FOLLOW THE PATH TO A SUCCESSFUL SALE
33 MARKET ROAD, REMUERA
The Koerber’s marketing manager Trudy Jakeman sat down with Nila & Steve to ask them how it felt to have sold their own home at 33 Market Road Remuera last quarter:
What was your greatest fear before your home hit the open market? Nila: I was really worried that what we thought was beautiful wouldn’t be appreciated by anyone else. It was an amazing moment when the first person called and said they loved what we had created with our architect Megan Edwards. He was an American Executive who had just moved to NZ for work. He said he never thought he would find a home like this in NZ, and likened it to a Los Angeles Hills home. He was very excited and wanted to see it immediately.
Steve: For me it was the likely sale price. I was concerned that potential buyers wouldn’t see the intrinsic value that we saw in our home. I thought people might not “click with it” quite as much as we did.
Why did you list with Steve & Nila Koerber, and not another agent? Nila: I love the care Steve takes in writing advertising copy, selecting the right angles for photographs, and his input into the production of the cinematic videos that we have been doing lately. Also, I really believe nobody knows the Remuera market as well as Steve does. As it turned out, many lessons were learned selling our own home, but it really hit home to me how much trust is placed in the agent you choose to represent you. I now feel an even greater sense of responsibility to our sellers.
Steve: In real estate circles, being the listing agent for your own home is often frowned-upon. The argument is that potential buyers might not feel comfortable to voice their objections, nor willing to ask the more important questions. We prepared ourselves for this by providing answers to virtually every question imaginable up front, by allowing customers to inspect our home with any agent of their choosing, and by remaining open to accept everyone’s price opinion if they had one, at any level whatsoever.
Some agents say your first offer is your best offer. What was your experience?
Nila: It’s not always the case. I have great faith in a skillfully run auction campaign with intelligent marketing that’s designed to reach all corners of the globe. People will pay more than they ever imagined paying when they have social proof that someone else loves the home as much as they do.
Steve: Remuera’s median price was technically falling throughout the last quarter, so we were thrilled to receive a pre-auction offer during the first week. It was a bit low so we didn’t accept it, but it gave us the confidence we needed to realise that someone would actually buy our home.
What was your greatest learning from being vendors?
Nila: I always knew it, but the experience has highlighted the importance of treating every seller and every buyer with extreme care and kindness. The other thing I realised is the importance of our support squad. Steve, myself and our clients are kept safe and informed by Trudy who specialises in all things marketing, Dominic who manages every sale program, and Matt who assists at open homes and creates fun social media stories and reels.
Steve: I am convinced that the sale of our own home signalled a major turning point in our real estate careers. For too many years, sellers of medium and high-end Remuera homes haven’t seen what can be achieved with our next-level marketing and our work ethic. The efficacy of our work, highlighted by the sale of our own home via a 10 bidder auction, is finally out there for all to see.