Selling your home should be done by a real estate expert. The problem you almost certainly will have when it comes to choosing a real estate agent is working out who that agent is going to be. You want a real estate agent you can trust, work with and ultimately get the best price for your home.
In our line of work and over the span of our real estate careers, we have dealt with loads of real estate agents. For this reason, many of our clients ask us for unbiased and independent support to help them choose a real estate agent to sell their home.
In this post we discuss qualities that we believe are very important to consider when choosing a real estate agent to represent you and to sell your home.
Communication with all parties is an important attribute when choosing a real estate agent
Like any good relationship in life communication is paramount. It must be honest, open and two-way. This is especially true when engaging someone to sell your biggest asset.
If you choose an agent whose communication skills are lacking, the process can become frustrating and stressful for all parties. The real estate market is time sensitive, so an agent should quickly let everyone know where they stand. This applies for both the current buying or selling situation. Doing this allows both sides to waste no more time than necessary and move on to another property or potential buyer.
It’s important that agents stay constantly connected with their clients, buyers and associated parties. Agents need to appreciate that people aren’t transacting in real estate regularly. What may seem like trivial information to an agent who’s been in the business for years can actually be important to sellers and buyers alike.
We don’t learn from talking, we learn from listening
In our humble opinion, listening also forms a very important part of communication, so deserves its own special mention. Listening, not hearing, is extremely important for an agent to negotiate to the best of their ability.
One of the biggest communication issues that arises is having a real estate agent who is not listening to understand, but listening to reply. A good agent should be asking the questions and you, as the client, should be doing most of the talking. The agent should be reiterating and making sure they understand your needs.
Be wary of an agent who talks too much, particularly about themselves!
Being proactive, rather than reactive means the real estate agent can control the situation rather than letting it control them
A decent agent will proactively connect with potential buyers to keep them interested in the home as well as sell them the benefits of the home and its surrounding area. After all, you have engaged them to sell your home, not just ask buyers “what do you think?”. If the agent is not pro-active with their contact with buyers, you may find yourself sitting in your lounge room on auction day with no result. You will probably be wondering what has actually happened in the last four weeks.
Your agent should be able to read the situation unfolding in a selling campaign. They will help guide you to make the best-informed decision you can. You will also need to be comfortable with that decision.
Pro-active contact with you should be ongoing, regardless of how well or badly a selling campaign is going. Bad news delivered upfront is much better than you finding out second-hand or before it’s too late. If you have to call your agent to get an update, the agent is neither pro-active nor offering enough information.
As a client, you should be able to count on your client-focused real estate agent.
The relationship between you and the agent should become a ‘we’. Selling houses can be stressful so it’s important for your agent to stay positive and carry some of your emotion. They need to make you feel informed, supported and in control. All the while, they should maintain a friendly demeanour.
Choosing a real estate agent who puts you first means you get a good result, and the agent also gets a good deal. Your wise real estate agent will understand it’s not so much about chasing a commission on a one-time deal, but also keeping a happy client for a lifetime.
Your real estate agent should be able to adapt for each new client.
The reasons for selling a home can vary from a straightforward up-grade or down-size to a breakdown in a relationship, passing away of a loved one, or financial stress. Every seller’s situation will be different, which means a good real estate agent should be able to offer a bespoke service that fits with your particular circumstance.
A simple example would be understanding how you would like to communicate and with whom. Communication could be via email, perhaps a text message or maybe a daily chat via phone so you can discuss what’s happening with the sale of your home.
There should be love heading their way from past clients
Consistently good customer service doesn’t happen by accident – it happens on purpose. When choosing a real estate agent ask them about their past clients. A good agent won’t be afraid to is use their past clients as references.
With the amount of information available today, it is pretty easy to find the agent’s last five to ten sales. Ask for references from the sellers of the most recent sales, rather than having them select the references. They should be able to provide a positive reference from any of their past clients.
Honesty saves everyone’s time and is better than sugar coating.
This is an obvious one, but honesty from your real estate agent is a huge game changer when selling your biggest asset.
A good agent will be honest and won’t be afraid to share with you what they really think your home will sell for. They won’t inflate the price to get your business or as the industry calls it ‘buy the listing’. Any price estimate should be accompanied with how the estimated selling price for the home was determined. You also need to be honest with yourself and make sure you’ve done your research so you are listening objectively to each agent.
At the end of the day, you are choosing a real estate agent to extract the best price the market has to offer. When the process is all finished, you need to be confident that your real estate agent got the best price out of the market. You don’t want to be left wondering if there was better price to be achieved because your agent didn’t do the best job.