Choosing an Estate Agent to Sell Your Home
Choosing an estate agent is an important part of the sales process. Getting an agent to price your property correctly is your first priority. When looking at prices in the many hundreds of thousands, it’s easy to be casual about five or 10 thousand dollars here or there. But just think about the idea of what that amount of money could really mean to you. If you get the price wrong for your home, you could easily miss out on a new car, a year at university, a wonderful family holiday, a deposit on an investment home and the list goes on.
Alternatively, choosing an estate agent that is over optimistic on the price could take you out of the market entirely. Being the owner of a house that has been sitting on the market for months has a lot of implications including potentially missing out on that ‘Dream Home’ or becoming the house that people overlook because it appears again and again on advertising sites giving the impression of a lemon.
Do your Selling Homework
Do your homework, establish a relationship with a reputable agent, ask for recommendations from friends that have sold in the area. Look at local sold signs. Who is selling the most real estate in your suburb and for how much? Selling at lower prices to move stock quickly is not a strategy you want to employ but by knowing the local market you will have an idea of who is getting results and with what sales methods. You will probably also quickly notice the properties that have been professionally staged and styled. Any agent worth their salt will be able to recommend a home staging business (such as The Styling Edge of course). Agents we deal with understand that home staging can mean the difference between a quick sale at top dollar, and a house that lingers on the market.
Research and become an expert on estate agents!
In a very competitive industry there are always those that stand out from the rest. This can make the difference between a quick and lucrative sale and a property that lingers or doesn’t reach its full sales potential.
To ensure you have the right person working to sell your home there are a few important questions that you should ask potential agents.
- Have you sold similar properties in the same area?
- What prices did they achieve?
- How long did they take to sell?
- Do they have an existing client base or clients that have missed out on other similar sales in the area?
- What are their charges and are they flexible?
- Do they recommend a property stylist or home staging business?
What is their suggested sales method for your home? There are a number of options on how you sell your home and it is important to know if for example an auction is the popular method in your area or simply a sale price.
Its only when you have the answers to these questions that you can start to form an idea of the right agent for you and be assured it is worth taking the time! Good luck in choosing an estate agent – we hope they meet your needs.
