Have you heard the term “off market property”?
Do you know what it means and how it can benefit you in your property search?
How can a Buyers Agent help you secure an off market property in Brisbane?
What are off market properties?
Off market properties are properties that are for sale without being advertised to the general public. They are not listed on the usual real estate website portals, they don’t have shiny brochures and they don’t have regular “open for inspections”. All of this means that they are available to a limited number of buyers which can reduce the competition for that property. This can be advantageous for you, the buyer!
If you’ve been searching online for a while you may have seen new Brisbane properties pop up and already have “under offer” or “sold” on them. This is usually because the property has sold off market, and the selling agent wants to use it as a marketing tool for themselves. The best way for them to get new clients is to show their sales results!
Here’s a quick video explaining off market properties.
Why are there off market properties?
Why would owners want to sell their home or investment property off market when it means they may not get the maximum sales price possible? There are a variety of reasons:
They want to keep the sale private – Usually from the neighbourhood or their local community who aren’t close friends. This could be due to a break-up, illness, change in working location or financial circumstances. Some people are simply private people.
To save on marketing costs – Listing on real estate websites can cost thousands of dollars so selling off market saves money. The owners may not want professional photography or styling either so this saves on that as well.
To avoid open home inspections – It takes a lot of work to clean and present a home for open inspections every Saturday for few weeks at a minimum. Some agents like to open for inspection mid-week too depending on the target market. Then there’s the after inspection clean up! On top of this is the lack of privacy you have with people traipsing through your home and looking at your personal possessions.
Selling your property off market can avoid this which is appealing for families with children, busy professionals or public figures in the community.
To reduce the stress of selling the home – Selling your home can be quite a stressful process. If the owners are already in a stressful situation adding the public sale of their home can be a bit much to take. Keeping the sale off market and available to only a limited number of buyers reduces this stress. Owners can direct the sales agent to only bring qualified, genuine buyers through the property.
How can you find off market properties in Brisbane?
If you have the time then call every agent who sells in the areas you’re looking to buy into and ask them what they have available. Make sure you’re checking in with them every 1-2 weeks and that they have your details in their system to send you their email updates.
Go to all of their open house inspections even if that property is not right for you. The more that the agents see you the better. Talk to them and ask them questions.
Follow agents on social media. More agents are ‘announcing’ their up-coming listings on Instagram and Facebook.
You need to be top of mind when they speak to and sign up a new client. This is imperative for you to have access to the whole range of properties for sale whether on market or off market.
Help for buyers
If you’re time poor and frustrated with the search, a Brisbane Buyers Agent can help you.
Buyers Agents should already have a developed network of agents. Because they specialise in searching for clients, they have regular contact with selling agents in all different areas of Brisbane. A Buyers Agent contacts sales agents and provides them their clients’ needs and wants in a new home or investment property. The Real Estate Buyers Agents Association of Australia (REBAA) defines the role here.
A Buyers Agent will conduct basic due diligence of a property before even presenting it to their clients to make sure there are no major issues with the house and/or land. To save their clients time, Buyers Agents arrange and conduct the initial inspection of the property and take a detailed video to show their client. Our blog goes more in depth into how a Buyers Agent can help you.
Depending of the circumstances of the seller, time can be of critical importance in securing an off market property. This is especially true if the seller does want to take the property to market, i.e. have professional photos and advertise online through the real estate portals such as realestate.com.au and domain.com.au. This can also be known as a pre-market opportunity.
These are still off market properties, but the owners are motivated to sell and prepared to list their property publicly. However, if they do receive a good enough offer before they go to the open market they are prepared to sell to save on the marketing costs and remove the inconvenience of open for inspections.
If you can offer a good price to buy the property, then even if it’s a bit under what the selling agent could achieve with competition, the owner can decide to sell off market. The benefits of reducing the stress and costs as outlined above can outweigh the loss of a few thousand dollars. It’s important in this situation that you have a good understanding of what the value of the property is so that you don’t overpay! Research is critical for successful negotiation of both on market and off market properties. Take your time and make sure you understand the current market!