Happy Home Sellers Unknowingly Lose $50,000 - $150,000 To The Invisible Undersell
As Seen In The Media For 10+ Years
As Seen On
As Seen On
Why Happy Home Sellers Undersell by $50K – $150K
Real estate agents are unfairly blamed for the fundamentally broken industry in which they work.
The real problem is not the agent. It’s that the industry is structurally rigged against sellers.
It causes home sellers to undersell in ways that they are not aware of – even if they are satisfied with the result.
This is called the Invisible Undersell.
It is the reason why unwitting home sellers are often happy with their sale price (and agent), even if they have undersold by $50K – $150K – depending on the value of their home.
Unaware they undersold, sellers even praise and recommend their agent simply because they were friendly.
There are four major causes of the Invisible Undersell, and two reasons why it remains undetected or invisible.
The combination of these reasons practically guarantees a lower sale price than what you could otherwise achieve…
…even if you think you’ve done well…
even if you choose the most friendly, helpful and prominent local real estate agent.
The 4 major causes of the Invisible Undersell are:
1. A lack of incentive to stretch for the highest sale price;
2 & 3. KPI’s and commission splits reward turnover – not stretch prices.
4. A lack of skin in the game or vested interest in the outcome.
The 2 major reasons why the undersell is undetected:
1. “Range Camouflage” hides underselling.
2. The total lack of transparency for you over the process.
4 Causes Of The Invisible Undersell
1. The lack of a true incentive to help you achieve a stretch price
You may have read how a percentage-based real estate commission creates a conflict of interest between you and your real estate agent.
If you haven’t seen that information, I encourage you to start there now. You’ll find it in this article.
In a nutshell, a percentage-based commission encourages agents to achieve a quick sale rather than the highest sale price.
The reason for this is because the most critical last stretch of your sale price (the last $50,000 or $100,000) adds only very little extra to the agent’s commission.
Just do the simple calculation now.
This lack of incentive influences everything that agents do and don’t do.
Firstly, they don’t have a strong incentive to negotiate well or to negotiate at all.
Secondly, if they gave you a to-do list that would increase your sale price by $50,000 or $100,000, not only would it not make much difference to their commission, but it would also delay your listing and the agent’s payday.
2 & 3. KPI’s and commission splits reward turnover – not stretch prices
There are two other incentives for agents to prioritise turnover rather than the highest sale price.
It’s the way their performance is measured and rewarded.
You may have heard the saying: “Whatever is rewarded, is repated.”
Real estate agents work under KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators) that measure and reward the number of listings and sales.
Your home or ‘listing’ is just another tally mark on the whiteboard at the weekly sales meeting.
On top of that, the agent’s share of the ‘commission split’ often improves when they sell more properties.
A ‘commission split’ is the individual agent’s share of the commission, with the rest going to their agency or franchise.
So what gets rewarded?
Volume. Speed. Turnover.
Not squeezing out the last $50,000, $100,000, or $150,000 from your sale.
That extra stretch in price can take a little more time, more follow-up, more buyer management and better negotiation.
But for many agents, it makes more commercial sense to move on to the next listing.
This is why a sale can feel efficient and still cost you dearly.
The ‘industry awards’ some agents brag about are simply a measure of volume – not results achieved for sellers.
4. Lack of vested interest, or skin in the game
This next reason is more obvious. No real estate agent can ever care as much as you do about your sale price.
It’s not their home.
Agents have no skin in the transaction and nothing invested or at risk (other than a little time).
All the risk is assumed by one party – YOU! This includes being locked into a contract.
Real estate agents have no vested interest in your home because vested interest can only come with ownership.
This is why you can never outsource your vested interest to anybody.
2 Reasons Why The Undersell Is Undetected
1. “Range Camouflage” hides the undersell
This is the first of two reasons why home sellers undersell without ever knowing.
I call it “Range Camouflage”.
No property has a sticker price.
If you had three buyers fall in love with your home and they all made an offer, you’d be looking at three very different amounts…
…not to mention the terms and conditions.
Serious offers tend to fall within a range in which you can expect to sell.
As long as the sale price falls somewhere inside that range, it can look respectable.
It can even look like a good result despite your sale price being 3% to 6%+ below what your home could have achieved.
This is why there are no alarm bells or sirens that go off when a home undersells.
The number still looks believable.
The agent still looks successful.
And the seller can still walk away happy.
Only because they have no idea what they have left on the table.
There is another reason why you will never know that you have undersold.
2. Total lack of transparency
There is no transparency when you are selling with a real estate agent.
It all starts with when they ask you to leave your own home for each inspection.
You’d be shocked if you knew the real reasons why they actually ask you to leave, but that’s another conversation.
The real problem is that there is no transparency during one of the most critical stages of your sale, which is the negotiations.
Even if an agent negotiates (which they have little incentive to do) it happens behind your back where you can never hear or see what’s being said about you or your home.
You will never know what efforts (if any) were deployed to discover and extract the highest offer from the best buyer.
2 stories about the lack of transparency problem
Following are two stories from clients of mine, about their previous experiences with their trusted local agents.
These stories will blow your mind and illustrate just one of the many problems with the usual lack of transparency in dealing with the real estate sales profession.
Both people chose agents whom they thought were the most competent, helpful, friendly and trustworthy, like most sellers do.
1. First Story
Shortly after the first person sold with his agent, he was approached by another agent who was absolutely flabbergasted and incredulous.
This other agent asked him: “Why didn’t you take the offer my client made? It was much higher than what you sold for!”
My client’s jaw dropped and he said: “Excuse me? What?”
As it turned out, this other agent was representing a buyer and made an offer on their behalf.
Unfortunately, the vendor’s agent never disclosed that offer because if the seller took it – which he definitely would have – then the selling agent would have had to split his commission with the agent who was representing the buyer.
This is called a conjunction in the real estate sales industry.
In other words, the selling agent knowingly undersold the home to selfishly maximize his commission.
Incredible!
2. Second Story
The next story is just as disturbing.
After selling her home with her preferred local agent, this second seller met someone at the local shops, who by complete accident turned out to be a buyer who missed out on her home.
Like in the previous story, this person asked the seller why she didn’t accept her offer, when it was considerably higher than what she sold for.
Again, this seller was totally shocked!
It turned out that the selling agent never presented that offer because if the vendor accepted it, which she would have, the settlement would’ve taken place later, delaying the agent’s commission.
Can you believe it?
Of course, when agents don’t present all offers to vendors, they are not only betraying their client but also breaking the law.
Unfortunately, this practice is hard to police and prove, and therefore it still happens every day, except most sellers will never know if this has happened to them.
Can you see the problem in trusting the sale of such and expensive asset to someone who has no vested interest or skin in the game, no incentive to achieve the highest sale price and who offers you no transparency over the process?
These risks create a toxic cocktail which guarantee that you will never achieve the best result – even if you think you’ve done well.
Unfortunately, nobody rings a bell when you sell your home for less than you could have.
You can only achieve the highest sale price for your home, if you eliminate all three of these risks.
To do this, you need a solution that can achieve exactly that..
There are two very different solutions to address these three major risks.
The Risk-Free Way To Sell Your Home For An Extra $50K – $150K, Anywhere In Australia – Proven Over 10+ Years
Avoid The Risks, Pressures and Regrets Of Agent Or D.I.Y. Selling
TWO SOLUTIONS:
1. The first one is tailored to those who live in or near the property they want to sell.
2. The second solution is designed for people who live too far from the property they want to sell – or who don’t want to be involved in the process in any way.
Here, I’ll be focusing on the first solution, which is for those who are selling their family home or a property close to them.
If that’s not you and you cannot be involved in your campaign, you can read about the other solution HERE.
The main solution I’ll focus on can easily add an extra $50K – $150K to your sale price – regardless of where you live in Australia.
This method is embarrassing and baffling real estate agents all over the country with the record sale prices it is achieving.
It has taken me over 10 years and several hundred thousand dollars to discover what I’m about to share with you, and you will never hear about this from any of your local real estate agents.
Before you start thinking that I recommend selling privately, all by yourself, there are several reasons why I DON’T. You can read about them in this article.
Why You Must Take a Greater Active Interest In Your Sale:
How Much Do You Really Care About Your Sale Price?
Before I dive into the details of this method please remember one thing – even if it’s the only thing you take from this page:
Whenever possible, it is critical that you take a more active interest in the sale of your home than what real estate agents would like you to have.
You will never, ever achieve the highest sale price without doing so.
Sometimes we have no choice. But if you do, and if you consciously decide not to take an active interest in your sale, what that says about you is that you don’t really care about the outcome.
And if you don’t care, then how can you possibly expect someone else to care more?
Especially when that someone – a real estate agent – has no vested interest or skin in the game, no real incentive to achieve the highest sale price and offers no transparency over the process.
Taking a more active interest in your sale has the added benefit of greater transparency for you, and it’s the only way to bring your vested interest to the table.
Taking a greater active interest in your sale is not what you think it’s. It does NOT mean that you have to:
- market or advertise your home, or
- do an amateur DIY private sale, or
- try to talk people into buying your home, or
- negotiate with buyers, or
- get involved with the legalities.
I’ll explain the five reasons why it is critical that you take a greater active interest in your campaign a little further down.
The bottom line is this: It’s NEVER, EVER a person, whether an agent, me, or you who sells the property because nobody can talk anyone into buying a home.
There’s a FORMULA that helps to make a property become ‘WANTABLE’.
When executed correctly, buyers put their hands up and say: “I’m interested.” “What’s the next step?” “How can I make an offer?”
It is this same formula that adds an extra $50,000 to $150,000 to your sale price.
How this formula is applied or executed is just as important as the formula itself.
The Stretch Price Formula™ and Hybrid Sale Method™
The formula I’m talking about is called the Stretch Price Formula™, and the way it is applied is via a Hybrid Sale Method™.
The Stretch Price Formula™ has seven components, all of which start with the letter P:
1. Preparation, (Much more than just decluttering and cleaning)
2. Presentation, (Much more than just what buyers see)
3. Pricing, (Much more than just determining the value)
4. Promotion, (Much more than just advertising)
5. Parleying, (Much more than just communication and negotiation)
6. Psychology, (Which I won’t cover here)
7. Payment, (This refers to the appropriate reward that incentivises achieving the highest sale price. You will read about this under the section titled: “The Incentive To Help You Achieve The Highest Sale Price”)
1. PREPARATION
Preparation is about identifying, eliminating or at least mitigating any potential problems, faults or flaws with your home.
When buyers see any of these, the first question they ask themselves is: “What else is wrong with this place?”
When they ask themselves this question, they start looking for and finding other issues.
In this frame of mind, it becomes much harder for buyers to emotionally engage with your home.
But this is exactly what we want them to do because your ideal buyer will happily pay an emotional premium for your home, but only if they are emotionally engaged enough.
2. PRESENTATION
This is where Presentation comes in.
Presentation is not just what people see!
Of course, this is important, but just as important is what people hear, don’t hear, smell, don’t smell, what they touch underfoot as they’re walking through your home.
Is it nice and cool on a hot summer’s day or is it warm and cozy on a cold winter’s day?
It all boils down to the single most important thing, which is how people FEEL in your home.
Buyers don’t pay a premium for bricks and mortar or floors, walls, and ceilings.
Presentation is about creating strong feelings for your home by maximizing its emotional appeal.
The only way to do this is via people’s senses of sight, sound, smell, and touch.
All of their senses must be positively stimulated at the same time.
Your home should be like a symphony for their senses.
This is critically important because the greater the positive impact on their senses, the more emotional your buyer becomes and the higher your sale price will be.
At the end of an inspection, your ideal buyer may not be able to articulate why they want your home more than any other, or why they would happily pay more.
All they may know is that they want to own the feeling of being inside it.
This is why presentation is by far the most important of the seven P’s.
Nothing else will make as much difference in how much you end up selling for.
Even the best salesperson or the best negotiator in the world will never be able to make up for poor presentation.
Each property offers different opportunities and challenges with regards to presentation, so this must be carefully tailored to each home.
You’ll discover how you can do this cost-effectively a little further down.
3. PRICING
Pricing is the next step and it is an interesting one because even if you get every other step right, except for this one, your campaign can still fail.
Pricing consists of two very separate and distinct parts.
The first part is about establishing some kind of a range within which you are likely to sell because no property has a sticker price or a recommended retail price.
A property is not like a tonne of coal or a litre of milk. It shouldn’t be viewed as just a commodity.
If you had three different people wanting to buy your home today and they each made you an offer, you would likely be looking at three very different offers, not to mention their terms and conditions.
But if they were all serious offers, they would probably fall within some kind of a range.
It is this range that we need to establish and determine upfront.
The tighter and narrower we can establish this range to be, the more confidence you will have in evaluating any offers that you receive.
Now, this can only be done through very thorough market research. Not an appraisal or even a valuation. It has to be far more thorough than both!
Appraisals create a conflict of interest because agents are under pressure to win your listing with a sale price you want to hear – whether it is accurate or not.
Valuers rush through 5 to 6 valuations each day and simply don’t spend the necessary time to do thorough market research. I have seen many valuations that were wrong by $200K+ in both directions and off by as much as 30%.
Owners are usually too biased to do objective market research, often cherry picking only those sales that confirm their biases.
Even though thorough research is an important part of pricing, it’s not the most important part.
Far more important is how we pitch or communicate the price to the market. This has to satisfy five criteria:
1. Firstly, it needs to attract and entice your ideal buyer into your home,
2. but doing this in a way that doesn’t mislead people or attract those who can’t afford to pay what your home is worth.
3. It must give people some kind of a price guide or indication because most people hate it when they see things like ‘for sale’ ‘by negotiation’, ‘contact agent’, ‘expressions of interest’, etc.
They don’t know if the home is within their budget or if they’re just wasting their time.
According to research done by realestate.com.au, 72% of people scroll past such ads in frustration without even clicking. So we need to give them some kind of a guide or indication,
4. but we need to do it in a way that doesn’t put a cap or a limit on what you can achieve.
5. And finally, we need to pitch the price guide in such a way that you should never, ever at any stage of the campaign, have to reduce that price guide.
If you drop the price, you are sending the wrong message to the market that you’re running out of time or getting desperate.
4. PROMOTION
The next step is promotion. Promotion includes advertising, but it’s much more than just that.
At the end of the day, there are only two reasons why any human buys any property:
1. The first one is AWARENESS,
2. The second one is PERCEIVED VALUE.
Awareness is an easy one. If your property is advertised on realestate.com.au and domain.com.au – which it must be – prospective buyers will be aware of it. They will find it.
The tricky part is perceived value because by the very definition of the word, perception differs from person to person.
But there are ways in which the perceived value of your home can be increased in the eyes of your ideal buyer, and this is actually one of the three jobs of any strong promotional campaign.
A strong campaign must:
1. Firstly, increase your ideal buyer’s perception of value of your home.
2. Secondly, it should discover what that perception is by encouraging and inviting the market to speak, by way of offers.
3. And thirdly, it should extract the highest price from the best buyer.
5. PARLEYING
This is where parleying comes in.
This refers to all the communications with prospective buyers, not just the negotiations.
This is more about HOW this method is applied or executed, and as I wrote earlier, this is just as important as the method itself.
This is what creates the crucially important fundations for fruitful communications with buyers that help to achieve higher sale prices.
This is what most home sellers neglect and real estate agents can’t offer.
This is where it’s absolutely critical that you, as the owner of the home, take a more active interest in the sale if you truly want to achieve the highest possible sale price.
This doesn’t mean that you should sell privately.
There are five reasons to take a greater active interest:
The five reasons why it is critical for you
to take a greater active interest in your sale
It’s Wonderfully Empowering And Most Buyers Will Thank You By Returning The Favour
1. Transforms the transaction from adversarial & combative to win-win
If you engaged a traditional real estate agent, regardless of how experienced, competent, helpful, or friendly they were, then you as the owner of the property, would become a faceless entity for prospective buyers.
Buyers won’t see you, know you, or care about you, and why should they? They just want the most for their money.
But the problem with this is that this creates a transaction, which is adversarial, win-lose, and more like a tug of war.
Buyers won’t hesitate to give cheeky, low ball offers, be more demanding, less conciliatory, and try to take advantage of the agent’s motive to close the deal quickly.
None of this creates an environment in which you can hope to achieve the highest possible sale price.
However, the exact opposite is true when buyers have a chance to encounter you at some stage as the owner of the home.
Without even trying, a degree of authentic, genuine rapport and connection develops between two flesh and blood human beings.
When this happens, it makes it far more difficult for buyers to give you cheeky, low offers, try and take advantage, be more demanding or less conciliatory.
Because most humans – generally speaking – are decent, they don’t want to treat their fellow human beings poorly.
When there is an authentic and genuine human connection, the nature of the transaction changes completely to one that is more collaborative and win-win.
The good news is that this happens naturally and organically, without even trying.
I’m not advocating a private sale, and this doesn’t mean that you have to sell your home yourself or even to negotiate with anybody.
I’ll address this in more detail shortly.
2. Disarms buyers & makes them feel at ease
Imagine for a moment that instead of an agent, buyers encounter you in your own home – no selling, no negotiating – just an inspection.
Most buyers will be surprised because they’ll expect to see an agent, but for the vast majority, it’s a pleasant surprise.
You can actually see many of them breathe a sigh of relief for not having to deal with an agent.
This completely disarms most buyers. As a result, they drop their guard, lower their barriers, and they feel more at ease, more relaxed and less threatened.
The sellers you see on this page, using the Hybrid Sale Method™ have been showered by compliments from buyers about their home and this approach.
Buyers also tend to open up more and reveal information that they would never, ever reveal to any real estate agent.
This information can be really valuable for us in putting together a win-win outcome.
3. Nobody knows your home better than you
Another reason you should take a more active interest in your sale is a simple one.
Imagine that someone really likes your home and has specific questions to ask about it.
Who’s the best person to answer those questions? Of course, it’s you!
Nobody knows more about the home than you do.
If an agent were faced with those questions, they’d have two options:
Firstly, they could remember each question from each prospective buyer, bring them back to you, get the answer and then relay it back to each prospective buyer’s question.
This is very slow, inefficient and frustrating for most buyers. And that’s if they get an answer at all.
Unfortunately, many agents choose option two, which is to make something up on the spot.
I’m not saying that all agents do this, but it’s very tempting because it’s an instant answer.
Buyers know this, which is why they take everything that an agent tells them with a pinch of salt – even if it’s the truth.
This is the same reason why buyers are far more likely to believe what you say, especially after they’ve had a chance to develop some rapport with you as the owner of the home.
4. Increase buyer confidence in the purchase
There is an even more important reason for buyers to meet you.
When they have a chance to put a face to the home and meet the decent human being who has taken care of it, they have far greater comfort and confidence in that they’re buying something good.
The trust and rapport that naturally develops between two decent human beings, transfers to the property.
I don’t know about you, but when I go to an open home, which is held by an agent, I can’t help but think: Who lived here? Why are they selling? What’s behind these walls?
Buyers tend to have fewer of these niggling concerns when they get a chance to meet the decent human with the vested interest to look after the home.
It helps to strengthen and speed up the buying decision, increases buyer commitment and results in a smoother transaction.
5. Much greater visibility, clarity and empowerment for you
Lastly, when you take a more active interest in your sale, you have far greater visibility over the level and quality of interest in your home without having to believe a third party.
No real estate agent can ever match this level of transparency – EVER!
You’ll also be more informed and empowered about the best way for us to respond to enquiries and offers.
We will need to respond differently depending on whether there’s a lot of interest and offers, as opposed to when there isn’t.
Common Concerns
Before I move on to how the negotiations work and how I calculate my fees, let me address a few concerns.
Firstly, in case you’re thinking that you have to sell your own home, the answer is: NO!
You can’t talk anyone into buying a home anyway. Plus, people don’t like being sold to.
Nobody will buy because of what you say. Just like nobody buys because of whatever an agent says.
People buy because of how they feel about your property.
By opening the door to your home, you are simply giving prospective buyers a chance to inspect and decide whether the home is for them or not.
You shouldn’t be selling to, and mustn’t be negotiating with anyone!
I drive the negotiation process and it happens in writing.
I have a saying: “If you have to try to sell your home (talk someone into buying it), then your marketing stinks.” This method is all about marketing!
Secondly, you may also be thinking: “Don’t buyers feel awkward about meeting the owner?”
All of my clients will tell you that the answer is NO!
The constant feedback from those selling with the Hybrid Sale Method™ is that buyers are hugely complimentary of this approach and grateful for the opportunity to meet the owner.
Buyers are relieved for not having to put up with an agent and actually prefer this approach.
Of course, there will always be a very small minority of buyers who initially think it’s a little unusual to meet the owner, but such people are far fewer compared to those who don’t like dealing with agents.
The bottom line is this: No serious buyer decides either for or against a property because of whoever opens the door.
If a buyer doesn’t like the selling agent, they will still go through with the purchase and the exact same applies when the owner opens the door.
The few buyers who initially feel skeptical or uneasy about meeting the owner quickly change their perspective when they get a taste of the genuine and authentic nature of this method.
The rare exception who doesn’t want to interact with you will simply ask a friend, family or an agent to represent them.
No serious buyer ever walks away from a home purchase for this reason.
Lastly, some skeptics who have never experienced this method, wrongly believe that it involves more work than engaging an agent.
The hardest part of selling any home is preparing and presenting it and no agent will do this for you.
They can give you advice and contacts, but the rest is up to you.
However you sell your home, it is not really convenient. Creating and maintaining the look and feel of a display home is not convenient.
(This doesn’t mean that you can’t sell your home unless it looks like a display home.)
I have another saying: “If the sale of your home feels convenient, it’s a sign that you are leaving money on the table.”
You have to choose between the highest sale price and the most convenience.
Once your home is on the market, the rest is much easier and doesn’t involve much more effort than dealing with an agent.
NEGOTIATIONS
I mentioned earlier that you should never negotiate with potential buyers face to face.
I drive the negotiation process and it all happens in writing for the sake of maximum transparency – among other reasons.
It all starts when someone would like to make an offer.
An offer is not serious unless it’s in writing, which is why we use a ‘Notice Of Offer’ document.
This one-page document captures all the essential details of an offer including purchase price, deposit, terms and conditions, timeframes and deadlines, etc.
Serious buyers are more than happy to complete this document, and once they do, they must email it directly to you, so you are the first one to see it – for maximum transparency.
Earlier, I shared with you two stories that highlight the critical importance for you to be the first to see every offer.
For each offer you receive – and hopefully there will be more than one – we’ll have a conversation about the person who made it because you’ll have met them.
I’ll ask you certain questions about each person who makes an offer, to discover certain buyer signals that buyers give, which help me to gauge the strength of each prospective buyer.
This helps me to tailor the written responses to their offers, which I craft.
I base each response around unique strategies that I’ve been refining since 2011.
These work really well to discover and extract each buyer’s absolute highest and best offer.
I email every response that I craft, directly to you, for maximum transparency.
When you read my responses, you will see that they don’t look, feel, or smell like typical negotiations.
They’re very authentic, genuine, friendly, respectful and courteous.
They also continue to build on the positive rapport that has already developed between you and the buyer during the inspection.
This rapport helps to foster and leverage a lot of positive reciprocity with buyers.
This can really help to achieve wonders whether it’s a record sale price, favorable terms and conditions for you, a smoother transaction, or all of these things.
All you have to do when you receive my responses is simply lift my words out and paste them into your reply to a prospective buyer’s email.
I cannot emphasize enough how valuable this is!
The relaxed and authentic style of the response combined with the fact that it is seen to be coming directly from you helps it fly under the radar for buyers.
It continues to keep their guard down, making them feel at ease, by eliminating the awkwardness associated with traditional negotiations.
When buyers feel like they’re dealing with a flesh and blood equal on a level playing field, they respond far more favorably than when they are up against a cunning, silver-tongue real estate agent.
When buyers are treated with respect and feel good about a transaction, they return the favour in many wonderful ways, which could include a higher sale price, better terms and conditions, and a smoother transaction.
The negotiation strategy used here is far more effective than the amateur ‘split the difference’ style, where the seller starts high, the buyer starts low, then they meet in the middle.
If you remember reading it, I talked about the three major problems in dealing with ANY real estate agent:
1. lack of incentive,
2. lack of vested interest or skin in the game, and
3. lack of transparency.
You’ve read how the Hybrid Sale Method™ solves the lack of vested interest and lack of transparency problem.
Now, let’s address the lack of incentive that comes with a percentage based commission.
The incentive to help you achieve the highest sale price
Hopefully by now, it’s crystal clear to you how the Hybrid Sale Method™ brings your vested interest to the table and how this gives you maximum transparency over the process.
That leaves one last issue, which is the incentive to help you achieve the highest sale price.
This can only be done through a success-based reward structure.
I think by now, you know how I feel about a percentage-based commission.
I believe that if you choose someone to help you achieve the highest possible sale price for your home, you should only pay that person to help you achieve the last stretch, the cream or the premium of your property’s value.
This is how we charge.
Our fee is based on how much we can help to negotiate up from the initial, reasonable and decent offer of your actual buyer.
And it can’t just be any cheeky, low-ball offer.
How do we know that an offer is reasonable and decent?
Well, it needs to be within that range that we agree to upfront based on the very thorough market research process (refer to the PRICING section above).
No Lock-In Contract
In addition to the lack of incentive, lack of vested interest and lack of transparency, another thing I really don’t like is when an agent locks you into a contract for around three months or more.
Many of them use this time to condition your price expectations down, after they’ve enticed you into listing, with the promise of a sale price that you wanted to hear.
I don’t believe in locking anyone into a contract.
Instead, we use a very simple one-page Letter Of Engagement, which is in plain English, with no legal jargon.
Even in that document, I make it very clear that if you don’t like us, our method, or strategies, you’re welcome to change your mind and walk away with no obligation.
Are you local to me?
Those who are skeptical of the Hybrid Sale Method™ sometimes point out the obvious:
We are based in Brisbane, Queensland, yet most of our clients are spread all across the country.
Some of them ask me this: “David, if you are not local to my area, then how can you possibly help me achieve a higher sale price than the agents who live and work here?”
The answer to that question is very, very simple. As you know, real estate agents don’t have a vested interest or incentive to help you achieve the highest sale price, even though they are local to, and know their area.
Just being local is not enough to achieving the highest sale price and it is common for local agents to undersell.
But, why is local knowledge valued? Well, it helps to understand who the buyers are and why they are paying different amounts for different homes in different pockets of the same suburb, or even different ends or sides of the same street.
But why is this important? At the end of the day, all this only matters for one reason: Giving you confidence in knowing what your home is worth.
The unique dynamics and nuances of every suburb are summed up in a handful of key metrics, but the most important of these are simply sold prices.
These reveal what kind of homes, in which pockets or streets of a suburb are more desirable and even which sides or ends of those streets are more sought after.
These days, all of this information can be gathered from very thorough research without having to be in the area personally.
Not even the best local agent will sell every property in a suburb.
So, unless they research all the other sales that they weren’t involved in then they won’t know the local prices as well as someone who has done that research.
This research is a critical part of the Stretch Price Formula™ and Hybrid Sale Method™, which is why it has embarrassed and baffled local real estate agents all over the country by achieving higher sale prices than even they thought possible.
Everyday Success Stories
The Stretch Price Formula™ and Hybrid Sale Method™ helped Cameron and Terena set a new street record price with the sale of their first property in Albany Creek, QLD and a suburb record with their second property in Deception Bay, QLD.
Thanks to strategic negotiations, they achieved a $115,000 premium or 12% extra with their first sale and a $60,000 premium or 8% extra with their second.
Celine and Vlad used this method to sell their family home in Frenchs Forest, on the northern beaches of Sydney, for well above $3.3 million.
It was this method that resulted in the successful sale of Terry’s spectacular Victorian residence in the famously up-market Melbourne suburb of St Kilda for $4.5 million dollars.
The unique negotiation strategy that is part of this method helped to increase his final sale price by $900,000.
It was this method that helped John and Helen in Gordon Park, QLD sell for 19% more than their local real estate agents told them they would.
Jill and Phillip scored $205,000 or 17% more for their home in Kurwongbah, QLD, than what they originally wanted because of this method.
Let me show you how to add an extra $50,000 – $150,000 to your sale price
without the usual risks
I hope that by now it is clear to you why a percentage-based commission encourages a quicker sale rather than the highest sale price.
If so, then you will also understand why agents don’t have enough incentive to give you a list of improvements that will increase the emotional appeal, perceived value and sale price of your home.
After all, the extra $50,000 or $100,000 this would add to your sale price won’t make much difference to their commission, but it would delay your listing and their payday.
In contrast, the results-based success fee of the Hybrid Sale Method™ depends on how much is negotiate up for you.
This in turn, depends heavily on how well your home has been prepared and presented.
For this reason, it is in both our interests to ensure that your home is presented optimally.
Selling a property is one of the most significant transactions in your life.
It requires considerable trust between you and whoever you choose to help you.
This trust cannot be built without a human to human conversation.
Try Risk-Free
Would you like me to show you exactly how to increase the emotional appeal and perceived value of your home, so you can easily sell for $50,000 – $150,000 extra?
I can give you a list of specific improvements, tailored to your home which you won’t hear from any real estate agent.
The suggestions I make not only help to increase your sale price but also save you money at the same time.
These suggestions will give you the biggest bang for your buck and return on any money you spend, with a 2-3 times return on investment or more.
If you are interested, you can schedule a FREE discovery call by clicking the button below – THIS IS NOT A SALES CALL!
The Cost Of Delaying
The sooner you take advantage of my suggestions, the sooner you can start to execute them.
You will have more time and less stress to get these things done instead of leaving them to the last minute, just before you need to sell.
The earlier you hear my suggestions the more money I can save you by helping you avoid some very expensive and unnecessary mistakes in preparing your home for sale.
Most people overcapitalise when preparing their home for sale by spending far more than they should, or spending on the wrong things.
If you think you know how to present your home – think again.
This is because the way we see our homes is very different to how buyers see it.
Since 2015 I have seen many hundreds of homes – some of them new or near new.
I have never seen a home that couldn’t benefit from some strategic improvements.
There are some amazing ways to dramatically boost the emotional appeal, perceived value and sale price of your home without an expensive renovation.
The problem is that you are unlikely to know what these are.
What’s worse is that agents have no incentive to show you because it makes little difference to their bottom line.
Some people think that it’s too early to show me through their home because they believe it’s not ready.
If you wait until you think it’s ready, it’s already too late.
It kills me to see good people come to me too late and miss out on incredible premiums by not having enough time to implement my tailored suggestions.
If you’re considering selling in the next six to twelve months, now is the time to act.
The later you leave it, the more money you will lose when you sell.
Please don’t get me wrong. I can still help you achieve a higher sale price than any of your local real estate agents, even if your home is not 100% perfectly presented.
But if you’re really serious about achieving top dollar, you will also need to be serious about presentation.
If you are interested, you can schedule a FREE discovery call by clicking the button below – THIS IS NOT A SALES CALL!
Are You Still Reading?
You wouldn’t have read up to this point if this didn’t resonate or make sense to you.
The next step is to at least schedule a call now. You have nothing to lose and a lot to gain.
I don’t hold back with any of my advice.
If what you hear on the call doesn’t resonate with you, then you will never hear from me again.
For this reason, I’m not like real estate agents who will chase down anyone with a heartbeat and a property to sell.
I believe that if I have to chase someone, then they’re not a good fit for this method.
If you’d like to find out how you can safely sell for an extra $50,000 – $150,000, you can schedule a quick call with me using my calendar at the bottom of this page.
On this call, you can ask me any questions you may have, and we can both determine whether or not there’s a good fit – This is NOT a sales call!
Further down, you’ll also find links to other eye-opening content that you won’t read or hear anywhere else.
I encourage you to examine them for yourself.
I’d love to see you set a new record sale price for your street, suburb or category by selling for much more than you could with any other method.
If you are interested, you can schedule a FREE discovery call by clicking the button below – THIS IS NOT A SALES CALL!
Success Stories
Thrilled Vendors Across Australia Share Their Experiences
Kylie and Rod pocketed $100,000 more than with an offer they almost accepted through a local real estate agent.
Emma and Christian sold for $40,000 more than the highest appraisal from four of their best local ‘area expert’ real estate agents.
Jessica set a new suburb record, selling her home for almost $100,000 (12%) more than her best local agents said she would. Her success was even featured in news.com.au
Eliane set a new record sale price in her street, on the other side of Australia, far exceeding all her expectations.
Roger was so happy with the great result he achieved when selling his investment property in Paddington QLD, that he referred us to his family.
Paula and Brian walked away with tens of thousands of dollars more than by selling with any of their local real estate agents.
Lyn and Gordon were so happy with the results of the Stretch Price Formula that they returned to sell two more properties this way.
Terena and Cameron set a new street record with their first sale and a new suburb record with their second sale, using this method.
Celine and Vlad sold for over $3.3M using the Stretch Price Formula and would never use a traditional real estate agent again.
Read our growing number of 5 star Google reviews
Additional Eye-Opening Content…
- Read The Full Article to understand the 10 false beliefs about selling your home, which 99.9% of sellers still believe.
- Read The Full Article about the 4 signs ignored by most home sellers that scream: “You will lose money on the sale of your home” – even if you think you’re doing well.
- You can Read The Full Article about the 6 reasons why you’ll never achieve the highest possible sale price with either a real estate agent or by D.I.Y. private selling.
- Watch the first short video here which explains how paying a real estate commission will guarantee that you’ll sell your home for less than you could.
Who Am I?
My name is David Kaity.
I’m a Property Marketing Strategist, Vendor Guardian and author of the book Real Estate Agents Don’t Sell Homes, which was featured on Channel 9’s Today Show.
I’m the founder of the Stretch-Price Formula™ and Hybrid Sale Method™.
I get a kick out of helping home sellers all around Australia easily sell for 5-6 figures more than they could with any of their local real estate agents through:
- A five step formula that has been proven in every state and territory of Australia to achieve record sale prices, which embarrass the ‘best’ local real estate agents.
- A unique process with 3 key components, not used by any real estate agent, without any of which, it is impossible to achieve the highest sale price.
- Total transparency for vendors, so you are not wondering about what happens behind your back.
- A true incentive-based fee structure that focuses ONLY on achieving the last stretch, or cream of your property’s value, and eliminating the conflict of interest created by a percentage based commission.
- Risk-free, no lock-in contract for vendors, allowing you to change your mind and walk away.
- An environment that encourages goodwill, genuine authenticity, and reciprocity, all of which are unheard of in a traditional property transaction. This not only creates an unusually positive experience for both buyers and sellers, but builds the essential foundations for the highest sale price.
Thanks to the Stretch-Price Formula™ and Hybrid Sale Method™ you can achieve a street, suburb or category record sale price for your home, without the risks, pressures and regrets of selling with either a real estate agent or D.I.Y.
As a seller, you will experience a feeling of empowerment and triumph that you cannot experience from any other method of selling your home.
FREE BONUS
Whether we ever work together or not, if you schedule a call now, then I will also give you a FREE copy of my published book.
This book has been featured on Channel 9’s Today Show and retails in bookshops for $19.75 and reveals what no real estate agent wants you to know.
Please Don’t Schedule A Call If:…
- You are NOT going to keep your appointment or at least reschedule.
- You have already engaged a real estate agent.
- You are a real estate agent.
If you fall into any one of these categories above then we would just be wasting each other’s time.
We would also be taking this time away from those who could really benefit from these methods today.
If the above points don’t apply to you, feel free to schedule a call with me on the calendar below.
***If you schedule a call, please make sure to either watch the video at the top of this page or read this whole page before we speak***
Schedule A FREE Discovery Call Using The Calendar Below
If you can’t find a time that suits you or you’re not ready for a call just yet, feel free to send me a message by clicking the button below.