When Mike Tyson was asked by a reporter whether he was worried about Evander Holyfield and his fight plan he answered; “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.”

I see this play out every day with respect to people buying and selling property. Some people think that buying and selling is easy … until they’re faced with a million dollar question and incomplete information with which to make a call.

Optimising property transactions is all about making the right calls. There will be multiple points in the journey where you will be faced with a difficult question … and the difference between the right and wrong call could be hundreds of thousands of dollars or even millions.

Eight Examples of a “Critical Call”:

1. You put an offer in on a property and the selling agent says if you lift your offer by 5% the vendor will accept. Is it worth paying a bit extra to avoid the risk of losing it or with patience can you secure the property at a lower price?
2. The best property you’ve found since you started searching 3 months ago is not that great. Do you need to accept this reality or is a more suitable property out there just not on the market at the moment and so if you are patient you will find a better option?
3. You have been hunting for property for 3 months without any luck and need to decide if you should expand the geographic search zone or stay focused on your preferred location. If you’re too patient the market may move upwards and further out of reach … but if you’re too eager you may be missing out on a better option around the corner.
4. You find a great knockdown block where you can build the home of your dreams. The building quotes come in much higher than expected and you need to decide if you think the end product will be worth as much as it will cost you all up? Should you rather sell out and buy something ready to move into? Or would that be a mistake?
5. Should you start hunting in the neighbouring suburb even though you’ve always known it to be more expensive? What if unbeknownst to you the neighbouring pocket is having a downswing at the moment and you blindly transact in an inferior location without ever realising?
6. You are selling at auction and the bidding stops well below reserve. Should you try capitalise on the early momentum by announcing the property is on the market to encourage more bidding or will that not work and end up committing you to sell at a lower price than you want?
7. You get an early offer for your place which is pretty good but not massive. In order to decide what to do you need to form a view on the likelihood you will lose this buyer if you don’t accept their offer, AND the likelihood someone else will pay more.
8. You get an early offer for your place which is pretty good but not massive. The buyer says if you don’t accept the offer they try buy it at the auction. Should you take the offer or go to auction and risk there being no other buyers to push them to the same level as the pre-auction offer?

I am faced with these judgement calls on a daily basis and my job is to use my experience and judgement to get them right.