YOUR ESTATE AGENT NEEDS TO BE THE FULL PACKAGE

Mon 01 Oct 2018

Charlotte Gill BA HONS MNAEA, Director

Some people think that all agents are the same and that they all work in the same way and therefore base their choice of estate agent on the one who will ‘do it’ for the lowest fee.

The fee they charge has to cover all the expenditure that an agent is willing to pay out, in order to get you the best possible price they can.

In order to do this they invest not just their skills and time but their money too in advertising your home for sale.

Some agents advertise on Rightmove, some on Zoopla, and some advertise with On The Market as well as lots of others, including their own websites.

Some agents still advertise your home for sale in the local newspaper.

Some agents advertise on Social media – most of which is free, but all of which is time consuming.

For Sale Boards cost money too, as does the person who’s paid to erect and retrieve them.

Brochures cost money and the better the brochure, the more they cost -which is why some agents do not produce hard copies for you to take away.

Not all agencies have a high street presence and you might not consider this necessary, but if you start to have problems with a property you are buying or selling, it is reassuring to know there is an office that you can walk into to sort things out. High Street premises overheads are high, due to rent and rates, heating and lighting etc.

Professional photography services also cost money. If you don’t think this is important – take a look at what some of the photographs look like on Rightmove.

You need an agent who is willing to invest in you and your home. That is their driver to get your home Sold Subject to Contract if you have a no sale – no fee agreement.

If you pay upfront or indeed delay payment but you have to pay the fee – whether your home sells or not – what is there to make the agent push your home to sale.

This is why most people choose to sign a no sale – no fee agreement.

If your agent is willing to spend extra on superior services including external professional photographers, floorplans with compass points, bespoke brochures, newspaper advertising etc., then they need to recover their initial outlay.

We then come to the level of service individual agents can offer and this is the ‘invisible’ part of selling your home.

To offer a truly great service you need a level of staff that correlates to the numbers of properties you have for sale.

i.e. the more properties an agent has on their books for sale, the more staff are needed to look after them properly.

Ask the agents how many properties they have on their books – including in sales progression and ask them how many members of staff they have in their branch and work out the ratio. Have they got enough time to dedicate to you and your home?

Ask for their names – if they can’t tell you them – they’re not a team.

It is true to say – you get what you pay for.

You might ask, why not just go with the cheapest agent? They will sell it, won’t they?

They might, yes, but at what price?

Let me put it this way.

Take two bottles of hand wash. Both the same size, both do the same job. They might even have the same ingredients, who knows? But they both smell nice.

One is placed on the shelf in a bargain store. The other is beautifully wrapped, branded and packaged.

How much more are people willing to pay for the second bottle? This is why branding and marketing are big business.

For basically the same product, people are willing to pay more for it because it is beautifully presented, packaged and wrapped.

Back to houses.

So, if your home is presented in a way that takes more time and effort, and more money is spent doing it. In making it look the best it can, in ways of photography and brochures and advertising – you will get more interest from potential buyers. More willing buyers = higher offers.

Higher offers minus the agents selling fee, means more money in your pocket.

Therefore, the cheapest agent – might not be the one who charges the lowest fee.

The cheapest agent might be the one who has actually paid for their own fee by getting you a higher offer.

Until next time,

Charlotte