Photo storage and price surveys speed up property sales

Selling a property, especially with the accumulated inflation and the successive rises in the basic interest rate, can take months and exceed a year in the current Brazilian real estate market.

Several factors are responsible for the difficulties in completing the business, such as size, location and year of construction of the property. It is up to the owner to prepare to get the best offer, starting with emotionally moving away from the property.

The attachment to the property or the need to sell it quickly lead many owners to charge a value far from the market rate for similar properties, whether for more or less.

“If the property is valued above what it is actually worth, this period [de venda] can be very extended. A highly valued property takes a much longer time to sell and ends up being negotiated for a lower value than it should”, says Guilherme Ribeiro, head of operations at Desenrola.

Ribeiro explains that this devaluation can occur due to lack of maintenance and conservation that arise while the property is stopped.

Cyro Naufel, institutional director at Lopes, says that it is still necessary to pay attention to the rates linked to the property before pricing it. “Often, the sale price is within the market, but the value of the IPTU and the condominium are so high that they make the sale unfeasible. In this case, it is necessary to make adjustments in the value”, he says.

Although newer properties tend to be more valued, location can be a determining factor in the buyer’s choice. Neighborhoods with greater offer of parks and public transport and low exposure to crime or flood risks remains with the most valued square meter.

“The location is the first item that we put on the scale to be able to start the purchase analysis. The plant [do apartamento] changes characteristics like the fashion of clothes. It changes the way of life, people’s behavior, it changes the plant”, says Nelson Parisi, president of Rede Imobiliária Secovi-SP.

One of the indicators of the best time to sell a property is its valuation in the market. Newer ventures tend to be worth more.

A new price study by Loft Analytics, the core of the real estate platform with market analysis, points out that apartments built in the last 20 years in the capital of São Paulo have a square meter around 16% more valued than in the previous period.

If compared with even older apartments, built before the 1960s and which demand higher maintenance costs, the difference exceeds 31%.

The platform considered 20,625 transactions concluded in the city, between January 2019 and December 2021, in 23 neighborhoods

The survey also shows that depending on its location, properties lose less value and attract buyers.

Urban economist and member of Loft Analytics Rodger Campos cites Vila Nova Conceição and Moema as examples, which concentrate luxury developments and have suffered less from the effects of time on their final value due to the characteristics of a wooded region with high-end condominiums with 24-hour surveillance. hours.

Owners looking to sell an older property can take advantage of better liquidity at a time when many interested parties are looking for a lower-cost alternative to living in neighborhoods with better transportation options and a greater sense of security.

A report by digital real estate QuintoAndar -based on contracts signed in the first quarter of this year on the platform-, indicates Vila Mariana, Tatuapé, Mooca, Pinheiros and Moema in the leadership of the most sought after neighborhoods by those looking for a property to buy.

Santana entered this year in the ranking, in the tenth position. The North Zone neighborhood began to stand out in the pandemic, doubling its number of real estate sales compared to the same period last year.

The owner needs to show the buyer that the property he has for sale might be the best choice. This goes through the choice of photos that will be in the real estate ad and the experience during a face-to-face visit.

Dirty rooms, burned-out light bulbs, inadequate furniture, and brightly colored walls have as negative an impact as broken windows and dripping faucets.

According to realtors, details like these are why many houses and apartments are not interested.

“The presentation of the property is very important. Most of the time the owner is selling the property he lives in. Receiving an interested person with the dishes in the sink, the bed unmade, generates a bad impression. In fact, there are already companies in Brazil specialized in decorating the house with the objective of selling”, says Cyro Naufel.

Interior designer Schaelly Campos specialized in this concept, called home stating, to face the 2015 crisis in the real estate market and, today, teaches on the subject.

She says that combining strategies that improve the appearance of the place and inspire affective memory, delight the potential buyer. “After all, buying a home is a Brazilian dream. He needs to get to the space and imagine himself living there”, says Campos.

The specialist says that, generally, all it takes is cleaning, painting and the removal of very personal objects to enhance the property’s rooms and close the sale.

“People tend to focus their attention on what is not in line with the rest of the environment. For example, even if the kitchen has beautiful, quality furniture and a floor in good condition, if the dishes are dirty, what do you think the customer will notice?”

Dining room is prepared still to go for sale

Property for sale received home staging service, with new wall painting and removal of personal items – Schaelly Campos

Kitchen gets revamped

Decorator leaves the environment more receptive for future buyers – Schaelly Campos

Improvements, however, must be objective. Guilherme Ribeiro, from Desenrola, says that it is not recommended to carry out a renovation to sell the property, unless the property is in a very bad state of conservation, to the point of alienating potential interested parties.

“In that case, most buyers won’t even want to bid, and if they do, it will be very low.”

But it’s no use making the house beautiful for photos if there are problems with paperwork.

To ensure that the sale will be completed in the shortest possible time, the owner must have the property and personnel documentation up to date.

Even before the disclosure of the property on real estate websites, overdue bills and certificates must be up to date.

CHECKLIST FOR THE SALE OF THE PROPERTY

✔ Property appraisal

• It is necessary to try to adjust the value of the property with the market
• Researching the sale value of similar properties in the region helps you establish an average price and negotiate
• The search can be done on the internet, on real estate websites, or with the janitor, building manager or neighbors.
• Newly acquired properties usually have a more assertive market price

✔ Documentation in order

Pendencies in personal or property documents can postpone and even prevent the sale. You need to keep up to date:

• Property registration
• Proof of payment of IPTU and other accounts
• Negative certificate of the interdiction and guardianship letter
• Floor plan of the property
• Personal documents, such as RG, CPF, updated birth (or marriage) certificate
• Too many files involving the sale​

✔ One-off renovations

• A broken faucet, a peeling wall or malfunctioning outlets may not impact daily life, but they draw a lot of negative attention from potential buyers.
• Leakage, mold, cracked or broken glass, floor problems, cracks in walls, rusted metal must be repaired before the property is put up for sale.

✔ Hire experts

• Having professional advice tends to speed up the sale and reduce setbacks
• Realtors can help with the ideal target audience and conversations with potential buyers
• Lawyers present throughout the negotiation, from the proposal to the registration of the property, lead to a smoother process
• Engineers identify changes made to the property that need to be regularized, if applicable, and issue a report on the structural condition of the property

✔ Advertising on the internet

• It is common to place the property in several real estate agencies. Make sure that all the properties are at the same price.
• Describe as many features of the property for sale
• Always follow the ad
• If you don’t show interest after a month, see if there’s anything in the ad that can be improved.

✔ Attention to detail

• At what time of day the incidence of sunlight is most present in the property
• Number of rooms, parking spaces
• Public transport and services in the region
• If it is an apartment, which floor is it located on
• Condominium infrastructure, such as concierge, leisure areas and security system

✔ Good photos in the ad

• Note the times of greatest sunlight in each room
• Sunlight ensures higher quality in the images and also shows how the ambient lighting of the house is.
• Take the photos with an interior photographer can be an advantage
• The ad must have many photos (30 or more) from different angles, in a logical order, and videos in each room
• There are websites that offer a virtual tour of the apartment.

✔ Decorate the house

• Prepare the property to receive buyers, either in person or online
• Windows must be left open and everything must be clean and clutter free.
• Remove decorative items that are too personal
• The use of neutral and light tones in the painting of the walls expands the environment.

• Creating strategic spaces, such as a reading corner and a cozy bedroom, can help the buyer feel at home.

• There are companies specializing in home staging, a consultancy that prepares the property for sale

✔ On the day of the buyer’s visit

• Let the customer move freely through the rooms and check cabinets, windows, doors, faucets and drains
• The experience of visiting the property is fundamental for the buyer’s choice
• Generally, the interested party makes more than one visit to the property before starting the negotiation
• According to experts, the second visit is even more important

Sources: Lopes, Crea-SP, Desenrola, Loft Analytics, Secovi-SP, Eleven Construtora, Haganá and Cosecurity