LIST YOUR HOME FOR SALE, LONG BEFORE YOU MAKE AN OFFER ON YOUR NEXT PURCHASE

There are numerous reasons why those planning to sell their current homes to move to another, should list their homes long before they start looking for a new home. Perhaps the most important reason for this is that it will give them a realistic idea of how their home is seen and valued in the market, preventing false hopes about what they will be able to afford in their follow-up home.

"Very often," says Rowan Alexander, Director of Alexander Swart Property, "the seller will ignore advice from an agent and base the asking price of his current home on what he estimates he needs to realise his dreams for his next home. Many estate agents have had the experience of introducing a buyer to a new home, receiving an enthusiastic response, agreeing on a tentative offer SUBJECT to selling their present home. Perhaps weeks later, the buyer finds that he cannot sell his home for his asking price, or near his asking price, preventing him from going ahead with his new purchase. Fortunately, in most cases there will be another buyer who can manage a satisfactory price and pre-empt the other buyer - but this is by no means always the case.

"Sometimes, the over-optimistic buyer will make offers on three or four homes, none of which he finds out later he can afford because he has over-valued his current home. This situation can be frustrating for the agents and very disheartening to the buyer when he realises he cannot fulfil his dreams and is stuck with a home from which he had hoped to move on."

If the potential buyer puts his current home up for sale long before he goes house-hunting, Alexander repeats, he will probably be much better informed and far more realistic: he will be given the chance to see exactly how the market values his home. This will save him time and disappointment when making offers on the next home he hopes to buy.

"Human nature is such that there will always be those with uninformed, illusory ideas about the value of their homes. They should be warned again and again by their agents, that it is in their own interests to put the home they hope to sell on the market well before they take any subsequent action," says Alexander.

For further information, please contact Rowan Alexander on cell phone 082 581 3116 or by email : rowan@asproperty.co.za