I am forever grateful I grew up with my father teaching me the art of buying and selling from a young age!

During primary school, our day would start with an hour’s bus trip to the nearest country town school, but before that, we would start the day by hand-feeding calves, lambs, and piglets. From a young age, this job and mucking out pens were part of our daily routine. At the end of the season, we learnt to take them to the market, selling them for the best price we could achieve, and then Dad would settle up the difference between what he would have paid for the feed, agistment and transport in advance and what we achieved at the market. We then had to pay 50% of what we earned in our savings account, and the other 50% was divided into our weekly pocket money for the next season.

Effectively, Dad taught us money buckets before that was a thing!

So many lessons were learnt during those days about money management, responsibilities, and reaping the rewards from manual labour! I learned what I liked and definitely what I didn’t about this.

In my late teens, I purchased my first property, set up structurally to my disadvantage! But at the same time, my goal was simple at that stage: to stop paying out dead money in rent.

From the day I committed to that purchase, I knew our relationship would be long-term to reap the real reward of the property, achieving the outcome I was aiming for. I knew the cost of buying and selling property was something I wanted to avoid as much as possible.
My family’s ethos is to buy well and quality to avoid buying again. It didn’t matter whether we were buying singlets, undies or housing it was all the same! Buy the best quality we can afford; it will go far and deliver what we need most. It wasn’t long before that ethos was applied to our growing property portfolio to maximise results!

Over the last 20 years plus of coaching individuals and people in business, I have adapted that earlier ethos, to buy well and strategically sell only when there is a real benefit to doing so. This brings me to today’s topic of discussion.

To buy well and sell well strategically!

Over the last few years, it has been a gameplay to sell for some of my clients, either to pay down personal debt or to upgrade a property.
However, I have noticed that many people do not practice the art of selling well. What I mean by this is they do not get the result they deserve from selling as they implement strategies that do not serve them well.

One of the biggest mistakes people make is using a sales agent based on the idea that they are personal or family friends. I find this difficult to digest because so much information is available to get the best outcome. However, they are ignorant of this when there is personal persuasion.
One of the most important things to do is your due diligence on who will most likely give you the best result. Due diligence is needed not just when purchasing but also when selling.
Follow this simple process below to ensure you get the best result.
1. Let your fingers walk and Google agents’ fees and commissions versus sales rankings in different areas.
2. Interview and ask for an appraisal from the top three agents in your area.
3. Mystery shop their process by inquiring about a property they already have listed.
4. This needs to be treated as a business decision, not a personal decision; move forward with the agent that will most likely get you the best result, not the one that appeals to others for personal reasons. If you feel emotionally responsible for someone, you will never feel comfortable making business choices and setting expectations to achieve the best result.