Save by Selling Your House Online

Selling Your House
Real Estate Agents
The Buyers

By Josef Durst

Buying and selling a property is never an easy process, although just by getting online you could make it a considerably less stressful and expensive event.

From the comfort of your computer chair you can list your house, access properties listed by an interstate real estate agent or property developer, or find your dream home and go a long way towards completing a deal. Best of all, you can save time and money.

Where you ask? Well one website is AustralianRealty.com, which makes dealing in real estate much easier and more cost effective.

AustralianRealty.com has more than 1800 properties listed from around Australia and is the country's most popular owner-seller website.

More than 120,000 people visit the site each month and browse through its extensive listing of houses, flats, units, apartments, commercial buildings, farms, lifestyle blocks, land and duplexes.

AustralianRealty.com has sold more than $84million worth of property in Australia - not bad for a website that began in 1998. So far AustralianRealty.com has saved its users an estimated $2.5 million in costs - mainly due to savings in not having to pay real estate agents' commissions. That figure is worked out on an average 3% fee rate.

How do you save money? Well, you list your property with AustralianRealty.com and choose how you want to advertise your home.

Costs for private vendors are:

• A basic text ad with a 50-word description for $125
• A basic listing with a colour photo and 100 words for $185
• A standard listing (5 colour photos, 300 words) for $295
• The premium listing with 9 large colour photographs, floor plan or property plan and up to 500 words of text for $395.

All of the above come with a 90cm by 60cm sale board to put on your property and the price is to run the ad until the property is sold.

Virtual Tour packages - where you can get 360-degree camera views of the home - start at $385.

Each listing has its own property ID and these can be used not only on the website, but be attached to newspaper or magazine ads thereby cutting down the number of expensive advertising lines. Buyers can then match the ID on the website to get more details.

The services offered by AustralianRealty.com include a legal section, trade services, residential rentals, shared accommodation and house swapping.

Real estate agents, property developers and builders have different rates with Simunovic saying "very economical subscription packages are available to both agents and property developers or builders".

AustralianRealty.com initially began as a site for private vendors, but Simunovic says it is now broadening its range to include real estate agents and property developers.

"We believe that the substantial traffic the site receives, combined with attractive subscriptions, offers agents an extremely effective way to promote properties for sale.

"At the end of the day, a buyer is looking for that ideal property, whether or not it is found via an agent or a private vendor."

Simunovic says by using the secure online service vendors have better control over the sale, get international exposure and can save substantial amounts of money.

Anyone who has had dealings with the real estate industry in recent times will know that there can be a lot of mucking around.

As a buyer you can organize with AustralianRealty.com to have an automatic email let you know of new listings that match your wish list. Sellers can reduce hassles and tension by having fewer inspections by people who are not suited to their properties.

Simunovic says vendors using the service get many benefits aside from cost savings. These include international exposure, the quality of leads and saving time and hassle.

He says potential buyers will have looked at the property's details online and therefore approaches are more likely to come from people genuinely interested in learning more.

"The buyer has a good idea of the nature of the property before calling the vendor and this saves time and avoids potential disappointment for both parties."

Buyers also gain, he says, because the vendor will be able to negotiate a lower price if they don't have to pay thousands of dollars in commission. There is also less chance of misunderstandings or communications breakdowns as there is no middle person in the negotiations.

With a flattening real estate market people selling their properties want to maximize their prices while reducing costs. Targeted marketing through real-estate specific websites is a growing area that both sellers and buyers should investigate.