If you celebrate Christmas, there may be limited time for you to read this.
After severe work-related stress or personal disappointment, for many Christmas is ranking third in the line-up of heavy demand pressure periods.  If that is true for you, I’ll better be short this time.

Last month you were promised to find some useful tips about selling a house here in Bali.
I then made this promise a bit light hearted, because one point on the list says: ’if possible, do not sell in the rainy season’.
Well, exactly for that reason I did not intend to talk about the issue before March/ April 2018.
However, a vendor asked some weeks ago what to do in order to run ahead of the competition in his sales marketing strategy and I said without much further consideration: “right, I will collect some advice next month for you”. A promise is a promise, as you will see below.

Before however, let me share my sheer delight about the present absence of mass tourism on Bali.
If we drag these days a brass canon into Ubud Main Street and fire a shot at nine in the evening, no one would get hurt.  Or going down Jalan Hanoman by vehicle you will manage whilst counting just to 50. “Pre-Agung” you were lucky when there was fuel left in your tank when approaching Coco Supermarket or our office on the other side.  We will never be as young as today and we may never experience such bliss in our lifetime again. Let’s go out this evening and feel the feeling.

On the other hand, hopefully all comes back to normal soon, because the poor restaurant staff does not receive service charge or much tipping any more. Taxi drivers sit lifeless on doorsteps dreaming with a vacant look of ’those days before’. I suspect they soon may all be bunching together to source hoof nails, which, when thrown in front on the street, would give the chance to sell at least some refreshments until the tyre repair man comes.

This sure sounds light hearted, but the real background is that many local businesses and workers are having a hard time now. You know how it is. The ’old folks’ needs support, the siblings have to continue their studies, and the motorbike credit needs to be paid off … Where are the tourists ??? 

Let’s go out and enjoy the new attention as a most appreciated customer.  We help a bit and,  ’oh heavens’, what a life we can have in return…”

Yes, I almost forgot about the sales tips.  Thanks for reminding me.  Here we go –

Just in case 2017 made you, as many others, the beneficiary of the stunning crypto currency bull run and there are now a million Dollar plus in the account to upgrade to the 9 bedroom-mansion, of course you want to sell the present house first.  In order not to have to drag this usually nerve-wrecking issue too long around, we better adjust our thinking cap and get the sales process right. 

Apologies. - from posts before you know already, - I simply cannot manage to just stick to the point. (Must be something wrong up there, I guess). 

Now here I do it again, because I’d quick like to remind you of the value of your time.  An unnecessary extended sales process may prevent you from enjoying part of your life in an un-necessary dragged-out, often stressful process.

Time, and specially a good one, is the most valuable item in our life, right? Try this:
Take a bucket and see the local building material supplier ’to buy some time’. All the money of Warren Buffet, Bill Gates and even the Queen’s (with her paltry 292 Million Dollar) cannot buy us even a single minute anywhere.

Well, the cruelty does not stop there.  – UbudProperty’s average client is above 40 years of age.  Given that our property vendors and -buyers are usually smart, have looked after their assets and also after their health properly, western statistics now say we have a decen chance to close our eyes at about age 90.
If that is so, there may be 40 to 90 = 50 years to go x 365 days = 18.250 days.  
Maybe some of you dear readers, same as myself, are already looking at a bit less. But then, should we really care? 
Someone said there are three kinds of lies-   Lies, damn lies and statistics.

Now, putting this number into perspective – how rich do you actually feel with 18.250 rupiah in your pocket?  

The result of such rumination is, that we should use our time wisely and be aware of it’s value. Always.

Closing the circle – when deciding to sell a property, be aware of the passing days and their value and give the sales process your best attention.  On to it, done and over with it!

I am not talking about pricing here. You would have made a research on compatible properties and would already have a reasonable figure in mind.  If not – we can help.  It’s part of what we do and with a considerable number of successful property sales concluded, we are neutral and look objectively at all three sides.   Vendor, Buyers and Market.
Pricing has also to include that you do not want to reduce the price too often after there was no sale yet.
Two times should be maximum, in order not to send the signal out:  “oh, here we have someone desperate and we can bargain real tough some more.” Or: “if others have not bought yet at this price, why should I?”

Done the pricing well, there are other things you can also take care of so that your villa stands out and a potential buyer entering upon inspection straight away is thinking: “this may be it“.

To begin with:    The enemy is any other property for sale within your area and price range.
So make sure ALL your preparation is focused on having your property compete as well as possible.

The following preparation tips are in random order, just as coming to mind:

It is obvious, the biggest surface of a home are the walls, floors, ceilings and window coverings.  These are things people note first, because they jump into the eye – and are easiest to change.  Needless to say- bright colours make any room look larger. 
Put any personal preferences aside. Best results are achieved by using a plain or warm white throughout. White is an excellent background ’canvas’ for the other features you will add.  Matt on walls. Doors, frames in gloss.
Using one colour throughout is easy and creates the impression of a much larger home. Also very effective for amazing marketing images.

Floors are tiled in Bali.  However, adding a fresh coloured carpet will have a remarkable impact.  There is IKEA in Jakarta and they send via courier. 

Need colour splashes for impact?  Thankfully we live in Ubud.  Buy a large canvas frame, paint it all black wait until dry and roll on or dab with a cloth some aggressive colour spots. Yellow stands out most.  What a piece of art! 

Want a blackboard for the kids or near the kitchen for a shopping list written with chalk?  Go to HotSellerTip.com. Search under: ’Great ideas’. Tab on ’how to paint a blackboard wall feature’.
Marketing photos.    These days everyone is a great photographer due to 300+ selfies per week, - or so they think.  UbudProperty’s inspection crew also used to take those photo shoots to help our vendors.
It seemed all good. 

Then we sent them to a special photo course. OMG! What an amazing improvement. Vendors are delighted, inquiries up.  You should give it a try.  The mission is to convert visits online to visits in person.

Plan of attack. Make a pre-sale checklist that could look like-

• Paint internally
• Repair cracked tiles in bathroom
• Clean out storage room and plant blooming flowers in the garden
• Clean out garage, other rooms to look open and uncluttered
• No smudge marks near light switches
• Kitchen uncluttered and smells great (vanilla scent is good)     
• …  discuss your marketing attack with your agent

De-personalize your home. Remove items which are personal just to you. The family photo collection on the cupboard has to go.  Make your house as neutral as possible. There is a payoff for your trouble. Visitors can more easy imagine themselves living there.

Show time! There is no second chance at a first impression. Look at your house through the buyer’s eyes. How could it be better? In the age of LED bulbs, use as much light as you can! Warm white, - not the cold one.
Overcrowded rooms look smaller. What can you remove? Clear kitchen, bathrooms and laundry of excessive stuff.
Because of our humid climate, a house has to breeze, make sure there is fresh air flowing through, maybe even a pleasant scent added.
What about some positive and upbeat music playing gently in the background?  Prepare a playlist. Subtle is better.
Windows should be clean and clear at all times. We mostly have a nice view onto some greenery, which should be like looking at a crisp painting, without any hint of fog on the glass.

Thinking about the garden. -  Space is valuable.  If the garden is too cluttered, quick clean it up, and get someone from a garden business to plant grass instead.  One day mess only. Finished!

The list can go on and on, - but you get the idea.  The house has to appeal for a broad audience, who you do not know yet.
One of your questions may be: ’if I invest, let’s say 5% of my property value in a pre-sale presentation, how much can I expect in return when I sell?’ 
Because there is no recommended retail price, there is no fixed number. Just take this as certain
–  you do not only get your money back, you will sell for more…

For the buyer too there is no set of precise parameters to assess.  It is a bit like falling in love. In many ways, if all the right buttons are pushed (meaning your place feels “just right”), you’ve done all you can to create the appeal and now leave the main stress to the agent.

One more thing.  Any seasoned real estate agent will tell you that the road to a contract is often littered with early attractive offers rejected by a seller, who eventually sells for a lesser price. An attractive early offer is what you are aiming for.

Aiming well is like fishing. Any successful fisherman will tell you that rule number one is to fish where the fish are. This is where a good local real estate professional will make the deciding difference.

Knowing how to reach the buying market and how to present the offer of your property to the market is central to your success.  In fact, every time I see a seller trying to sell their own property, I wonder if they realize just how many buyers they are missing.  After all, ’You can’t sell a secret”.

Not much of the above is really new to you, I guess.
But isn’t it like this, -we know very well about the value of every passing minute, but then daily life takes over and we rarely act upon our better knowledge, wasting awareness and happiness.
If there is seemingly nothing to be happy about, we still can create happiness between our ears ourselves and there is real value in a friend who reminds us occasionally to do just that.

Same goes for being reminded by a Property Agent of the things to do to get the property sale right, at the best possible price and also done and over with in a timely manner.  Real happy you followed me to here. Thank you!

Your Ubud Property team 

open 9.30 to 5.00, - or whenever you need us.

And last, but not least:

Merry Christmas to you all and a happy and prosperous New Year!