The Market Rewards Legibility

A buyer who cannot read a property will either walk away or offer less to cover the uncertainty, so sellers who make their house easy to understand tend to get offers closer to their price.

Think about what a buyer cannot see in the photos. Are the levies what the listing says, and is a special levy coming? Do the approved plans match the extra room at the back? Is the electrical compliance certificate ready, or will the electrician turn up a list of faults the week before transfer? What do the rates on the municipal account come to? Every unanswered question becomes a small discount in the buyer's head, and the conveyancer and the bank will bring most of those questions up anyway, only later and at a worse moment.

A seller who gathers the answers early makes the house legible. The levy statement, the latest body corporate minutes, the plans, a recent rates account and an honest note of known defects can all sit in one file before the first viewing. None of it makes the house bigger or the garden greener. It simply clears the fog, and buyers will pay more for a house they can see clearly than for one that leaves them guessing.