Are you planning to sell your home, but are intimidated by the sheer amount of real estate agents offering their services? Are you not sure where to begin looking, and how to sift through the noise to find an agent you can work with and trust to sell your home in the shortest possible amount of time?

Looking for a real estate agent can be an especially daunting task if you’ve never had to do so. Online agent finders like Perfect Agent make it easier than ever to find a real estate agent that fits the bill you have in mind, and take a lot of legwork out of the process. However, there are definitely important things to keep in mind when you start searching for the right real estate agent to help you sell.

This is what to remember.

Choosing a Real Estate Agent to sell your home 

No matter where is Australia you reside, there is likely to be a host of qualified and experienced real estate agents in your vicinity. The daunting task is choosing an agent that understands your exact requirements and needs, while also having ample experience of helping people in the city or suburb buy and sell property.

Before commencing your search for the perfect agent, think about what kind of person you are looking for. What kind of experience should they have? What kind of personality does not usually work well with yours? These may seem like trivial concerns, but taking into consideration that this person will be helping you complete one of the biggest single financial transactions of your lifetime, getting along with them really does matter.

In line with this, a good real estate agent is also one that is trustworthy, but will remain objective in their marketing of your property, also when it is time to sit around the negotiation table. They won’t get overly sentimental about the home like you might, but you will have to trust them to gun for the best deal, even when you aren’t there.

Once you’ve listed all the attributes, use Perfect Agent’s online recommendations to get a list of agents that meet all your requirements. Now comes the time to sit down with each candidate in order to decide who is the best fit for you.

How to choose a real estate agent 

Interviewing potential real estate agents is a crucial part of finding someone that can help you sell quickly and at the best possible price. It will help you get a feel for their personality, and also to get an idea of their experience and skill in their profession. Make no mistake: selling is hard, and it is a very special type of person that receives this gift. Of course, you won’t be able to get the answers if you don’t ask the right questions – click here for a list of some of the things you should take care to ask every agent.

Costs involved when choosing a real estate agent

When you use an online agent finder like Perfect Agent, there are no upfront costs required to receive a list of recommendations that are perfectly in line with what your requirements and needs are. This service is free, and all the agents recommended to prospective buyers or sellers are guaranteed to be qualified and experienced experts in their field.

Using the services of a real estate agent does come at a cost, though, and in this regard it is good to remember that you get what you pay for if you choose someone who is charging far below what other agents in the area charge.

The same sentiment is applicable if you choose to buy or sell without enlisting the services of a real estate agent altogether. Buying or selling by yourself comes with its own unique set of challenges, not least having to meticulously complete all the administrative requirements that come with this significant financial transaction. Because they work with these matters every day, real estate agents take a lot of the hassle out of buying and selling, and will also handle negotiations on the seller’s behalf. They are objective bystanders that will aim to get the highest possible price on a property that is being sold, because their commission and their livelihood depend on it.

Let your real estate agent lay out the exact cost the agency they are employed by charge for the different services they offer. In terms of the real estate agent’s own commission, this will be based on a fixed or tiered rate. See the next section to learn more about what the differences between tiered and fixed commission are. An agency may charge a separate fee for the marketing of the home, so remember to ask the agent’s you are interviewing what additional fees may be applicable if you buy or sell with them.

The amounts that real estate agents charge for their services pale in comparison to what they offer in return. If there’s anyone that can help you sell quickly or find a property to buy in a jiffy, it’s an agent that is qualified and experienced who has gone through this process many times over.

Agents fees and bonuses 

Real estate agents usually charge commission on every property they help to sell. The commission is deducted from the final selling price once the transaction has been completed. This percentage of the price is established based on a commission rate that is either fixed or tiered, based on what is agreed upon when the seller and real estate agent initially discuss the sale of a property. Each commission structure holds different benefits for the seller.

A fixed commission rate, sometimes also referred to as a flat commission rate, means that the percentage of commission that a real estate agent earns after the sale does not change, regardless of the amount the property ultimately sells for. The percentage is usually based on the specific percentage rate that is applicable in the Australian state where the property is located. These percentages may differ from city to city and state to state, and it’s worth acquainting yourself with the average commission rate in your area. However, due to the unregulated nature of real estate commission rates and structures in Australia, some agencies may have their own structures in place – ask real estate agents what commission rate they charge when initially interviewing them.

Fixed commission rates benefit the seller in the sense that it allows them to know roughly what they’ll be paying the agent before the home is sold. This helps sellers to budget more efficiently. Choosing a fixed commission structure over a tiered one also suggests that the aim is to not have the property sit on the market for too long. When agents earn their commission on a tiered scale, properties may spend a little longer on the market as the agent aims to get a higher price, but this is not always the case.

A tiered commission rate, also called negotiated commissions, create an incentive for real estate agents to really aim for an exceptionally high selling price, as this holds the potential to significant drive up their own commission earnings. This is because a tiered commission rate escalates according to the price that the property ultimately sells for.

Put more simply, when a home is sold for a price that is above a certain amount, which has been previously agreed to, more commission may be earned on a sliding scale, which is also discussed prior to putting the property on the market. This can be beneficial to both sellers and agents. For the seller, it means bigger profits – but there is, of course, the caveat that they will be spending a larger percentage of these profits to pay their real estate agent.

Conclusion

Choosing a real estate agent in Australia can seem very overwhelming at first. In any given city in the Land Down Under, numerous qualified and experienced real estate agents help people to buy and sell every day – but how are you supposed to find an agent that you click with in an online sea of real estate experts?

Online agent finder services like the one Perfect Agent offers make recommendations based on the information you relay, and provide a list of agents that can help you sell anywhere in Australia. After acquiring your shortlist, it’s time to start interviewing candidates to help you sell your home. Once you’ve found an agent you like, you need only confirm the details of their commission and other potential marketing fees, before the property can be officially listed online and elsewhere.

The amount you spend on agent’s commission – be that commission that is paid according to a fixed or tiered structure – is a far cry from the hassle you’ll be saving when you use the agent’s services. Still haven’t found a real estate agent that knows what you’re looking for? Contact Perfect Agent today.