5 Tips to help you choose An HONEST Agent who will get you the BEST possible price.
Choosing the RIGHT Agent for you..
FIRST DECIDE : Do you want an Agent who tells you what you WANT to hear; Or an Agent who tells you what you NEED to hear ?
IF your preference is : “TELL ME WHAT I WANT TO HEAR”, Then – The next 5 tip’s aren’t for you but IF you value honesty, integrity & an evidence based approach then you’re gonna love this !
1. NEVER fall for “I have a buyer” blanketing.
This is the oldest trick in the book, The truth is EVERY AGENT HAS A BUYER or can pull one out their butt to prove a point when required.
If you are really tempted to choose an Agent because they left a note claiming they have a buyer for you - then my advice is to at least do this to hedge your bet’s.
Call in Mr. “I Have A Buyer” - BUT ALSO call in a 2nd local specialist as well for perspective.
Have them both come and inspect & produce a written evidence based appraisal for you
(NEVER SIGN ANYTHING AT THIS MEETING, THEY ARE HERE TO SEE THE HOUSE NOT PRESENT & LIST)
Compare the 2 appraisals, The information provided & their strategy and how it present’s these are all great insight’s into the Agent’s acumen and professionalism.
If you want request both come in for a meeting to present their campaign strategy & proposal to you in person, NEVER sign an agency agreement on the spot at this presentation give both the chance to PRESENT - That’s what they are after all, Professional PRESENTERS.
If the Agent who left the note is still pushing for you to sign an Agency agreement so that they can show their mystery buyer who may or may not exist -
Tell them you will sign an exclusive agency agreement with them but ONLY for a 48 hour period not 90 days.
48 hours is more than enough for them to bring whoever they want and be very clear that if they bring someone in that 48 hours and it they dont make a reasonable offer by the following Monday you will be listing exclusivley with the other Agent who you have been speaking with who has also provided an appraisal.
This will keep the Agent who blanket notes telling everyone that he has a buyer honest, If they don’t have a real buyer who is seriously interested they will cease pushing you to give them an Agency agreement immediately because of the risk they may inadvertently hand the listing to a competitor.
It will expose 99% of Agents using this trick.
Do this and see how they react to it, Then choose whoever you want its your house you may legitimately vibe better with the guy doing blanket notes but at least you will know whether he is honest or not upfront !
2. Demand recent & comparable sale evidence to support the Agent’s appraisal figure.
The latest trick many Agent’s are using is avoiding critical price analysis completely : They sit you down AT THE INITIAL APPRAISAL INSPECTION quote a figure above the most obvious honest market value in order to get you really excited about selling (promise the world)
Then they insist that you must sign an Agency Agreement on the spot at the appraisal inspection because they are so busy and have buyers waiting etc.
Then straight after the 1st open home it’s usually : “Sorry Mrs Vendor, Market’s changed now - We better go to Auction blah blah..”
So, Why are Agent’s doing this now ?
Because in order to transition from private treaty to an Auction campaign A NEW agency agreement is required and this is where the Agent can very subtly slip in A NEW price.
The new price is usually much lower than the one on the original Agency Agreement because “it's part of their strategy for auctions” -
To price the property below market and create a buzz at the auction !
You obvioulsy agree, Because it all make’s sense…
Before you know it, You’re on the market standing at an Auction which you never really wanted with a NEW asking price well below what you initially signed up for.
Basically; It’s a classic bait & switch which could of been easily detected & avoided if you received a thorough and relevant evidence based CMA at the start - Had you of recieved a thorough accurate CMA at the start you might of detected the BS when they quoted you an unreasonably high price.
DISCLAIMER : Pricing low to create a buzz DOES WORK, Nothing wrong with strategic pricing, But if that was the Agent’s plan the whole time you deserve to be told the strategy at the start not promised a higher figure only to end up OTM with a much lower price advertised !
3. GO UNDERCOVER, Become A buyer for a day & check how they really work.
Attend some open homes incognito, See who present's home's the best and really engages with purchasers during the viewing’s, And who simply rocks up and unlocks the front door for buyer’s to help themselves - You need to sample their actual customer service & follow up diligence.
You will quickly find out who is truly presenting & selling at the open Homes and who is just advertising property’s – Just whatever you do don’t’ let them know you are actually thinking of selling or they will never leave you alone !
Request contract’s from the Agent’s who stand out to you and that you are interested in, Experience their processes around that and see how they react when faced with an opportunity to sell something - You’re hiring someone to sell your most valuable asset you should understand how they operate.
4. NEVER go for the cheapest Agent – They are probably really going to be the most expensive !
If the Agent so easily drop’s their own selling fee and are too lazy to negotiate a higher rate for their own service; Guess What ?
They will just as easily drop YOUR asking price when speaking with potential buyer’s to get your property sold quickly.
The reality is, if someone charges you 2% to sell a $1,000,000 house or 1.65% to sell a $1,000,000 house the difference in your hip-pocket is only $4,500.
$4,500 is next to nothing when you have an experienced and professional negotiator working on your side.
An experienced negotiator, Someone who is strategic & methodical in their approach to every negotiation will battle relentlessly to secure you multiple offer increases much higher than the $4,500 you may of “saved” and they will earn that extra $4,500 by negotiating you a much higher price !
Someone who is truly tenacious, shrewd & committed to getting top of the market record breaking results for their client’s will defend your asking price with conviction and may extract multiple offer increases from each buyer for you in increments typically larger than $4,500 quickly diminishing any perceived “saving” you would of made if you had of signed up with A low budget operator.
You want to hire someone who genuinely LIKES to negotiate and get BETTER terms for themself, because if they do that for themselves they are much more likely to do that for you.
5. Check how much stock the Agent is currently carrying – We all have the same 24 hour's in A day and you are paying for their time.
There is a misconception that if you have the most stock, You must be the best Agent - WRONG.
Many agent’s are brilliant at getting listing’s on the market but cannot sell, OR they get crappy price’s all the time because they dont have time to invest and focus on what will get their client the best result - It is all about speed and volume for these operators.
HERE’S A LITTLE TRICK TO SEE WHO SELLS HOUSES & WHO JUST LIST’S THEM : Google the Agent’s Name & find their realestate.com profile,
Go to the “For Sale” tab – If they are carrying 30+ listings serious questions need to be asked :
How many are they actually selling ?
*Remember not all the Agent’s sales will display on their REA profile ONLY the ones they advertisedIf they are selling a lot, What are those results like in relation to the rest of the market ?
What was their client’s experience like selling with them being 1 of 30+ vendor’s (regular updates, did they get vendor report’s, who run’s the open home’s etc)
What was the buyer experience like, if each property has 50 inquires and they have 30 properties on the run, There is 1,500 people interested who all need the Agent’s time
How good is their time management, How much time per day do they really have to spare for your property when they have 30+ listing’s sitting there needing work
As an agent you never switch off, The work never stops 24/7 you are available but if you had to quantify the effort of A good Agent they probably really have about 14 hours a day MAX where they are physically active doing focused work related activity - Quick Math (number of listing’s) divided by 14 minus everything else ???
It isn’t a lot believe me !
Also, In our experience you cannot actually do more than about 8-10 30 minute open homes per day by yourself as a lead Agent so if they have more than 8 open homes per Saturday you need to ask who will be really representing you in the market.
By sharing this information, I’m probably pissing off a lot of real estate agent’s - Quite frankly If you are an Agent getting a bit salty reading this GOOD IDGAF.
I operate honestly with integrity and my clients best interest’s as absolute paramount on my personal agenda if you don’t like it too bloody bad bro !
xx
