Selling your home will be one of the biggest financial decisions you’ll make in your life, and it’s understandable to pick an agent based on whoever quoted the highest asking price. However, that could lead to disappointment, and it could steer you down the path of an unfortunate experience. Here’s how to go about picking an estate agent to sell your home.
Stay cautious of the highest valuation
Just because an agent tells you they can sell your house for way more than the other agents doesn’t mean they know what they’re doing. They could just be trying to win your business, and then renegotiating a price drop down the road will be that much easier once you are stuck under a contract. Ask agents to back their sales with recent comparable sales within the past 3 to 6 months and within the same geographic area. Do not accept sales that are from agents in different cities or that have way different levels of condition and renovation compared to your home.
Make Sure you Know what Marketing They Do Other than List on Portals
None of your agents should differentiate themselves by using the same big websites that every other agent uses to sell homes. Ask them how many of their houses get listed on those big sites? How many have professional pictures and video walkthroughs? How many have floor plans? How many have pre-marketing campaigns to their registered buyer database?
Understand Who Will Be Doing the Work to Sell Your Home
Many agents will have multiple agents at their company meet with you to stage your home, and then most of the trickiest work stays with an entirely different agent. Make sure you know who is doing the pictures, who is meeting with potential buyers and sellers, and who is doing the negotiating and closing, etc.
Be Careful with the Terms of the Contract
Be especially careful about tie-in periods and notice periods regarding what length of time you need to wait before switching agents if the situation isn’t working out. Sole agency, sole selling rights, and multi-agency agreements have varying implications and different fee structures, so be sure to understand what you are signing.
Do They Have Local Knowledge And A Good Track Record?
Agents who knows your particular street and the local school catchment areas, as well as the buyers who are typically attracted to your area, will be able to sell your home much better than an agent who works off a standard template. Find out how many properties they’ve sold within your area in the last 12 months.
What you should ask all agents
- What do you consider to be an average time for a property to be listed and a sale to be agreed?
- What is the sale success rate of your listings?
- How will and how often will you update me on progress?
- What happens if I am unhappy with the service during the contract?
Doing some research to choose the most suitable agent may be time-consuming but it usually results in a sale that is quicker, easier and often for a more attractive price. If you have a property to sell and would like an honest, evidenced-based valuation, we would be delighted to help.