We are about to put our house on the market and are currently researching which real estate agents to use and what we should and shouldn’t do. I came across some advice online saying never pay money in advance to an agent for advertising. And, DON’T SIGN ANTHING which asks you to pay for advertising before your property is sold and you are satisfied. Is this correct?
Another piece of advice is to attach a Home Sellers Protection Guarantee to the standard Agents Contract and get the agent to sign it. Im not sure many agents would agree to do this.
Any opinions on the above and advice re selling much appreciated.
Hi Leeann
Have you spoken to any agents yet and have shown them your house?
Not all will charge for advertising.
I don’t see the point of the Home Sellers Protection Guarantee. You decide what minimum price you want to sell your property for. Like you said agents might not agree to sign it or if they do they might use bait pricing.
All the best
AndrewsuperAndrew | Property Analyser and Finder Tool
https://property-analyser.com.auTry avoid signing anything until you have reviewed 3 or so options in the local area. Compare their sales strategy, sales record etc.
Look online and research how these agents perform and how their pricing is structured. Just because an agent promises you the world for the house, doesn’t necessarily mean they will achieve it. It’s a common tactic to ‘list to exist’, as they aim to condition the vendors selling expectations down to a lower level which is easier to sell.
An eager, honest and enthusiastic agent can be the difference between a fast and effective sales process, over a drawn out continual decline in prices until a buyer bites.
Corey Batt | Precision Funding
http://www.precisionfunding.com.au
Email Me | Phone MeInvestment Focused Finance Strategist - servicing Australia-wide
Thanks Andrew for replying. Yes we have had a bank valuation done as well as three agents come out to look at the house. They all want to charge for advertising so I was surprised when I read don’t pay for advertising before your property is sold. That is why I asked for others opinions.
Two of the agents quoted us much less than the bank valuation as the starting price range and the third quoted around what we would like to sell the property for. I could ask the third agent for a written guarantee to sell the property at the price he quoted as a test if he is genuine.Did they provide you with a CMA?
They need to justify their price range and show you recent comparable sales.
Ask them if they have sold similar properties and what prices they got for them.
Personally I have never paid for advertising. Maybe it is common in different states but I would try to negotiate.
The written guarantee is useless in my opinion since it won’t guarantee you a buyer at the price you want. At the end of the day you are the one who will accept or reject the offers. The agent will try to get you the best price possible but if the buyers at that price aren’t there then the guarantee won’t do anything to change that.
All the best
Andrew
superAndrew | Property Analyser and Finder Tool
https://property-analyser.com.auI am currently selling an IP and the advertising is paid when the property is sold or when the sales contract is terminated (if I decide to withdraw the property from sale before it actually sells). How the sales process is managed could depend on what state, even city/location you are at. If the area is large enough, I would get plenty of quotes to ensure you’re not being taken for a spin and, as others have said, understand how they are coming up with their prices and their marketing strategy.
(I could understand the advertising costs being required up front as these costs are usually just being passed on from the advertising streams – RE.com.au, paper marketing etc etc and the REA doesn’t want to be left holding the cost for these services when the sale could take months to get to completion).
ChrisA1
Persistence is 'to keep on keeping on, no matter how hard the going may be'
Thank you everyone for you help and advice. Much appreciated.
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