By wes

There is a restaurant near me that I refuse to stand in line for.

Every Friday night there’s a queue out the door. Twenty people waiting. Phones in hand. Looking hungry and slightly annoyed. My brain immediately decides it must be incredible.

Then I drive past on a Tuesday. Empty. Same chefs. Same menu. Same food. Suddenly it doesn’t seem nearly as appealing.

It’s ridiculous really. The food didn’t change. The crowd did.

Property buyers are no different.

I have finally come up for air after a whirlwind week, a warehouse conversion in Forbes Street. Twenty-five groups through the first open home on Saturday. Another twelve through on Wednesday. By lunchtime we had nine active buyers writing offers. The property sold for $870,000.

The seller was thrilled.

What fascinates me though isn’t what happened during the campaign. It’s what happened before it.

This property had quietly been available off market for quite some time. It had been emailed to buyers’ agents and matched to buyers looking in exactly that price range. There was very little interest. It had a tenant in place, the rooms were full of furniture and it simply wasn’t easy for buyers to see its potential.

Someone with a bit of vision could have bought it for significantly less than where it eventually sold.

Then came the paint. The styling. The professional photography. The competition.

Suddenly everyone wanted it.

Did the property become better? A little.

Did people’s perception of it change completely? Absolutely.

Preparing a property for sale matters. Styling works because it helps buyers see what could be instead of what is. It removes distractions and lets them imagine themselves living there.

But there’s another lesson here.

Some of the best opportunities never make it online.

The buyers who can look past faded paint, crowded rooms or dated furniture often buy before the crowds arrive. Before the open homes. Before the emotional bidding starts.

As agents, we always want the best possible outcome for our sellers. Competitive campaigns create exactly that.

As buyers though, there is a different lesson.

Sometimes the best value isn’t the property everyone is fighting over. It’s the one that requires a little imagination before everyone else notices it.

We are social creatures. We take comfort in seeing other people like something before we decide we like it too.