Testing your sales agent

hey guys, currently selling a house, private sale. I think I've got the best agent to sell the house.

Curious, has anyone had your mates call up and pretend to be interested in buying your house?

If so, what things are you looking for? apart from a call back would be nice in a reasonable time.
What other things should I be looking for?

 

Have a look at the book "Sold above market"?

 

All the things that a certain south side Brisbane agent doesn't do.

1. Not lie.
2. Not paint the vendor in a bad and desperate light
3. Answer the phone
4. Return messages
5. Present offers (any of them)
6. Encourage a written offer
7. Write a contract to secure the sale.

I've come across a few awesome agents - I will now deal with them, even for other agents listings (and they are calling me about competitors listings in return). They give a spiel, speak honestly, and call when they say they will. Easy!

 

Ask them to role play negotiating with a potential or difficult buyer (played by you)

 

Thanks for the feedback guys. Going to have some test calls going through the week to see how they respond.

 

Sell it yourself. No vendor crunching then.

 

I doubt most would have the time or skills to do this. Even real estate agents don't sell their own place as they can't be impartial on price.

 

You can test the agent but this can also back fire for you too.
What if they agent calls you and says he has some on interested lol then you may start to to think its your friend lol.

 

Best thing to do in my opinion is:

1. Do your thorough DD on the suburb and recent sales comparable to your place, so you know for yourself what the value might be worth.
2. Research the company you choose
3. Make sure its an agent who is very familar with your area
4. Research the selling agent, the properties they sold in the past, their success rates, experience with similar stock, methoods, strategies ect. Interview a couple agents and choose the best one overall based on results, communication and their presentation.
5. Work closely with your agent re selling strategy ect until you are comfortable, but also take on board their expert advice and suggestions as you should be confident with the agent you picked by this point.


My 2 cents.

 

DT said. "I doubt most would have the time or skills to do this. Even real estate agents don't sell their own place as they can't be impartial on price."

A study in America proved that agents selling their own home through another agent get on average 3% more.
Funny how that happens.

Selling real estate is not rocket science. Most agents work off the bottom line. How hard is it for an owner to get more than that..
I have worked in heavy selling through my younger years and can tell you i have never seen such a bunch of amateurs. In general they don't know how to qualify or close
Vendor crunching is the name of the game.

Inspect a property where the agent has an open house.
If he hands you a brochure with fifty other properties in it ., cross him off .
Ask him what the owner will really take. If he gives you a price below the asking price,. cross him off.
If he charges more than 1% plus GST. cross him off. Less on expensive homes.

If he wants you to spend thousands of dollars on advertising ,cross him off.

Then sell it yourself. Easy. For a couple of hundred odd on DIYsalesandleasing.com.au you get
numerous photos on realestate.com.au and they send you all the leads.

So how hard is it to open your door and save maybe 50k and you won't get vendor crunched.

 

RESULTS!

A sales contract and settlement date.
You have employed a sales agent, let them do their job.

 

Just a follow up, had my agent tested with a friend calling and asking all questions to see how he's going about things. Fantastic, couldn't be happier with the responses, and follow up calls. Glad I selected him in the first place.

Was really hoping to have more interest within the time frame. It's 4 weeks on the market, one offer, another genuine interest which I find out next week if they offer. They have been out twice to see it and take measurements.
Have been advertising in the paper for the local area which was advised is needed, along with all realestate online adds, and just paid for a highlight add in realestate.com for the month to try generate more interest.
I had the property painted and fresh carpets, tidy gardens, very presentable and what people would buy for the area.
Price is perfect compared to all other propertys in the area market. Have to say it's probably in the top 3 for sale under 340k but crap all interest. Is week 4 when things start to deflate, become really difficult to sell? What's the perception when a house is priced right, but not selling after 4 weeks? Will people start to really low ball?
Agent reckons it's a slower market and about expect 60 days.
Haven't sold a house in 17 years and that took less than a week, so it's a new experience.

 

I'm also selling atm. To compare... I'm 2 weeks into a 3 week auction campaign. I've had open houses 2x weekends and 2x midweek nights for 45 mins each time. Agent has also held private viewings on 4 occasions.

I've had roughly 25 groups through. Have had about 7 groups come back for a second look and 1 offer.

 

Curious, why 3 weeks?

 

Agent told me that 3 weeks was long enough for someone serious about buying. Going to a 4th week just allowed potential buyers to find something else.

 

Most auction campaigns are 3 weeks. It's designed around generating interest and using that momentum to go into auction day at the peak.

For the same reason that properties for private treaty get hardly any views after the first month on the market.

 

I've done all that the agent has asked, and on his advice try a little longer.
What are your thoughts on private sale at 4+ weeks? Keep going for another 4 weeks, or take it off the market if I can't sell?

Thinking rent it out again and try sell with a tenant or sell again next year.

 

The level of interest in mine is declining. I think I had 11 groups first weekend declining to 2 groups last night. More than 3 weeks I think the numbers coming through would be small and probably not worth extending the campaign.

 

Where is it?