Advice - picking the right real estate agent to sell - dos and don'ts?

Hey all,

I am looking to sell my property (first time seller). I have collected a list of agents to call, but dont really know what to say.

So my question to the group is:
1. How do you collate your list of agents (I just went to realestate.com.au)?
2. What do you look for in an agent (reputation, how many places they sold in your area, listing numbers) other than price?
3. Is shopping around worth it (would be awesome to know why)?

Personal question - does anyone else find that it is time consuming (or is it just me)?

Thank you in advice for your awesome help. This forum has helped me heaps.
Kris (sorry if this has been spoken about before )

 

The last few months I have been looking for a property and met a lot of agents.
A few in particular stood out and I took theur details in case I need them to sell my IP's.
Some were disinterested in selling ( example , talking on their mobiles whilst having an open house and not approaching prospective buyers)

some never had the gift of the gab and just let you do your own thing, sure i dont like agents being over zealous but i like agents who are sneaky and can relate well to people and are pushy but friendly at the same time.

 

Go to the sold section on RE.com and domain and see who has sold the most amount of properties.

Compare a random sample of the properties they have sold against their sold price and what you felt was value.

If you were looking at going down the path of auction attend one (or more) of the companies auction.

When you meet with them look at how they market and property and why and try not to pay attention to the person who gives you the highest appraisal (as they are not the buyer).

Find someone who you felt comfortable with and can trust..

 

Following on from the question. Do you even bother considering an agency if they do not do open houses?

 

The guy who sells the most may be the one who is able to condition the owner the most too. Don't get distracted by the number of street/suburb records they have set - that only shows that they've sold the best house/development site.

Consider the number of days on market their stock carries (ie how old is the stock/how quickly can they crunch a deal)?

Accuracy of their price guide vs auction results

Smarminess factor (would you trust any of them with your son/daughter/neighbour's cat?)

 

When you have your short list go to some of their open inspections and check them out and see how they behave, its a great way to do your research.

 

The sneakier the better .
Quiet ones dont get my vote.
They go up in points if they have a Cockney accent .
Good talkers, ******** artsts to the top, just dont let them BS you .

 

Here's our list- compiled many years ago using bits and pieces of others and our own experience. Hope it helps and best of luck. What suburb are you looking to sell in? Happy to provide my personal opinion if within our areas. Let us know and best of luck!

 

Great set of questions Jacque - thank you.

 

You must of missed point two...

Go to the sold section on RE.com and domain and see who has sold the most amount of properties.

Compare a random sample of the properties they have sold against their sold price and what you felt was value.

If the person with the most in the sold section gets great results wouldn't that be a great agent to pick compared to another agent who has the most for sale but nothing in the sold section?

Consider the number of days on market their stock carries (ie how old is the stock/how quickly
can they crunch a deal)? You will need RP data for this.

Accuracy of their price guide vs auction results - No relevance, if someone's house is worth 500k and they advertise it for 600k and get 550k does that mean they have done a bad job?

What if they advertise 430k+ and get 470k, 500k, 520k or 550k according to comparing price guide they did a great job even at 470k getting 40k more than advertised but 30k less then FMV.

 

Depending on your price point of your house, I wouldn't want an open house if I was selling a 10M house.

However for most average houses I would want open houses for all first inspections and 2nd inspections can be made privately as a preference, would still do private for first but preference would be to get them to go through the open house as they can see competition (unless no one is coming through opens).

 

Sometimes i'll try and find an agent that has/had a similar listing (street, style of house and price point) so that I can use his or her bank of contacts as an initial round of potential buyers.

I'll interview at least 3 agents and gauge it from there. Most important thing... go into it with your own idea of price expectation. do as much research as you can. Then listen to theirs. Don't get too focused on the big price expectations that they might throw your way in order to get your listing!