Choosing An Agent with Your Eyes Wide Open
Over the past few years, the real estate market has primarily favoured the seller. If you were thinking about selling, you could easily find real estate agents who were willing to work with you for practically nothing to secure your listing and sell your home.
Agents could afford to risk this because they had a good chance of finding a buyer for your home relatively quickly. The cheapest didn’t have sales experience – it wasn’t necessary, as offers came in thick and fast, prices were climbing and even if the agent wasn’t a great negotiator, the seller was happy, often getting more than anticipated.
The market has changed, and you now need to be much more strategic as there are fewer buyers. Attracting them to your property and closing the sale is a skillset many agents are yet to learn. This new market is being embraced by experienced agents and is a bit scary for those who aren’t.
The best will shine and ensure your home’s market value and marketing are well supported and make sure you don’t ‘adjust your price’ too low. Now that prices of properties have changed, and the buyers value thermometer has dropped, you need an agent with strong negotiation and communication skills. To sell means you need to look for the very best and invest in your marketing strategy – now is not the time to be cheap. Be wary of bait, such as offers of ‘free marketing’; it could be all the agent has to offer.
Experience shouldn’t always be measured by years, but rather a balance of years and results. Ten years in the industry may only be one year repeated ten times, look for an agent who is getting better and better. Ask the tough questions, like – “who’s your coach, how often do you meet, what did your last three sales look like, when were they, what’s the marketing department support like, how many sales did the company make last week, last month, what’s the team culture like?”.
As a seller you are competing with many other properties. It takes a great agent, agency, advice, and marketing to make sure you start with a WOW factor.
Upgrading the advertising and exposure of your property lets the buyers know a couple of important things:
- That you are serious about meeting the market and selling.
- If your property has high exposure, buyers will be encouraged to act quickly because they understand other buyers will also see that your property stands out.
And tell your agent that:
- You want more than the ‘standard’ company offering. This reinforces to your agent that you want a strong a result.
- You trust them and know they will work hard to sell your home. A strong agent will take responsibility and step up to your expectations.
