What your estate agent should and shouldn’t do

What your estate agent should and shouldn’t do

The decision to sell a property is not one to be taken lightly. Consultations and deliberations must be undertaken to reach a conclusive decision. Once you’ve decided to put your house on the market the next chronological step is choosing your estate agent. We’ve endeavoured to show you what your estate agent should and shouldn’t do.

Choosing an agent

Regardless of the motive prompting you to sell your property you want to sell it in the shortest time possible. Whether you decide to go with a sole agent or multiple agents you need to engage a professional (professionals) with a good footprint. This will help sell your house fairly quickly and with minimum fuss.

It’s also important to understand the methods and processes your agent and agency utilises so that you can keep track of how your property is being managed and exposed.

Of equal importantance is to have a performance agreement in place. This   will enable you to back out of an arrangement if your estate agent/s don’t do what they are supposed to do within the stipulated time.

What your agent should do

1. Document the property

After an agent or agents have been picked to market the property they need to come and document the property. This process will include taking photos and videos of your property to capture different angles and details. The estate agent should make certain your property appears in all relevant marketing platforms within a short space of time.

2. Arrange for viewings

The agent/s marketing your property should also arrange viewing sessions as quickly as possible. The responses and feedback gathered during the sessions will help gauge whether or not your house is priced correctly or if there is something you could do to entice buyers.

3. Feedback

A competent estate agent should provide regular verbal and written feedback on what is happening with your property. Relevant feedback should include;

  • Where and how the property is being advertised.
  • The leads that are being followed.
  • Progress made on any offers or a deal.

4. Pro-active

In the event of a solid offer, your agent/s should be pro-active, making sure all the necessary paperwork is in place and keep you up to date at every step of the deal.

What your agent shouldn’t do

1. Reactive

Your agent should be pro-active rather than reactive. This means your chosen estate agent should not wait for things to happen first and then respond. They should always be on top of things and be ready and prepared to move the moment a solid offer comes in.

2. Disengaged

An estate agent should never be distracted, disorganised or not fully invested in selling your property. Such an agent will result in a lack of interest in your property and will delay the sale of the property.

3. Price reduction

In the event of a slow property sale process your agent can suggest lowering the price of the property. Unless really necessary, you should be very careful of lowering your price because once you do so, you can’t put it back up again. Additionally too many show days can also over-expose your property.

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