Condos in Victoria – Think Like a Buyer!

I can’t tell you how many times I go into listing appointments for condos in Victoria and meet sellers that are understandably quite biased about the value of their property. After all, their home is your pride and joy, and they usually had a very good and personal reason for buying it in the first place. They also renovated it to their exact preferences, and as a result, it is now the perfect place to them to call home.

There are many properties on the market today – well over 2,800 places – and many will not sell. Is it because they are unsaleable? Maybe a small portion are unsaleable, but the rest comes down to marketing and price. If your marketing is top notch (say, when you use The Condo Group Real Estate, reimagined as Island Realm Real Estate,), then it really comes down to price when a property is not selling.

As a seller, you need to think like a buyer!

In my opinion, the major reason us Realtors exist is to bridge the gap between the way a seller thinks and the way a buyer thinks. Agents in general exist to provide a go-between for two people that do not see eye to eye. That’s our job.

What I try to do with my clients is have them think like the other party. If you are selling condos in Victoria, then you need to start thinking like a buyer if you want your property sold.

Here’s a great example of how the two different parties generally think:

Seller says, “My condo is worth more than my neighbours unit because we put in a new vanity in the bathroom and redid the backsplash in the kitchen five years ago.”

Buyer says, “I don’t really care about the renovations since I am going to redo them anyway once I move in, and there’s a unit down the street that is $20,000 cheaper and I can customize it to my liking.”

Or another:

Seller says, “My condo is worth more than the condos down the street because we have radiant heat.”

Buyer says, “What the heck is radiant heating? Sounds like a lot of potential maintenance in the future and I could care less where my heating comes from.”

Of course, many times a seller will never even get the chance to argue the merits of their condo over others in the area. The potential buyer simply buys the other one and the seller never knows her condo wasn’t even an option. Buyers are comparison shoppers. Just because you value a certain aspect of your property doesn’t mean a buyer will, too. Sure, we would love to find a buyer with our exact tastes and preferences, but that is very unlikely. We don’t list properties to find the needle in the haystack; otherwise, nothing would ever sell. We list properties to try and appeal to the widest range of buyers, as the more buyers that are interested in your property, the higher price you will get. And the quicker you will sell.

So, when you’re selling condos in Victoria, think like a buyer. It will help make sure you get a price you’re happy with and sell your home quicker.

-The Condo Group Real Estate, reimagined as Island Realm Real Estate, Crew

Come meet your Condo Experts, and visit our modern new office, designed to enrich your buying and selling experience, located at 102-3645 Tillicum Road, Victoria, BC.

If you are going to be buying or selling a condo, now or in the future, get in touch with The Condo Group Real Estate Real Estate at 250-382-6636. In the meantime, search through thousands of listings in the Greater Victoria Area here.