Real Estate Education

Selling : Selecting an Agent

SELECTING YOUR AGENT

For your convenience click on any of the links below.

Narrowing the Field of Agents

The pre-selection process should include a minimum of three market appraisals.

Pre-selecting Real Estate Agents Some points to consider:

Past experience with an agent.
Trust and the ability to work closely.
Their reputation.
Their negotiation skills.
Do they listen to clients requirements?
Local Market knowledge and / or specialisation.
Marketing expertise.
Excellent support and sales staff.
Performance guarantees.
Attend open for inspections to see them "in action".
Look at their current marketing ie local paper, web site and office windows.
Attend their auctions if applicable.
Give them a phone call or drop in and see if they respond in a professional manner.
Check grooming and attire (of the office and staff).
Check professionalism of the individual and team.

What is an Agents Role?

To effectively market the property.
To be thoroughly honest and transparent with you.
Help you achieve your aims in the most efficient way.
Expose the property to as many potential buyers as possible.
Negotiate the best price with the buyer.
Present all offers (a legislative requirement).
Co-ordinate the settlement with your legal adviser.
Please remember, you are the person employing the agent, they work for you, not the buyer.

Selecting the Agent

We recommend that you do the following when interviewing the agent:
Work with the agent to prepare a list of features and benefits for marketing and for their sales team. Create a list of "things you have enjoyed about living here" see Free Downloads .
Explain why you purchased the property and what attracted you.
Detail about what you have enjoyed about living here. If you were employing someone wouldn't you want to know that they can do the job that you are employing them to do?
Interview the agents thoroughly.
Ensure you are dealing with a "trained negotiator".
Maximise the saleability of your property.

What are the Agent's Strategies?

Some questions to ask your agent:

Have them demonstrate why or how they arrived at a price range/reserve recommendation.
Demonstrate why or how they recommend a particular method of sale.
Who is their target market and how are they going to reach it?
What feedback are they going to supply?
How are they intending to target the best buyers?
How are they using the marketing funds?
What if you find a buyer yourself?
What is fair and reasonable if you do?
Large logos on advertising – who pays?
Do they have buyers on the books – (database marketing, and detail them)?
Justifying the asking/reserve price.
Justify the marketing strategy and expense.
Who is going to manage my house? (The senior agent or a junior?)
Do they understand your concerns?
Listen to the agents questions.
Be careful if they ask you "Why are you selling?" (They should be interested in you, your time frame for selling. The reasons are yours and are confidential.
Pick up on trigger words such as "only worth…", "it hasn’t got…", "it’s on a main road…"
And listen for negative comments. If they are too negative, then this will reflect in the marketing and when conducting inspections.

Costs Associated with Selling


Marketing Costs	Back to the Top

These costs are negotiable and can be paid prior to selling or can be deducted from the deposit.

Commissions

Are negotiable.

The cheapest commission is often not the best Agent. If an Agent cannot negotiate a reasonable and fair fee and give their money away easily, you would have to be concerned about how easily they will give your money away!

Other Costs

May include:

Further Assistance