How to choose an agent…
For those considering selling this year I’m going to run you through 5 key things to look out for when picking an agent.
- Be wary of the busy high-volume agent
The busiest agent in a suburb usually isn’t the agent delivering the best sales results for their clients – an agent with many listings at one time will find it difficult to give your sale the focus it deserves. This also leads to the agent selling their listings in competition with each other.
Read more here - Be wary of the agent who “has a buyer ready to go” for your property
With the volumes of buyers in the market today, all agents can say “I have buyers ready to go”. Unfortunately, these statements can be misleading as the buyer has not yet seen the property to decide if they actually want it. High-level property marketing will always generate interest and competition, and ultimately the best result. That “ready to go buyer” will always see the property online if it fits their criteria.
Read more here - Be wary of the commission-cutting agent
If an agent is quick to discount their own fee, how do you think they will fare when negotiating buyers to the highest price before bringing you an offer? The cheapest agent is usually the most costly – if the fee cutting-agent achieves a price $10k to $20K lower than the 2% agent, you can lose out on $10k to $15k.
Read more here - Be wary of cheap marketing
If you want the best price, an appropriate investment in marketing can’t be overlooked. All agents use a small selection of the same companies for marketing and who all charge similar rates. Therefore, the cheaper marketing usually only means you aren’t getting the amount of marketing needed for your property.
Read more here - Be wary of ‘promises’
Some agents will be quick to ‘promise’ they can get a certain price for your property. Winning the listing is their game and the work stops there. It is not the promise of a high price that will lead to the best result. The best results will always come from high level process, high level marketing and old-fashioned hard work.
Read more here - What is a “Suburb Specialist” and do you need one?
This “specialist” may try to assert that you should work with them because they know the local buyers, have a big local database, and they know the local market better which will lead to a better result. This is an outdated concept. If an agent is truly an expert at what they do, selling in other suburbs is not a difficult transition.
Read more here
Hopefully these tips can help you this year. Please access our free download below with some questions to ask when you are interviewing Melville real estate agents to help you choose the right agent for you.
