How to choose a real estate agent to sell your home
15 OCTOBER – MARKET COMMENTARY, REAL ESTATE, SELLING TIPS
When it comes to selecting a real estate agent, it is absolutely critical that you make a good decision.
An average salesperson can usually do enough to get your home sold, but a great one can add 5-10% (or more) to the potential value of your property.
If your home is worth $600k, that could put an extra $60k+ in your back pocket. That is $60k tax-free (if it’s your own home). To make that much money working in your normal day job you would probably need to earn an $80k full-time salary for a whole year!
That’s 1,920 hours of work.
Alternatively, choosing the right agent might be as simple as reading this article and knowing what to look for.
Understanding the difference
An average agent will take a reactive approach to selling your home. They will put a sign up outside, take some photos, chuck it online and wait for the phone to ring. Their focus is on selling your home as quickly as possible, so they can bank a commission. They might get lucky and find a buyer quickly, but if that doesn’t happen, they are often short on ideas when it comes to figuring out ‘plan-b’.
The salesperson you need to hire to get a premium price is one who has a database of clients looking in your area. One who understands the key target market for your property and can employ a proven strategy to attract the right buyers and encourage competition between them.
Their focus is on selling your home for the best possible price.
You want a real estate agent who talks like this…
“Our goal is to attract as many qualified buyers as possible through the most efficient and cost-effective marketing channels available. We then use our staging skills, dialogue and follow-up methods to help them develop an emotional connection to your home. Once interested buyers are found, our focus is on securing as many offers as possible, ideally in a competitive environment.”
Real estate salespeople are not a commodity. They are not all created equal.
It’s just like any other profession. You get good doctors and not so good ones. Good lawyers and not so good ones. The cheapest agent is not always the best option and can cost you a lot more in the long run. Would you want to be operated on by an in-experienced surgeon? Would you hire the cheapest mechanic to work on your classic car?
Don’t go with a random guess. This is your biggest asset and it’s important that you have the right representation.
Questions to ask
Most agents sound impressive in an interview situation and everyone can tell you about a great result they had at some point. So how do you work out if they are the right agent for you? Here are some key questions to ask:
Who do you think is the target market for my property? What is the best way to reach those people? What features are those buyers looking for?
What’s the best way to create a competitive situation?
Tell me about a property you marketed that was hard to sell. What happened? How did you solve that problem?
We assist our clients all the way through the moving process, from deciding which pre-sale renovations will add the most value, right through to signing contracts. So if you are thinking of selling in the next 3 – 9 months, get in touch to book a consultation. We would love to help.
