If you’re
thinking of selling your property, it can be tricky finding the real estate
agent who can best represent your home.
Ask around
at school, at work and among your friends and see whose name consistently comes
up in your local area. Good real estate agents get passed around and people are
happy to share their details.
Go to a few
of their open homes and see how they operate. Do they actively sell a property?
Are they able to easily answer even the trickiest of purchasers’ queries? Do
they take down notes next to people’s names and are they able to identify the
purchasers who are showing signs of interest?
Think about
your target buyer and the type of real estate agent your property needs. Some
properties are bought easily, while others have to be sold by an experienced
real estate agent who knows how to guide the transaction process forwards.
Narrow your
shortlist down to 3 real estate agents. It’s a good idea to include a selection
across a range of different types of offerings; an agent from a big mainstream
agency, an agent from a boutique or independent agency and an agent from a
challenger agency like The Property Market.
At the
appraisal, they should be able to provide a competitive market appraisal and
some draft recommendations for the right method of sale and marketing for your
property as well as their sales track record. Their thinking should be
supported in writing with relevant and up-to-date market data as well their own
experience and industry insight. It’s also a good idea to ask them how many
properties they’ve sold in the past six months that are similar to yours and
what they did to achieve the maximum possible sale price.
Some agents
will tell you they already have a database of buyers waiting to purchase your
home. If so, ask them to name the buyers they would introduce to your property
to get a handle on how in touch they are with these purchasers. In most cases,
sellers find it’s better to present their property to the market as this
creates the competitive environment that generates the maximum possible sale
price.