Residential property cannot be advertised for sale until a Contract of Sale has been prepared. It is important that you consult your solicitor or conveyancer about preparing the contract to make sure that everything is in order. There are two main ways of selling a residential property – by private treaty and by auction.

PRIVATE TREATY

When you sell your property by private treaty, you set the price and the property is listed at thatprice. In general, the price is negotiable, with the seller often asking a higher amount than they expect to sell the property for, and the buyer making an initial offer much lower than theasking price.

The process of a sale by private treaty offers the following benefits:

• greater control over the sale
• time to consider offers by potential purchasers
• the ability to indefinitely extend the time for which the property is for sale
• potential purchasers make 'blind' offers for your property and have no knowedge of otheroffers.

Selling privately is often just as tense as a public auction, and you will be faced with important decisions when presented with offers that are lower than your asking price. But you will have our expertise and knowledge of the market to guide you along the way.

There are some risks with selling by private treaty, which should also be considered:

• If the price set is too high, the property may not sell.
• If the price set is too low, you may miss out on maximising the selling price.
• When a property is sold by private treaty, buyers have a five-day cooling-off period during which they may withdraw from the sale.

AUCTION

To sell through an auction process, the amount you want for the property is generally not revealed to potential buyers, who are encouraged to attend the auction and bid for the property against other potential buyers.

Auctions have become an increasingly popular way to sell or buy residential property. The benefit of selling by auction is that there is a time frame for potential buyers to either put up an offer or attend the auction, so the sale can be conducted within a specific time frame.

Successful Bids

The successful bidder must sign the sale contract and pay you a deposit on the spot (usually 10%). There is no cooling-off period for buyers at auction. If the property is passed in at auction but contracts are exchanged on that same day, the cooling-off period still does not apply.