Is your property pitch missing the mark? Make the most of your sales price by scoping out your buyers using these techniques.

Understanding your market can lead to an increase in your selling price. Potential buyers want to see a lifestyle reflected in a potential home which they connect to, and the right connection can get them emotionally hooked.

Common problems

Have you encountered any of these problems?

• Not many buyers enquiring or coming through for inspections.
• Potential buyers not seeing the value in the property.
• Sale price is significantly lower than expected.

You could be selling a great property aimed at the wrong market.

Whether you’re selling your home or renovating for profit, understanding your buyers will help you tailor your pitch to attract the right audience and could help maximise the sale price of the property.

The basic principles of staging to your market

There are a few basic principles you need to start with, from the location and its demographics, to your property and its major features.

Location, location … location

Your suburb will offer a few clues as to the kind of people who would be attracted to the area. A beachside suburb will attract a different kind of buyer compared with a suburb close to bushland, for example.

Emphasising this feature could be a key drawcard.

While location will hook many buyers in, it’s the nearby amenities that will play a big role as to whether buyers decide to take a closer look.

Proximity to shopping centres, transport, schools, universities and medical facilities will attract and repel different people. Buyers without a car will appreciate a shopping centre and access to transport within walking distance, whereas others may find the location too busy.

Young families may be after a property near parks and schools, whereas an older couple may appreciate quieter areas, for example.

Read more: Get an insight into suburbs around Australia with our suburb profiles 

Community-minded

The existing demographics of the neighbourhood will also give you an idea of who is likely to be attracted to the area. Who currently lives in the community? Retirees, couples (DINKs – double income no kids), singles, students, migrants?

Looking at the main population may also give you an indication of the kind of support local councils give, such as school holiday activities or youth drop-in centres in an area with a lot of families with school-aged children, or excursions for seniors in an area with an ageing population.

Also be aware of any trends. If the suburb has plenty of elderly residents, for example, it may be attractive to young families looking for a property in an established neighbourhood as the older generation move on. Gentrification of industrial areas is also common with investors and share house tenants willing to be the pioneers of warehouse conversions.

Read more: Know your suburb when selling your house

The property on offer

Lastly, the features of the property itself will be the last filter buyers use to figure out whether it’s worth attending an inspection. A garage or off-street parking could be a magnet for car owners but a turn-off for others. Big backyard? A great place for kids to play or a hassle to maintain.

Find out the wants and needs of most of the buyers looking in your marketplace and what expectations they have for similar or comparable properties. Also get an idea of what they are willing to spend in the area by looking at recent sales.

If you renovate for profit, it’s worth understanding likely buyers before you make key decisions about what to upgrade and invest in. It’s easy to over-capitalise if you don’t know your market; for example, fittings and fixtures are not of prime importance in lower socio-economic areas.

Once you’ve identified likely buyers, use this information to market your property. Don’t be too specific; try to include as many suitable buyers for that area as possible by making sure your home and staging appeals to the majority of the marketplace. If you can attract suitable buyers for a number of different reasons without polarising anyone, you’re well on your way to presenting your property in the best possible way.

Research tips

1. Use real estate & homes websites
   Websites such as realestate.com.au and Pinterest to find inspiration. Look at properties in the sold property section or to look at comparable properties and see how they’re marketing themselves and what price they’re being offered for.
2. Talk to local real estate agents
   Real estate agents know how to sell a property. It’s their job. They know what to highlight in a property for a certain neighbourhood and they can give you information on what’s been selling in the area and to what kind of buyer.
3. Visit open homes
   Going to OFIs in your area will allow you to experience a ‘pitch’ for yourself. Also look at the buyers that are attending the open homes and listen to what they’re saying about them.

Read more: How to tell if a suburb is right for you

This article was originally published on
21 Jul 2014 at 7:00am
but has been regularly updated to keep the information current.

Rising housing prices made for great stories about sharing ownership with friends and family, but as prices have collapsed, in some cases wiping out the equity entirely, fingers are being pointed.

The pointing is coming from lenders and it’s aimed at anyone on the title and named on the mortgage who has assets — or a job — in Canada.

“The banks will go after whoever they will get money from,” said Douglas Hoyes, a licensed insolvency trustee and co-founder of Hoyes, Michalos & Associates Inc.

A recent case is a good example, he said. Three brothers and their father bought a property near the top of the housing market in 2021.

With the average home in Canada down 16 per cent since the February 2022 peak, according to the Canadian Real Estate Association , their property is now $175,000 underwater and has been put into a power of sale, which allows lenders to sell the home when a mortgage is in arrears .

One son lost his job in 2024 and moved back home abroad. Another, who orchestrated the deal, has moved to the United States. The father is retired and living in Mexico on his Canada Pension Plan and Old Age Security payments.

But the third son, still in Toronto, who had only contributed financially to the investment, is now facing a bank that will pursue him aggressively for the loss because he is the only one in the country with assets and a job.

“I can tell you 50 stories that are virtually identical to this one,” said Hoyes. “The key factor in all of these is buying near the peak with minimal down payment.”

Mortgage default insurance is not going to protect you, if you have it. The insurance, often through Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. , is required if you have less than a 20 per cent down payment and are borrowing from a regulated financial institution, but is designed to protect the bank. The CMHC will still come after you to recoup its loss, sometimes years later.

“I remember a case where it took 10 years for CMHC to go after the guy,” said Hoyes.

Not everybody is turning away from shared ownership plans . Lower prices may even provide a better entry point to the marke t, and co-ownership strategies make more people able to qualify for mortgages.

Noam Dolgin, a British Columbia realtor who co-founded Collaborative Home Ownership BC, said deals are still happening and buyers can include provisions in a transaction that can partially address a fall in real estate prices .

“The vast majority of our deals are mimicking strata life (also known as a condo corporation),” said Dolgin, “You get your own suite, you get your own property but it’s not separately titled.”

Your deal may look structured like a condo but it’s not legally the same thing and you are liable for everyone else’s debt on the property.

In some cases, his company has brought strangers together, but mostly Dolgin’s group will combine family or friends. The math can work, he said.

“We look for properties that might be 30 per cent to 40 per cent cheaper,” he said, adding that half duplexes can start at $1.4 million in Vancouver but a house with the same square footage and two suites an be bought for $2 million.

Most of the properties are held as tenancy-in-common where the parties own a specific percentage of the property. On death, owners’ interest becomes part of their estate and passes under their will.

Even the mortgages can be set up to show payments from each party based on their percentage of ownership and debt owed but at the end of the day anyone on title has to “officially” be on the mortgage and then liable, said Dolgin.

“The co-ownership agreement can deal with delinquency, like if someone stops paying,” said Dolgin. “They can be forced to sell off their share to a third party. One advantage of this is you don’t have to all have the same percentage down and the same mortgage.”

On a $2 million house, two 50/50 partners could have different debt and equity structures. One person could owe $500,000 and the other $900,000 based on different down payments. The caveat: everyone is responsible for the entire mortgage.

“Banks will come after everybody and the property as a whole,” which is why Dolgin said it is key to have a system to make sure it doesn’t get to that point. Agreements can require people to have life and disability insurance to address worst-case situations.

“We see more problems in co-ownership when people don’t do the due diligence and have no agreement and just buy together. That’s when they end up in court and fight over balances,” said Dolgin.

The cleanest way to buy a property would probably be in a corporation but you would lose out on the tax exemption for any gains on principal residence and banks are reluctant to lend to a company with limited liability unless there are personal guarantees placed on the loan.

Toronto real estate lawyer Bob Aaron has seen parents and even grandparents on a mortgage and said they will ultimately be on the hook and there is no way to avoid that liability.

“I once talked to my accountant and he said you know the definition of a guarantor or someone who co-signs: a schmuck (fool) with a pen,” said Aaron, adding parents often put their kids on title for 99 per cent to avoid potential capital gains on a house. “The bank requires that one per cent and you have to be aware if it goes south your are on the hook.”

Jennifer Hughes, a certified financial planner at Modern Cents, which doesn’t sell products or give specific investment recommendations, said shared ownership is happening and she knows a planner who went in on a property with four other people. She sometimes sees seniors pooling together.

“I think you have to go into it with open eyes,” she said, adding that includes managing expectations about how much money will be spent on the property. “The key is, the exit plan is as important as the entry plan.”

Co-ownership should be done through a lawyer with experience in the area, Hughes said, adding the process is “often an eye-opening experience” for uncovering potential friction points. Going a step further with a family facilitator can also bring up family dynamics that haven’t been addressed before.

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She said even when prices are rising, shared ownership can go awry when lives change and someone wants to move or sell. “Having an exit strategy is really important,” said, adding estate implications have to be addressed.

Today, it’s all about liability. Hoyes said he understands why no one worried about signing on the dotted line because for two decades all house prices did was go up, with few exceptions.

“What crashed everybody is they assumed real estate could go up forever,” he said. “If you are the last person in a game of musical chairs, you lose. Those people who bought at the peak are getting the chairs pulled out from under them now.”

• Email: gmarr@postmedia.com

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A five-storey Melbourne CBD building earning almost $8000 a week is up for grabs for the same price as a suburban mansion.

The 410 Lonsdale St freehold, in Melbourne’s legal precinct, has a $7m guide, five tenants and more than $413,000 in annual passing income.

The property last changed hands in June 2023 for $6.854m, at a reported net passing yield of 2.8 per cent.

The latest guide puts the entire city building in the same price conversation as a prestige family home in some of Melbourne’s most expensive suburbs.
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But instead of a luxury residence, buyers would get about 978sq m of office and retail space across five levels on a 208sq m site, with frontages to Lonsdale St and Finlay Alley.

The building is moments from Melbourne Central Station, Town Hall Station, Bourke St Mall, Hardware Lane and the city’s court precinct.

Colliers investment services manager Christian Hatzis said the holding income, flexible floorplates and CBD location would appeal to a broad buyer pool.

“With strong holding income, flexible floorplates and genuine upside, this is an opportunity that will appeal to private investors, syndicators and long-term holders seeking exposure to a premium CBD location with proven demand,” Mr Hatzis said.

Colliers is pitching the property as one of only a handful of Melbourne CBD freeholds expected to be offered to the market in 2026.

The building, once known as ASEA House, survived a major 1934 fire before becoming part of Melbourne’s post-war industrial story. Picture: supplied

The asset is being marketed with potential upside through leasing, repositioning or a strata selldown.

Colliers investment services director Alex Browne said agents were seeing renewed confidence in well-located CBD assets with strong fundamentals and repositioning potential.

“The legal precinct remains one of the city’s most tightly held markets, with low vacancy, strong tenant demand and ongoing infrastructure investment supporting long-term value,” Mr Browne said.

But the building’s backstory gives it another layer beyond the financials.

The interwar survivor was built in 1923 for hardware merchant J S Kidd, which commissioned prominent Melbourne architects H W & F B Tompkins to design a five-storey warehouse on the site.

The 410 Lonsdale St freehold is being pitched with five tenants, five levels and a $7m guide in Melbourne’s legal precinct. Picture: Colliers

The firm was also behind major Myer buildings on Bourke and Lonsdale streets, giving the Lonsdale St freehold a link to one of Melbourne’s best-known retail dynasties.

The building’s early life took a dramatic turn in October 1934, when a major fire tore through the warehouse and caused an estimated £20,000 damage.

J S Kidd relocated to Carlton the following year, before the Lonsdale St building was sold to Richard R Thomas, chairman of electrical engineering and machinery merchant R & C Thomas.

The company held the sole Australian distribution rights for Swedish electrical company ASEA, and by 1938 the property had been renamed ASEA House.

The five-storey building later became a hub for heavy electrical equipment, including transformers and three-phase motors supplied to government and municipal customers.

The Melbourne CBD building has survived fire, changing tenants and more than a century of city transformation. Picture: Colliers

Its post-war life was captured by industrial photographer Wolfgang Sievers, whose 1958 Lonsdale St image showed the facade bearing the ASEA House signage.

The building is now protected under Melbourne’s Heritage Overlay, with its five-storey scale, upper facade, steel-framed windows, projecting pilasters, parapet and heavy dentilled cornice among the key heritage elements.

The property is being offered for sale via expressions of interest through Colliers agents Christian Hatzis, Alex Browne and Matt Stagg, closing June 18.

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david.bonaddio@news.com.au

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