Most often, the owner wants to try the most conventional and immediate approach: listing on the internet or in a newspaper. This way, not only will the owner not have to pay a real estate agent, but they can also add this substantial sum to their sale price, the buyer"effectively saving on agency fees".Certainly, this sometimes works, but more often than not, it takes a lot of time because no owner can personally conduct a proper marketing campaign for their property on the right platforms without it costing them considerable time, money and energy, and the venture often becomes a source of stress only to prove ultimately less profitable than the traditional route through a real estate agent. Indeed, an owner can never have access to as vast a pool of potential buyers as an agency well-connected in a local network, they can never create competition between buyers and will always struggle to be credible when facing a naturally suspicious buyer, and especially their negotiation will be much more delicate. But although exhausted and often disappointed with the result, they will emerge from this adventure proud of having sold their property alone!!!
Another method is free auction sales. The seller advertises on several platforms for the sale of their apartment to the highest bidder, with a reserve price they set at the start. Practiced from time to time in Israel when sellers cannot sell after a certain period, it most often allows, if not to sell, at least to realize the market reality. Because most often, the result is very disappointing. Israelis generally tend to think that the indicated base price is still subject to negotiation. The seller, having failed to create a proper advertising campaign worthy of the name, then finds themselves with two or three ridiculous offers, none of which are acceptable. And in cases where they reach their reserve price, the offer comes with an absurd payment timeline (payment of part over 10 years!!).
A third method is Dutch auction. While it is sometimes practiced in France, we have not yet seen it practiced in Israel because there is not really a French-style notary in real estate transactions. Indeed, in France, certain firms regularly use this reverse auction technique as it is known in the flower market, with a fixed starting price and a price reduction every 30 seconds for 20 minutes, with the highest offer obviously being the one selected. This technique generally allows selling the property at market price quickly, with the various bidders having obviously had time to visit the property beforehand, and having all already been registered with the notary by providing all financing documentation and all guarantees. Therefore impractical in Israel, but amusing to follow in France on the site www.kadran.com, both in Paris and in the provinces.
Life annuity sales do not yet exist in Israel, nor does rent-to-own, which is surprising.
Lottery sales are just as illegal in Israel as in France, unlike what was widely seen in the United States in 2008-2009 or in Spain, and surprisingly, this has not even been attempted here. The workaround that had been found a few years ago in France, with the designation "contest game" had encouraged a number of sellers to sell tickets to win their house in a completely legal manner, 'the winner being designated by the sagacity of their answers'. Indeed, while French law punishes imprisonment for raffles for real estate, it is possible to integrate questions into this "game" and provide for a possibility of reimbursement to be able to legalize it. But in this case, the question of the advertising campaign becomes even more delicate, because for the seller to be a winner, they must sell a significant number of tickets, which is not so simple. Thus we remember the case of this house for sale in Ardennes in 2014, where ultimately the sellers had preferred to give up at the last moment, choosing to reimburse the tickets and thus losing all the costs already incurred (notary, advertising, tickets...) because they had only managed to sell 5,000 tickets when they needed 150,000 to reach the estimated price!! Similarly, for the past few weeks, a major advertising campaign has flooded the internet with lottery tickets for sale at $49 for a dream villa in Mykonos (Greek islands), the two questions being the name of the country and the name of the sea where Mykonos is located. Curiously, the winner's drawing date was February 28th and since then, an error message appears on the seller's Facebook page. Another example, this billionaire's "amusement" offering a raffle in England where for 10 pounds sterling, you can win a house worth 3,000,000 pounds sterling with a Rolls Royce, a 50,000 pound bonus, and the presence for one year of a gardener and a housekeeper if you live in Great Britain. But for now at least, there has not yet been an attempt in Israel.
It would therefore seem that the most reliable method for selling real estate in Israel remains the most conventional: using a reputable real estate agent, taking care to respect a certain number of universal rules:
Choose the right time to put your property on the market. For example, an apartment with a garden or terrace will sell better in good weather than in the rain!
Prepare your apartment before putting it on the market: without needing to launch into true home staging as in France, a simple exercise in common sense will be effective. A nice coat of paint, door repairs, some real organizing, simple depersonalization with removal of souvenir knick-knacks or large framed family photos, so that the visitor can feel at home from their first visit.
Think carefully about the asking price: it's better to put an attractive price on the market and create competition between buyers rather than having to revise your price and morale downward every two weeks.
Establish with your agent a real sales strategy with communication plan and property enhancement, being true partners in this enterprise of selling your property.
Before rushing to write a classified ad, it's therefore better to take a few minutes, even a few days of reflection, ask some questions to real professionals (real estate agents, experts, architects, lawyers, banks..) and verify that you really want to sell at a realistic price, gather all documents related to your apartment (land registry, building permit, ....) and only then decide on your sales strategy.
Sources: Kadran.immo, The Marker, Yad2, Calcalist, millionairemansion.co.uk, dreamvillamykonos.com, facebook, and regular daily practice!
