All? 116. Relist Now or Wait Some More? 127. Before You Meet Me… Or Another Agent 138. How Did the Market React Last Time? 149. Was It the Price? Maybe… Maybe Not 1610. Was It the Market? 1711. Was It the Marketing? 1812. Was It “Conditions”? 2013. Was It Accessible? 2114. Was “Homelessness” An Issue? 2215. Was It Motivation? 2316. Creating A Digital Footprint 2417. Your First Two Weeks Back on The Market 2618. I Hope This Helps! 27 3

1.IS IT SAFE TO ANSWERYOUR PHONE NOW!When you first listed your housefor sale, you were probablyexcited to receive tons of callsfrom agents who wanted toshow your house.What you probably didn’t expect, and Anyhow, I didn’t call, knock, or mail youprobably weren’t happy about, is that anything back then for two reasons…you got more calls from agents afteryour listing expired than you did while it 1. Courtesy. I knew you were beingwas on the market. pounded by more agents than you could shake a stick at. So, I just didn’t want toAnd all of them were promising they add another person for you to have tocould get your house sold, or they “may deal with.have a buyer” for your house, or someother line from a script they learned in 2. I thought you should wait to relist.training. Well, not just you. I kind of feel like most people whose house “expired” shouldSo, you probably got tired of it pretty take a breather, regroup, and give it aquickly and then got pretty good at little time and thought before going backscreening your calls and not answering on the market.your door when an agent knocked. (Andyou probably also filled a garbage can or Too many people rush to get their housetwo up with all the letters you got.) back on the market. Some get rushedWell, at this point, I think it’s safe to sayyou can answer your phone and doorwithout fear! You’ve been “expired”long enough at this point that agentshave forgotten about you. Or at leastgiven up hounding you. 4

1.CONT…into it by agents who sell them on doing will help you think it through asso. Either way, it isn’t necessarily the thoroughly as possible.best decision. In fact, waiting to go backon the market for a period of time can So, give it a read, and feel free to call mebe the smartest move you’ve made. with any questions you may have as you read it!I created this guide to specificallyhelp the few people like you who do And of course, if you’re leaning towardpause & think things through relisting your house soon or in the nearbefore going back on the market. future, I’d love the chance to meet with you and discuss how I can help you.The fact that you didn’t rush to relist is a Hopefully, this guide will give you a goodgood sign that you’re thoughtful about sense of who I am and how I conductwhat you’re doing, and I hope this guide business. 5

2.THE PROBLEM MUST BEYOUR WOODWORKWe're sure you’ve got plenty of 1. ...don’t want to be pests.your own opinions about why 2. ...truly want to help you.your house didn’t sell. 3. ...realize we need to set ourselves apart in order to earn the right to helpBut one reason you probably wouldn’t you.have considered is that your housemight be infested with real estate Which is why we created this booklet.agents. Hopefully it will help you understand why your house “expired” and what toYou probably had no clue. People do moving forward. (And give you aapparently live with this problem all the laugh or two in the process.)time and never realize it until they’velisted their house for sale and it doesn’t So, give our booklet a quick read.sell. Feel free to reach out to us with any questions you might have as youThen, the minute your listing “expires,” read it. We're here and ready toreal estate agents come crawling out of help you get your house back onthe woodwork and pester you to list the market and sold as quickly aswith them. possible and for as much as possible.If you’re like most homeowners who’vegone through this, you’re probablyaggravated that you never heard from,or saw, so many agents while your housewas actually on the market. And now it’slike they’re a bunch of swarming pests.While we're part of that swarm of agentscalling and knocking, we… 6

3.WHAT TO LOOK FORWHEN AGENT’S KNOCKOK, so the upshot to your So, don’t just fall for someone pushinghouse “expiring” is that you you to list with them because they claimdon’t have to go out and look that their persistence andfor a new real estate agent... aggressiveness is what helps them sellthey’ll be coming to you as houses. It might. But it might also bewe’ve already discussed. what they use to get listings...not necessarily get them sold.But it’ll help you to know what to lookfor, and as importantly, what to look While real estate agents are technicallyout for. “salespeople,” it’s also an agent’s job to help someone truly assess theirLook for an agent who is: situation and needs, advise them accordingly, and help them make the  Confident and self-assured best decisions. An agent’s job is not to  Knowledgeable just sell you on doing something, doing  Skilled it with them, and doing it as quickly as possible.That probably sounds kind of basic, but Don’t get swept up in the hype and hopeit shouldn’t be confused with someone of a slick salesperson. Look for someonewho is simply: who is truly looking to listen to your situation and help you make the best  Pushy decisions moving forward.  Aggressive  Persistent  CockyWhile a great agent may have some ofthose qualities, they can also mask alack of the true knowledge and skillsyou really want in an agent. 7

4.DEALING WITH THECALLS & DOOR KNOCKINGSick of all the calls and knocks But that’s not to say you should even liston your door from real estate your house again! (We’ll get into thatagents? more in the next section.)Then a good way to deal with them So, the best way to deal with calls,would be to enter the “Expired knocks, and whatever else from realHomeowner Protection Program.” You estate agents is to ignore and avoidknow...change your name, appearance, them. Most agents will take the hint &and phone numbers, and go into hiding disappear after an attempt or two.for the rest of your life. Just let the calls go to voicemail. IgnoreThe only way to truly get the calls, door the knocks on the door. Throw away theknocks, and mail to stop is to relist your mailers and envelopes left in your doorhouse with a real estate agent. Once you (other than this one since it’s the bestdo that, real estate agents aren’t and most useful). It’ll all die down to aallowed to call you because you are dull roar in no time.represented by another agent. (Or atleast they shouldn’t) 8

5.SHOULD YOU EVENRELIST AT ALL? You ever hear that saying, Should you relist your home at all, let “To a man with a hammer, alone with me or with any other agent? everything is a nail”? We’ll be getting into this in more detail So, it is with many real estate agents as we move along in the booklet, but for and expired listings. You’re the nail to now just let that question simmer a bit. a bunch of people with hammers. Too often I see people simply go through Here’s the basic logic... the motions without ever stopping to assess and consider why they’re doing A real estate agent wants to list what they’re doing. houses for sale. So, take a few moments and truly think It’s hard for the agent to find enough about why you want to sell your home. people who want to sell their house. Here’s an even better idea—don’t just Your house was listed, which is an think about the reasons... jot them indication that you want to sell your down. It’ll come in handy as you read house. through the rest of this guide and decide how to move forward. Your house didn’t sell. They figure you probably still want to sell your house. Therefore, you should relist your house and let him or her list it. Nowhere in the typical line of logic is there any room for questioning whether you actually should relist your house. But to me, that’s a huge question you (and any agent you consider working with) should be asking. 9

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6.RELIST NOW OR WAITSOME MORE?OK, if you’re like most people,after you’ve read the lastsection and gone through theexercise of jotting down whyyou want to move, you’veregained some perspectiveand motivation.So now the question becomes: Should (Which is why you probably felt likeyou relist your house right away or every agent you heard from was pushingkeep it off the market for a while you to relist.)before relisting? It’s obviously human and natural for anThere’s no absolute answer to that agent to do, but it isn’t necessarily thequestion. It will vary from one person’s best advice for every owner whosesituation to another and one market to house has expired.another. And it can even vary within areal estate market. For instance, it If you’re leaning toward puttingmight make sense to relist a house rightaway in the $1,200,000s in your area your house back on the market, I’dbut not in the $1,400,000s. It takes be glad to help you take a look atsome analysis and thought to make the market and help you decide ifthat decision properly and thoroughly. the timing and market are good for you and your situation right now orThe problem many homeowners if it makes sense to hold off for a(whose house has expired) run into is while. No pressure. I’ll make surethat most agents will push for them to you get an objective perspective.relist their house immediately. This isbecause they’re afraid that if they don’tget you to relist right away, you mayrelist your house with someone else. 11

7. BEFORE YOU MEET MEOR ANOTHER AGENT?This is along the lines of the This will come in handy and help youexercise I suggested two stay focused & not forget to mentionsections ago… things during the conversation. Before you meet with me or any other With that said, don’t expect (or even agent to discuss whether you should want) an agent who simply agrees with relist your house or not, take some time you and says “yes” to you just to get you to think about (& jot down) some things to relist your house with them. There about your last experience. may be certain things that you didn’t like, or would like to change next time It’s been a little while, and you’ve had around, that are a matter of reality. For some distance from the experience, so example, you may say you want to see here are a few questions to help you more showings. That’s hard to promise. remember and come up with a good, That will depend on a lot of factors, like thorough list. the overall number of buyers in the market, their motivation, and your price.What frustrated you? (About the process, the market, your agent, etc.) On the other hand, if you experienced very little communication from your lastWhat did you wish had happened agent & say you’d like to hear from your differently? next agent more consistently and frequently, an agent can & should beWhat do you hope doesn’t happen able to accommodate that. again the next time around?What did you wish your agent did better?What did you like about your agent or how they did things? 12

8. HOW DID THE MARKETREACT LAST TIME?One thing that will be helpful Did you have any offers?for you to have handy is a Some people whose house has expireddecent summary of how the didn’t receive any offers, but quite a few did.market reacted last time you Sometimes the offers were legitimatelywere on the market. too low “lowball offers”. Sometimes a seller got a great offer but didn’t accept it at the time because it was lower than they wanted, only toHow many showings did you have? wish they’d accepted it as time passed.Some people are extremely meticulous Other times they accepted an offer, & itand actually keep records of how many fell through for one reason or another.buyers came to see the house. Somepeople just have sharp memories. But What was the typical “feedback”?don’t worry if you don’t have either of Hopefully, your last agent was able to getthose or an exact number. some “feedback” from buyers after your inspections. Not every buyer will giveAn approximation or a “feel” is fine. For feedback, but hopefully you got some.example, “I had probably 8 showings inthe first couple of weeks. Then it died So, what did they typically say? Did theydown to one or two per week for a say the house needed work? Did theycouple of months. Then there was mention price as an issue? Or did theynobody for a while. And in the last give vague and general feedback like “It’sweek or two we had a few showings just not for them…”?come out of the blue.” (Which isactually a pretty typical arc for It is important to go over exactly how thesomeone to see.) market reacted to your listing the lastWere any inspection’s “repeats”? time around in order to analyse your situation and advise you appropriately.This means a lot. So, try hard to recall if So, take a moment or two to jot down aany of the buyers who came to see your summary of what you experienced.house came more than once. If so, howmany buyers did that? 13

9. WAS IT THE PRICE?MAYBE… MAYBE NOTIn the last section, when Ibrought up feedback, I Here’s another way of putting it…asked whether buyers evermentioned your price was In real estate, price is not always thean issue. issue, but it’s always a solution...Nothing makes a homeowner cringe ...a solution too many agents go straightmore than hearing their agent, or for, rather than analysing what else itanyone else, say that their price is too could have been.high. Because, yes, ultimately you can alwaysIn fact, if you actually spoke to every price a house to sell and sell quickly. Andsingle agent who’s approaching you sometimes that makes the most sensenow that your house has expired, and is warranted.almost all of them will say that yourprice was an issue. Basically put, the Sometimes, though, it is not theway most agents look at it is this: If it solution, doesn’t make sense, or isn’tdidn’t sell during the entire course of warranted.your last listing period, it had to be thatprice was too high. So, be open to a solid analysis and reason for lowering your price ifTo be fair, sometimes (OK, maybe a lot necessary, do not just accept it blindlyof times) it is the main reason a house because it’s the easy and popular thingdidn’t sell. to advise.But not always!Sometimes the price is fine, and it wassomething else entirely that caused thehouse not to sell. But many agents justpresume that price had to be the issue. 14

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10. WAS IT THEMARKET?Like we were just saying, Which is why timing when you go onsometimes it isn’t your price the market matters—and why youthat was the problem. shouldn’t necessarily jump right back onto the market.Just because buyers didn’t leap at thechance to buy your house doesn’t Before you do relist, make sure youmean that it isn’t worth what you have a thorough market analysis andwere asking. It could’ve just been that assess whether it makes sense to relistthere weren’t actually any buyers in right away or not. Also, considerthe market in your particular price whether your price was really an issuerange while you were on the market. at all or whether it’s more of an issueSome price ranges have lower with the current pool of buyers anddemand than others, so getting what their motivation. It could just be ayour house is worth can be a matter of matter of supply and demand...andpatience. patience.It could also be that it was a matter oftiming.For instance, perhaps you put yourhouse on at a fair price, but themarket was slow during the criticalfirst few weeks and months, and yourhouse became “stale.” So as buyerscame into the market, they may haveseen your house with more days onmarket than others causing them tothink, “Something must be wrong ifnobody else has already bought it,”and they just didn’t even come to seeit. Silly, but it happens. 16

11. WAS IT THEMARKETING?Marketing is a very broad boils down to great pictures and aterm when it comes to real greatestate. listing description that will get buyers’What one agent or company offers to attention the minute they see it popthe homeowners they represent will on.often differ from another. Yet, at thesame time, almost all do similar types And a lot of times, we’ll see listingsof marketing for all of their listings. with too few photos...or ones that are dark and blurry. Heck, we’ve evenThe question is how well they do it. seen photos of the front of some houses where the agent snapped a picTruth be told, while marketing is from the front seat of theirimportant, a lot of the heavy lifting is car...catching the all-important viewnow done by simply being on the local of their side-view mirror.multiple listing system. Once it’s onthere, your listing usually auto- The point here is that it isn’t so muchpopulates to many other real estate about the quantity of marketing...orsites. It’s almost impossible for a even where your house is marketed.buyer in the market to miss your Rather, it’s quality that matters mostlisting, and most buyers actually see when you consider that most truewhat has come on the market within buyers in the market will see yourminutes or hours of it being listed. The house right on their phone orInternet has done much for getting computer screen.your listing in front of every buyer inthe market as thoroughly and quickly So, take a look at the pictures andas possible. description of your house in the last listing… (You probably already have,So, while print advertising, flyers, but you’d be amazed at how manypostcards, or signage all are still worth homeowners I’ve met who neverdoing, the most important marketing looked at their own listing once their agent put it on the market!) 17

12.WAS IT“CONDITIONS”?There’s a fine line betweenmaking your house “showready” and over-improving itto make it look like a “showroom.”The last thing we want to see is a While you don’t need to make yourhomeowner putting too much time or house look like Martha Stewart camemoney into renovating or improving in, it’s really important to make sure ittheir house just before selling. Too looks tidy, bright and well kept.often it doesn’t increase the value asmuch as it cost. So, while it may sell Life gets busy, and it can be reallyfor more than it would have before tough keeping your house ready toimprovements were made, the owner show day in and day out...especially ifwon’t actually make more—they’ll it’s on the market for an extendedactually make less than they would period. It’s easy to get a bit lazy and lethave if they did nothing at all. it looked “lived in,” but that can also lead to buyers deciding it’s not a placeWith that said, a lot of homeowners they care to live in.don’t do enough of the simple stufflike: Hopefully, you kept your house decluttered, clean, tidy, and bright for Decluttering all showings...but if not, that’s an easy-ish* trick for you to improve your Cleaning chances next time around. Minor painting (*We say “easy-ish” because we know how hard it is to keep a house ready Carpet cleaning to be shown!) Eliminating odours Some simple “staging” 18

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13.WAS ITACCESSIBLE?It’s tough having to always beready for someone to call andwant to show your house atwhat seems like a moment’snotice.Ideally, an agent or buyer would give When that happens, the perfect buyeryou a good amount of notice. But the could bypass ever seeing your housereality is that many buyers and agents simply because of the rudeness ofwill “schedule” a showing mere previous buyers.minutes before they actually want towalk through the door. When that’s the reason an owner makes their house harder to show, it’sOne of the most important things an at least understandable. But someowner can do is make their home as homeowners simply make it difficulteasily accessible for a buyer to come to see from the first day it’s even onsee as possible. Yes, even if that is in the market. We’ll often see ownersthe next half hour. who will only allow showings on certain days and within certain hours.But that gets tiring, especially if you’ve (Usually not very convenient days orhad dozens of buyers come through times for buyers, mind you.) And thatafter short notice, leave, and you is what has gotten in the way of theirnever hear anything back from them house selling.(let alone an offer). It starts to getdiscouraging, aggravating, and it canlead to owners saying no to futureshowings or making it very difficult fora buyer or agent to schedule to comesee. 20

14. WAS HOMELESSNESSAN ISSUE?One of the trickiest things for home is sold will make some basicmost people who are selling mistakes. They will:a house is lining up their nexthome before they actually  Overprice their homesell the one they own.  Turn down great offersIt’s a big (and natural) fear!  Make it difficult to see their homeWhat if your house sells quickly andyou can’t find another house to buy While it’s a natural & understandable(or at least one you want) in time?! concern, these mistakes can cost them the ability to ever be able toThis is one of the biggest reasons find the next perfect home andmany houses “expire.” Yet most actually move.people, & even agents, never realizeit since it isn’t an obvious thing that There are several solutions to easethey can point to or identify. It takes this concern, but it depends so muchexperience to know this. upon a person’s circumstances and qualifications. Therefore, we can’tBasically, an owner who’s worried give you all of the ways you might beabout where they’ll move once their able to ease this concern if it is, in fact, a concern of yours. (It’d be an entire booklet in and of itself!) 21

15.WAS ITMOTIVATION?Most people think that if a Another reason we’ve seen is that anhouse is on the market for owner was more or less sold on thesale, the owner really wants idea of selling by a real estate agent.to move. Perhaps the agent sent a mailing, cold-called them, or maybe even just“Want” is the crucial word in that chatted them up at a party. Nextsentence. thing you know, their house was on the market, but they didn’t reallyIf someone has their house on the want to sell.market, they probably want to selltheir house to some degree. But not This all goes back to one of the firstall sellers are absolutely motivated to sections where we suggested yousell their house. take a moment and think through why you want to sell.Sometimes one spouse or significant Hopefully you have good reason toother really wants to move, while the sell. If you do, make sure you andother doesn’t. anyone else involved in the move are all on the same page. If not, it may beOther times, there may be kids best to just not even put your houseinvolved who don’t want to move. on the market because… end uOr, it could be that an owner doesn’treally want to move but has to for the value of the house. Sure, it mightfinancial reasons. increase the value, but there's a good chance it won't increase it enough toThose, and so many other reasons,cause people to do things that get inthe way of the house selling, just likein the last section. 22

16.CREATING A DIGITALFOOTPRINTOK, at this point you should was listed for sale. Maybe ahave a pretty good handle on neighbour could let the secret outwhat might have been & because they saw a sign on the lawnwhat might not have been for months or years.the reasons your housedidn’t sell when it was Or maybe an agent in the knowpreviously listed for sale. would be able to tell a buyer that your house had been on the marketWhether it was something you could for quite some time. But nowadays,have avoided or not, the next time all a buyer or an agent needs to do isyou list your home for sale should be open their eyes. It’ll be almostthe last time. impossible for them to not know how many times you’ve listed your houseFirst of all, having your house on the for sale or how many days it’s beenmarket isn’t a picnic, right? So, it isn’t on the market. (Thanks a lot,something you want to do more Internet…)times than you have to. While the Internet has certainlyBut more importantly, even if you made selling and looking for a houseabsolutely love having your house on more enjoyable and easier in certainthe market and disappearing every ways, it’s also made it impossible totime someone wants to come see it, hide how long you’ve been on theyou should keep the number of times market.your house is listed for sale down toa minimum. 23Back in the day, it was pretty hard fora buyer, or even an agent, to figureout how long your house had beenon the market or how many times it

16. CONT..Not every real estate website shows people), it certainly is in your bestthese stats, but enough of them do... interest to do it right the next timeespecially the ones most visited by around...and ideally as fast asyour potential buyers. And since the possible without your days onmultiple listing systems are now all market getting too high.digital, as opposed to big clunkybooks that used to be published How do you do that?every month or so, all an agent has todo is click their mouse a couple  Make sure your house is pricedtimes. They can then see how long appropriately in the market fromyour house has been on the market. the start. (No, that doesn’t mean under-pricing it or “giving itWhy does that matter? away.”)Because buyers (and agents) form  Make sure it’s easy to come andopinions—whether right, wrong, or see for buyers.somewhere in between—about ahouse and its value based upon how  Make sure it’s as neat, clean, andmany times (and for how long) it’s bright as possible.been on the market.So while it isn’t the craziest or worst  Make sure it’s findable by everything in the world for your house to buyer in the market from day one.have expired (it happens to a lot of 24

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17. YOUR FIRST 2 WEEKSBACK ON THE MARKETRemember back to the last  If you see good activity but receive notime you had your house on offers, that probably means the price isthe market… a little high. You might want to reduce it slightly. Did you see the most buyer activity in  With a low number of inspections, it’s the first two weeks? probably an indication your price is too high for the current market. It wouldn’t surprise us if you did— that’s usually the case. However, as stated earlier, it could also just be that the current market has few That doesn’t mean your house (or active buyers & you should be patient. any house) should sell within the first two weeks though. Those are all more or less “rules of thumb.” There’s no absolute answer or assessment. But the first two weeks on the market It will take an educated and experienced are very important... and very telling. eye to truly assess and advise you of the best course of action. If you see a good amount of buyer activity in your first two weeks, that One of the things we see all the time are probably means you’ve priced your owners who do see good activity (and even house well within the current solid offers) in the first two weeks on the market. market and then ignore the signs and just stay put...or don’t accept a good offer If that’s the case, you should see (because they feel it happened too some offers or at least hear that quickly), only to regret it a few weeks or there is interest in your home. months later. If you see repeat buyers coming So just be aware of these typical signals through, that’s also a good sign and from the market as you re-enter the an indication that you’re priced well market so you don’t find yourself wishing within the market. you could turn back time a little while later. 26

18. I HOPE THISHELPSWe hope this booklet was And if you do invite us over, wehelpful to you as you move promise you we won’t be pests or hideforward with the sale of your in your woodwork! LOLhouse! The best way to reach us to set up anOf course, we’d love the opportunity to appointment, or even just pick ourpersonally help you with the sale of brains for a few, is to call us or text oneyour house. of us. You can find all our info on the back page of this booklet.If you found this booklet informative, Looking forward to hearing from you!thoughtful, and useful, then you shouldreally just reach out to us and we canset up a time to meet and chat for awhile. 27

WITH COMPLIMENTSCentury 21 Living42 Spit RoadMosman NSW 2088C21living.com.auWe at Century21 Living are Mosman locals, through and through. We’ve beenserving the needs of our community for almost 30 years. Hundreds of clientshave fulfilled their property dreams in the Lower North Shore during the timewe've been serving this community.Whether it’s a commercial business venture or a family looking for a new home,get the services of a team that delights itself on offering tailored service to itsclientele, providing a swift, hassle-free real estate experience and exceedingthe expectations of the people of the North Shore.As a proud part of the Century21 global network, our clients enjoy access tosophisticated, proven processes in property marketing and the reliabilityafforded by the world’s market leader and largest real estate group.Your property will be marketed using first-class systems, top technology andinformation platforms, perfected through our years of experience and thesupport of our global partner, Century21. All under ours strong businessphilosophy of always going the extra mile. If you thrive, we thrive.Make the most of our more than 30 years of expertise in the real estatebusiness. We know the ins and outs of the property market and have theexperienced professionals who can fulfil your every need.Whether you’re looking to buy, sell, rent or lease, our experienced team hasgot you covered. Take that important step and get in touch with us. 9968 1700 [email protected] 28

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