The PROPERTY DOCTORS, Sydney Australia Novak Properties

EP. 1384 BUY FIRST OR SELL FIRST? THE RISK-AVERSE WAY TO MOVE HOMES SMOOTHLY!

• Mark Novak, Billy Drury • Season 29 • Episode 1384

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Selling your home and buying another simultaneously ranks among life's most stressful transitions. This emotional tightrope has most property owners asking the same question: "Do I sell first or buy first?" Drawing from decades of real estate experience and personal moving journeys, we unpack this common dilemma with practical, actionable advice.

The secret isn't in choosing one path over another, but in what we call the "two horses nose-to-nose" approach. Rather than viewing buying and selling as separate mountains to climb, successful movers make incremental progress on both fronts simultaneously. We break down how to time these transactions so they ultimately meet in perfect synchronicity, allowing you to exchange contracts on both properties on the same day.

With 8% of Australians planning a move this year (up from just 3% last year), this conversation couldn't be more relevant. We explore the psychology of getting into "sell mode" early, the practical steps for preparing your home months before listing, and why making genuine offers on potential purchases starts bringing both transactions together naturally. Did you know one in four property purchases last year were cash buys? For the rest of us requiring financing, we share tips on engaging brokers early and understanding your true financial position.

Whether you're upsizing, downsizing, or simply changing locations, our stepping-stone approach removes the paralysis that keeps many homeowners stuck. The most important takeaway? Small steps in the right direction beat perfect planning every time. Start your property journey with confidence by implementing these proven strategies from those who've successfully navigated this dance countless times.

Speaker 1:

One of the most commonly asked probably the most commonly asked, the most emotional question genuine question that a seller asks us is how am I going to do the sell and the buy? Do I buy first? Do I sell first? We've got some great advice. We're going to tell you what we tell sellers. A very uprooting question, a very uprooting moment for people selling and buying at the same time.

Speaker 2:

It's going on in my household. That's how real it is.

Speaker 1:

Oh no. And how are you? Well, everyone's looking to you. You're the realtor.

Speaker 2:

I know I'm going to actually do a bit of an episode. You can follow along for the journey. We're going to do an episode thing on this. That's pretty cool. Yeah, that's right. I mean, it's never in a million years would I have thought six years out of school I'd be appointed to sell the family home. That's pretty crazy. But yeah, these are the questions that are being asked and, to be fair, as you said in the intro, we get it all day, every day, from sellers. Do I sell first? Do I buy first? What's the pros and cons? Is there a sort of a risk-averse way of doing it?

Speaker 1:

That's what we're going to unpack this morning. It's not like or fate. You know, there is seriously strategy and seriously um calculation.

Speaker 2:

That goes into it, hey yeah, I'll give you a fact eight percent of australians are planning a move within the next 12 months, and that's up from 3% the year before. I reckon this is on the tip of everyone's tongue and it's certainly in a lot of people's mind their planning head.

Speaker 1:

So how it goes is I was with an old couple on Saturday, a couple in their mid-70s. Oh no, he was a Chinese fella, he was not, he just looked young. He was not in his 90s, she was in their 80s. They're in the forest area looking at an apartment and through us and they just like how do we do this? How do we do this like, do we, you know when do we sell? How do we sell? When do we buy? And we're do we, you know when do we sell, how do we sell, when do we buy? And we're timing the whole thing and it's, you know, it's such an emotional question Like you know people like this are, you know, in their house for 30 years. You know the emotion, the calculations, everything they've got to do. Would you sell first, billy or buy first?

Speaker 2:

I would. I think I'd buy first, knowing in a market like sydney there's relative stability in prices, um, you know roughly what you're gonna get and as long as you can make that move financially, I think that's probably the biggest um hurdle people have got have got. So one in four properties purchased last year across the big states, including new south wales, was actually were actually cash purchases, meaning finance was not a problem for these buyers.

Speaker 1:

One in four wow, I, I did it, uh, three, four years ago and and I always give this advice to people to people because people think it's literally like a roller coaster ride to sell and it's like a roller coaster ride to buy. The way I have always, I always recommend it and the way I've always done. It is like and I've never said this before but it's like leading two horses together, nose to nose. You know, it doesn't just happen like what you know. You see, good, you sort of got to pull that little horse a little bit and then you got to pull that horse a little bit, and then you got to pull that horse a little bit and then you gonna pull that horse a little bit. Eventually they go nose to nose.

Speaker 1:

So, for example, with selling, we went out, found a place and that side of the process was was pretty much looking good, you know, contracts checked, finance being organized in the back end, stuff like that and then we sort of put our property on pre-market, which was a really nice segue, and there was a lot of blows along the way, you know, with selling. So there was like, oh my, it's like seeing the signboard go in front of my house killed me. Uh, believe it or not, we used another real estate agent. But seeing the board I was like, oh my god, that for some reason it's your family home, you know. So it really really taxed me.

Speaker 1:

Then we went through pre-market, then we went through getting it on the portals, then we went through auction, then we went to passing in at auction and without realizing we're actually getting closer to a sale. You know it wasn't all't offer acceptance or the right offer, but the journey was actually the horse was actually moving closer to the other horse, nose to nose, till the point where we had an offer that we weren't happy with, that we're going to accept. And to the point of, okay, now we know what we're buying, now we know what we're selling for. And then we've got the horses to kiss, we exchange contracts.

Speaker 2:

Whatever you call it, but it happens simultaneously.

Speaker 1:

It happens simultaneously. The buy and the sell was done on one day.

Speaker 2:

Yep, I was going to come back to that. You know, because it can't be so extreme where you just do buying or selling. It kind of does happen together, um. But I like to use a stepping stone analogy. It's like you don't take one foot off your stepping stone at home where you've been really happy and you're really comfortable, until you've got half a foot in the next camp, which is often something exciting, it's something you feel good about and that's your purchase, and it does happen generally together. It's not as extreme as cutting ties with all of the family home and then not knowing where you're gonna go. Quite often it happens together. So yeah, that would be the way most people sort of try to navigate that. What's probably the biggest hurdle, what's three biggest hurdles for buying?

Speaker 1:

Funding Finding the right place.

Speaker 2:

Access to stock yep agreed.

Speaker 1:

And offer accepted ready to sign the contract. Which means offer accepted like checking the contract, negotiating stuff, like that I would have thought you yeah, spot on Same thing and selling.

Speaker 2:

When it comes to selling, I mean there's a little preparation work, um, just getting into a bit of a sell mindset.

Speaker 1:

But pre-market is a great way to do that yeah, I call it sell mode getting your home into sell mode yeah, it's the small.

Speaker 2:

It's the small like adjustments with. You know, a lot of people wait until they've sold and are ready to move to start kind of tidying up a little bit and organizing and packing in some cases, like if you're, if you're making that move whether it be in three months, six months, 12 months start it'll get you into sell mode and you'll thank yourself later for it anyway, because you won't need to do as much work.

Speaker 1:

I think that's a yeah and and I don't even mind um spending money on you like. Sometimes people go I'm not going to spend money on this joint because I'm selling fine, but I don't mind spending money on furniture. So you may see that outdoor furniture that you like, or the barbecue that you like or the couch you like, it's going to make your sale better, it's going to make your room friendlier. So if there's anything that you can buy to take into the next house, not a bad idea in that year approaching, yeah, months approaching and so, like I'd say same thing, just just spend um sensibly with preparing your home for market as well.

Speaker 2:

Um, I see agents quoting out in the marketplace marketing campaigns to the value of about 1% of the property value. So I'll give you an example Upstairs, one bedroom apartment from our office, there was a local agent quoting $8,000 or $9,000. Seems like a lot, a lot of money, but why not have a similar mindset with just preparing your home with a bit of paint, fresh carpet, give it that bit of love and if you start a bit earlier you get to enjoy it a little bit.

Speaker 1:

So sad people get their house perfect on the day they're going to go on the market to sell. It's like, do it a year or two before so you can enjoy the stuff even more you know, so you can enjoy the rooms. What would you say on that? I spoke about, about the buying things, what we say would be the top things for selling that you'd be doing, as in, what are the top processes to get you know, to get, get it done finding a real estate agent, agent selling, yeah, yeah, yeah, a election like.

Speaker 2:

The best way you can do that, I truly believe, is actually get out to some open homes and kill two birds with one stone Go and have a look at some properties, see what you like, see what you don't like, and also talk to an agent as if you're the buyer and interview them that way. So agent selection is a big one. Probably finances again, just making sure everything's ready for a transaction.

Speaker 2:

Um, but I think it's easier to get selling, then go and buy, just bringing these two together like the horse analogy or like the stepping stone analogy. That's it. It's not.

Speaker 1:

It's not as scary as it sounds I think the big one I could give, give everyone today as advice would be Zach, can I engage a broker? Boom. I think the big one that I would say would be is just three, four throws, because people abstain, abstain, abstain, abstain to buy, abstain to sell. Don't be shy about making an offer, a real offer on a real property, through a real offer, just putting an offer in, and don't be shy about getting a buyer through your property. And I think that sort of starts to you know, without realising, that sort of starts to bring it all together and starts to mesh. So I think, if the intention really is to go on to you know, to do the buy and the sell, just put some steps in that direction rather than no steps in that direction, which most people, that's what they do. They put no steps, they go. I don't know why this doesn't happen. For me, a false start's okay that's it.

Speaker 2:

There's no more to it. That's the secret herbs and spices that's the secret herbs and spices.

Speaker 1:

Believe it or not, we're very transactional. Lots of years leave um years of real estate between us, and that's what we see people out there do. So hopefully this helps. Yeah, absolutely, the small steps all in the right direction us and that's what we see people out there too, so hopefully this helps.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, absolutely, the small steps all in the right direction thank you, bill, and happy birthday as well, for today.

Speaker 1:

All right, see you. Thank you so much. I'm the ringleader, so make it up.