Find the Right Real Estate Agent to Work With

Real estate agents certainly are a dime a dozen, with thousands of agencies in operation all over Australia. Even so, finding a real estate agent that is the right fit for you certainly narrows down those numbers quite significantly.

A professional, experienced and qualified real estate agent is an invaluable asset, but finding someone who understands your unique needs can prove a conundrum.

The right real estate agent for you is one that completely understands your exact requirements as they pertain to selling property, and can provide expert advice accordingly. But, as you will be trusting this person to oversee and manage one of the most significant financial transactions you will ever conduct in your life, this means that you will need to be able to trust your real estate agent to handle negotiations on your behalf, while still getting the best possible price for your property.

Here are some tips on how to get the most out of your real estate agent.

Create Ground Rules and Expectations with Your Agent

While real estate agents do bring extensive knowledge of the local property market with them, they are not clairvoyant, and it goes without saying that you will have to be clear about your exact needs and expectations when initially interviewing real estate agents to help you sell your property.

Importantly, deciding on an agent to help you sell does not mean that the channels of communication should close as soon as you’ve signed the sales authority. On the contrary, you should keep in contact with your real estate agent throughout the selling process, right up to you property being sold.

You should be clear about how much you are expecting to sell your property for, but should also listen to the recommendations your real estate agent makes in terms of an asking price on your property that is fair, but not too high – a property price that is much higher than the price being asked for comparable properties is a sure way to scare of any potential buyers from the get-go.

Together with your agent, you should set up a timeline within which you would like the property to be sold. Working hand-in-hand with your real estate agent in this way helps to ensure that you navigate the difficult passage of selling and buying at the same time, and also keeps your real estate agent informed and accountable.

Take care to thoroughly discuss the marketing strategy your real estate agent plans to use with them before it is implemented, and remember to enquire as to whether their agency charges a marketing fee in addition to the agent’s commission.

When your real estate agent understands your unique needs and requirements completely, they will be able to provide a tailored service that will get your home sold in the best possible time frame, at the best possible price.

Get an Accurate Valuation of the Property

Aside from assisting you with the marketing of your property and handling all negotiations and paperwork on your behalf, your real estate agent is also able to provide recommendations as to how much you should sell your property for.

If you have no inkling of what a good asking price for your property might be, online home value estimators are a good start, and provide sellers with the opportunity to use an automated valuation model to predict what a property is worth. While tools like Lendi and Value Our House may be able to provide rough estimates, your real estate agent will probably conduct a comparative market analysis to see how your home fares when it is compared to similar properties for sale in your city or suburb.

Your agent may also make recommendations about repairs and renovations that could significantly affect the price your house ultimately fetches. A good real estate agent will explain their price recommendations by referring to the current state of your local property market.

Getting an accurate valuation of your property is key to advertising and marketing the property at a price that doesn’t scare off potential buyers before they’ve even had a chance to see the property. In this regard, you want to aim for a price that is attainable, but still leaves enough room to make a decent profit.

Listen to Your Real Estate Agent’s Advice

When you real estate agent suggests repairs or renovations to your property, you should listen to it carefully. Real estate agents who have been doing business in specific cities or suburbs for some time understand the ebbs and tides of the local property market, and know where the sweet spot in terms of pricing a property is located.

In fact, listening to your real estate agent’s advice should extend to all the aspects related to selling the property, including the marketing of the property. Especially when it comes to getting word of your property’s sale out to the biggest amount of potential buyers, the marketing strategy of any home is key to getting it sold.

Heeding the advice of someone who has, through extensive training and years of experience, gotten to know the local property market through and through simply makes sense. Because you don’t necessarily know the jargon associated with the property market, or possess the experience and expertise that a seasoned real estate agent does, you need someone on your side that will be able to represent you honestly during every stage of the selling process.

Agree on a Marketing Strategy

If there’s one thing you can’t slack on when selling your home, it is the marketing strategy. No longer is it enough to place an ad in the classifieds and rely on word-of-mouth to let people know that you are putting your house on the market – although these things should still form a part of the way in which you market your property.

A detailed marketing strategy might include online as well as print listings, and will probably include the utilisation of professional property photography and even drawn-up floor plans to best introduce your home to potential property buyers.

Don’t underestimate the value that good marketing can add to your property: In 2012, JA Group Auctioneers randomly sampled 365 auctions and split them into two groups. The first group consisted of properties where owners spent less than $5,000 in total on their marketing campaign, whereas the second group of property owners spent an amount greater than $5,000.

The first group (consisting of 282 out of the 365 properties) received 13.3 groups of inspections over a period of five weeks, whilst the second group (made up of only 82 properties) received 32.2 groups of inspections over the same time period. This means that a wider marketing campaign yielded more than twice the amount of home inspections for the second group, leading to a greater amount of potential buyers that were reached, together with a greater level of buyer competition and, potentially, a better sales result.

Let your real estate agent explain the marketing strategy they plan to use for your property, and tweak the details with them before signing the sales authority.

Get Regular Updates from Your Real Estate Agent

As we mentioned earlier in this article, you should keep an open channel of communication with your real estate agent throughout the selling process. However, this does not just require you to give regular feedback to your agent – your agent should also keep you updated as to the progress of the sale of your house.

Good real estate agents will keep sellers informed about potential buyers enquiring about the property, and will probably handle the negotiations with these buyers on your behalf. Ask your real estate agent to give you feedback after your home has been viewed while it is on show, and ask them to relay any enquiries from potential buyers.

In this way, you are able to adjust your marketing strategy if interest in your home is not satisfactory – and before the property goes stale. If you feel like your agent is not keeping you updated well enough, take this up with them agent and discuss how communication could be improved.

Conclusion

Before deciding on an agent to help you sell your property, you should interview them in order to set out the ground rules. To avoid confusion further down the line, tell real estate agents exactly what your expectations are when working with them. Discuss a timeline within which you would like to have your property sold, and say how much you are expecting to sell the property for.

Keep in mind that real estate agents are the authority on property sales in the suburbs and cities they do business in and, as such, the advice they provide about the selling price, renovations and repairs to your property is based on sound knowledge and experience. Don’t be afraid to do your own research, though – online home value estimators should also give you a good idea of whether your real estate agent is making an accurate estimate.

A clear marketing strategy is the best tool in the real estate agent’s arsenal, but make sure to confirm just what marketing tools will be used for your property, and whether this strategy will come at an additional cost.

Make it clear to your agent that you would like regular updates – in the end, simply communicating regularly is the best way to avoid any misunderstandings between yourself and your agent.

Are you still looking for an agent that is trustworthy, qualified and experienced? Perfect Agent’s large database of great agents operating all over Australia will help to find you a real estate agent that you’ll truly get the most out of.