No agent charges for appraisals and never should.
A market appraisal is something every homeowner should do on a regular basis. This allows you to keep up to date with the current market situation and know exactly what your property is worth. This will also help to ensure you are adequately insured.
No sale means you pay no commission – this is an industry standard!
Don’t get fooled by clever agent marketing. You should never pay commission for something that didn’t sell. If your property fails to sell, the agent has not completed the transaction, so should not be entitled to claim commission from you. The commission is only paid once your property has successfully settled and is officially sold.
Marketing is an investment, not a cost.
Marketing has such a massive impact on the way you home is initially presented to potential buyers. If your marketing is good, it will spike the interest of buyers and make them want to inspect your property. Most sellers don’t know that it is illegal for an agent to make a profit from marketing. If an agent is charging more than the prescribed fee for listing on websites, this should raise alarms with you.
In the whole scheme of things, paying for marketing is a very small investment to ensure you are getting the best exposure and, in turn, the best price possible for your home. Taking a few photos on a mobile phone and sticking them up online is NOT marketing.
“Address Available on Request”.
When a property goes online without an address, it is just annoying to potential buyers. Buyers think they’ve found an amazing property, they call the agent to organise an inspection, only to find out it’s nowhere near where they are looking to live. Doing this is a way for the agent to increase the number of enquiries for that property which looks great to their seller. Always remember, you can’t sell a secret!
There is such a thing as “buying a listing”.
This means an agent may inflate your achievable sale price just to win your business, then talk you down in price after it’s too late. Beware of a “too good to be true” amount when you are interviewing potential agents. Ask how they aim to achieve this price, what are their proven processes, and get them to show you examples of homes that have sold for that price in your area. I’d always suggest you talk to at least 2-3 agents to get a good idea of what each can offer, not just the sale price.
With the impact of Covid, homes are reaching amazing prices so we would expect to see a higher listing price, however once the market levels out again, prices should adjust in accordance. Always look at the whole package the agent is offering you and not just the largest price being suggested…do your homework and have a rough idea of where you think home may sit in the market.
Why is “conjuncting” a good idea?
A conjunction is when an agent from one agency would like their buyers to view another agent’s listed property. In most instances, a buyer will come to view your property by themselves, however in some instances, buyers will only deal with a specific agent they have built up a rapport and will only view a property with “their” agent present. Not conjuncting is all about greed. We will always conjunct on any sale – it’s all about YOU and getting YOU the most cash in YOUR pocket no matter where the buyer comes from.
Remember, if you need any help or advice, we are just a phone call away.
All the best, Simon.