Let’s get your home ready
Taking great photographs
Choosing the right marketing
Using social media
Being in control
1.  LET’S GET YOUR  HOME READY

 Let’s be very clear here if you are considering selling and want to get the best possible price, the most important and time-consuming part of the whole process is preparing the home for sale. The three most important steps are

• Decluttering and depersonalising
• Cleaning and tidying
• Garden preparation

People need to be able to see the home and imagine their life in this home: not yours. Do this well and you will maximise your financial results. Let the natural features and characteristics of your home shine through.  There are loads of great blogs on home decor and remember to keep it simple.  Professional property stylists put a dollar value on this anywhere from an extra $5-$10,000. 
2. TAKING GREAT PHOTOGRAPHS

You know your home best – the best time of day to photograph a corner of the garden; that moment when the sun lights up a particular room.  Now just a reminder: completing secret one before you start snapping. You wouldn’t rock up to a family photo shoot in dirty clothes with unwashed hair, would you? You’d want to look your best – and so does your home. The three essential photography tips you need to know are:

1. Think about light. Make sure there is plenty: whether natural or artificial. 
2. Face the room corners. Stand well back and take your picture into the corner as it can make a room look bigger. 
3. Most importantly, take your time to find the right angles,  furniture, and angles, take lots of different shots and pick the best.

Once you have taken your photos, send them off to an online editing service who will add a professional edge to them.  For around $300 you can have 12 photos and a house plan, for a fraction of the cost of a professional photo shoot. DIY photography can save you anywhere from $500-$2000 
3. CHOOSING THE RIGHT MARKETING

It’s stating the obvious that marketing has changed enormously in the past ten years.  Embracing these changes will substantially reduce your marketing spend. 

So rather than spend money on

• Newsprint campaigns
• Magazine campaigns 
• Extra large sign boards

We suggest you focus on effective online marketing. This will achieve maximum outcomes for minimal spend. Newspaper ads and magazines are just fillers and coffee table fodder. Buyers are online all the time, not in a doctor’s surgery looking at magazines. Don’t fall into that trap. You can waste anywhere from $2000 to $20,000 depending on the suburb and home. This is your hard earned money.  DIY real estate Websites such as Next Address offer smart, savvy affordable solutions by directly connecting buyers and sellers.
4. USING SOCIAL MEDIA

Facebook is no longer a tool to connect us socially, but a tool we are using for commerce, education, and our personal communication. They are at the forefront of creating affordable online business marketing platforms: making it easy to find the buyers looking for our products. With this in mind: Did you know that most people buy their homes within 5 km of where they currently live? Combine this knowledge with Facebook’s powerful analytics tools and you can effectively target your buyers. 

Facebook can map everything from 

• schools, 
• transport needs, 
• our ages, 
• personal interests 

All this is collected from the information we have personally loaded to our Facebook pages!  It is Big Brother, but it is powerful and effective. So embrace this platform as one of the newest and most effective marketing platforms available to you.
5. BEING IN CONTROL

Selling and buying a home is one of the most significant financial decisions ever made. At Next Address we know that one of the biggest concerns raised by both buyers and sellers is poor communication by agents. Choosing any agent is effectively and quickly giving at least $10,000 and up to $30,000 in commissions. So consider if this is necessary.  Ask yourself

• Can I communicate with people
• Do I regularly  negotiate with my colleagues
• Do I know the best features of the home I am selling

Every day we negotiate our way through life: You can make an extra $20,0000 by taking control of the process yourself.  There are so many great blogs and resources to guide you through the process.
So think carefully if you are about to sell. We believe most people are more than capable of buying and selling a home directly with each other.  We love Uber, Airbnb now there’s a real estate service offering us a service which directly connects buyers and sellers.