Property Question

shannon_tek

A question i want to get my head around is how do people, Sellers chose what agency they want to have sell their house.

You see there are so many companies all competing for small space and just not enough houses to go around.
So when someone is selling their house they could have 15 different agency signs in their Estate. Is i just a matter of going into the nearest one and asking them to advertise your house of is it more complicated than that.

athtrasna

Different agents charge different commission rates, charge different rates for advertising and also advertise on different sites. I have found you also can get hugely varying valuations depending on the agency.

Some agents are also better at and more interested in selling properties...a combination of word of mouth and gut instinct is vital in choosing the right one.

Lyn256

When I was selling my house last year, the first thing that I did was drive around my area and note what agents seemed to be the most used and of those how many had 'sale agreed'.
I automatically disregarded the two big national agencies (can't really remember why-maybe a thought that smaller agencies would have better service)
Then I rang three agencies and invited them to meet me and pitch for the business.

Now here's what I did that was different-I wanted a good SALES PERSON to sell my house
-I come from a background of sales/business development (15 years) and am now in a part time sales training role.
So I sat with each agent and quizzed them on their sales ability and interest (I was looking to see if they had taken any formal sales training or at least had an interest in the best way to sell things so possibly had read some books on sales and selling)
This is the biggest sale that will be made on my behave so it wanted the best person for the job. I was shocked as to how little interest that the other agents had in the selling part of what they do and I'll point out the the agents that I didn't go with weren't celtic tiger agents-both were about 2 years in the business.
All three agents had very similar fees and in hindsight I would have paid my agent more as he was so much better than the other two.

Of the three agents, only one was a real salesperson, had an interest in sales and had read a number of different books in sales and negotiation and gave me confidence.

I went with him to sell my house and I have to say was VERY VERY happy-found my agent to be very professional, called me when he said he would - contacted me after each viewing to give me the low-down.

One point-he guided me with the lowest guide price (basing it on what had actually been achieved in sales in his office in the area in the past three months) and 4 weeks later the house was sold-for 5% less than asking!

One last thing, I didn't about this forum or the property pin before I went to sell so the only thing that I would do differently now is get advice and feedback from these sites before selling

Hope that helps