Should I do home opens?

Tough question as many agents have differing opinions of them. You can sell a home with or without home opens but in my opinion, it’s a must.. Throughout Canning Vale and Thornlie areas they are extremely common and buyers have come to expect to see homes on a weekend.

Genuine buyers will almost always call or email if no open is scheduled but you also want the passive buyer who has the money or desire to buy but is just waiting for the right house. Like stated in other articles on this website, it’s our job to obtain the highest price for your property.

We cannot assume that the highest buyer will be the one that will call up and book a viewing. More buyers gives more competition and therefore a higher price. A private viewing will make it hard for the agent to create a sense of urgency around your property and maximise price.

I have seen many agents advertise times as 2pm Sharp etc. These are just as effective as home opens but you do upset a few buyers. Week day evening viewings can also be arranged if weekends are no good for you.

Should your property be rented, please keep in mind that the process of selling a home is inconvenient to tenants and we still need to respect their enjoyment of the property. Negotiating with the tenant up front is always a good idea as an upset tenant can make our job very difficult.

How much communication should I be getting from my agent?

Communication is the key to this career for us. We communicate information about your house to the market, we communicate with buyers and sellers and every other person involved in the process. The better the lines of communication, the better the experience and understanding for all parties involved.

As a standard, you need to be receiving at least 3 forms of communication a week from your agent.
One after the home open so can know how many buyers you have had through your home, one during the week with feedback from those buyers and another to confirm the following home open. Written reports will assist you in your understanding of what is happening with response to your property and what you can do to assist in the sale.

Something this may highlight is that your home may be priced too high or there is something you can fix to enhance the saleability.

My written reports normally include a summary of the market, home open feedback and any recommendations I can make to assist in the process.

When you have all the information at hand when an offer comes in, you will be able to make an educated decision on how to respond. This is crucial in responding correctly and not missing out on a sale by counter offering too high or not accepting a good offer when it comes in.

What is the quickest way to sell my home?

REIWA (Real Estate Institute of Western Austraila) have released figures highlighting that the lowest time on market for a property is by Auction. This term normally scares many buyers and likewise many inexperienced agents. If an auction is done well, you property has success rate of around 70-80% in the first 60 days.

An auction’s success is not determined by the auction day and if your property sells under the hammer. Not every buyer can purchase at auction so we have interest normally waiting for just after the auction should the property “pass in”. For a full summary of Auctions, please see the article on this website. The reasons auctions work very well is due to a few major points.

• There is no price, therefore we see more buyers
• There is an end date to the process, buyers need to have made their decision
• Competition pushes up price
• More exposure to market

If auctions aren’t your preferred method, you can create the similar experience without the public show. Expressions of Interest – (EOI) or Price on Application (POA) can also generate more viewings but needs to be handled correctly by the agent. Buyers want a price expectation and if your agent is not helpful with providing proof of sales or generating feedback from those buyers without upsetting them, they may just leave assuming the owners want too much for the property.

The last method, should you wish to go normal sale with a price, is to invest a bit more money in marketing providing more exposure for your house.

Be sure to discuss your options with your agent and pick the method that suits your needs.

How long do I sign up for?

Industry standard is around 90 days or 3 months. Some agents ask for 6 months or more but even 3 months with the wrong agent is a long time. The window of opportunity you have to get the best price from the market is 0-8 weeks. If you have some hesitations about your agent you have every right to ask them to sign up for as little or as long as you feel comfortable with.

Why not try a 1 month agreement and if they are performing and giving the service they told you they would, you can always extend them for another month or two. This way you have security that you can always go to another agent should your current agent lose interest or stop communicating with you

Why do I need to pay for marketing?

You want the best price from your property and you want to be able to look back at this transaction and know you achieved the right result from the market. More marketing means more buyers, therefore more competition and therefore a better price. Around 70% of the buyers in a market place come from the same postcode or and adjoining postcode. 30% of the buyers therefore come from out of the area.

How will your agent reach local buyers? how will they target out of area buyers? This 30% chance your home will sell to someone who doesn’t know your area or home cannot be overlooked as this buyer may come from a different market place or might be thinking a more expensive suburb but happy to pay more for your home as it has everything they want. You want the certainty that when you take an offer on your property, you know that your property has been exposed to every single potential buyer and you can take that offer with confidence that there are no other buyers/offers.

The reason you are now charged for marketing and not 10 years ago is mainly due to the increase in cost to sell properties. Major websites are now charging agents significantly to be online and combined with increased costs in print media and other forms, the agents can no longer cover this much expenditure. As agents we also have not control of your personal circumstances. Our time and energy are free till we get a sale. Should we spend $1000 marketing your property and you change your mind or have a change in circumstances and withdraw your property from the market, we are left with a bill for doing our best for you but the change for you leaves us with a bill. There are little or no agents who can afford to do this on a regular basis. Most businesses in your area, even large ones franchises like Ray White are all privately owned small businesses generally operated by people living in your area.

The cost of advertising could be anywhere between $500 for a basic internet campaign up to $5000 or more for mulit million dollar properties. Agents are not allowed to make money from VPA (vendor paid advertising) so you will be invoiced exactly according to what has been spent. The amount you agree on in your selling agreement is the max that can be charged. If your home is sold without any marketing, you should not have to pay a fee. Should the agent spend $2500 but you only agreed for $1500, this is all you will be charged.

Why a well trained Agent will secure you a better price

Training can never be over rated and almost all the great people in any field are always in a constant state of learning. “When your green you grow and when you’re ripe you rot” this expression is often heard in real estate and can be applied to many fields. I come across many agents who feel they know it all and stop training and striving to get better. There is always something that can be improved or some new way of working more effectively. With the massive change of technology recently, it’s now more important than ever to make sure we can keep up to date with improvement and tools buyers and sellers are using.

Our ability as agents to handle and overcome buyer objections is extremely important part of selling homes. Many objections are buying signs and when dealt with appropriately, can get you a sale much faster.

I’m lucky to be part of large company that offers regular and on-going training. I am continually kept up to date on what works for buyers and sellers around the country and how we can enhance our ability to provide a service for the community. Hitting 400 buyers in 15 minutes of a new home coming to the market is extremely powerful and can only be done if the business has systems in place, the team is well trained and the technology is there to be utilized.

Consumer protection makes sure all agents are involved in compulsory training in Western Australia and to retain our registration to sell, we need to complete mandatory training session. These have improved knowledge of agents but it’s the agents who spend some of their personal time and money learning how to get better that you need to find. A well trained agent can overcome objections, negotiate more firmly on your behalf and can protect your interests in conditions and clauses to the contract.

What fee should I expect to pay?

You want the highest price for your property which means you want the highest dollar value in your hand at the end of the process. This is your net return from the property when you take off agent fees, marketing and the separate fee from a settlement agent/solicitor.

To achieve this, most sellers are tempted to select the cheapest agent with the lowest marketing budget. This can be a huge mistake. Agents who cannot offer anything of value or a proven strategy that achieves results often go to a cheap fee to obtain the business. These agents also have no skill in explaining on the importance of marketing and the reasons they are worth the industry standard fee.

A good way to test an agent on how they handle important questions is one I hear commonly at home opens every week.  - How much do you think the owner will take? You would be surprised at how many agents freely give away your price in order to get an offer and a sale. Should your home be listed at $500,000, but you would look at anything over $470,000 and the agent gives this away, the saving of a few thousand dollars in fee can results in 10s of thousands of dollars less in your hand. These low fee agents often have little or no negotiation skills and offer little or no service and communication.

A professional real estate agent will be able to demonstrate value for the fee they are going to be paid.  Please note that mulit million dollar homes have a lower percentage as the fees are generally on a sliding scale.  Real estate fees are de-regulated therefore negotiable and if it comes down to it, an agent may agree to drop their fee slightly when you actually receive offers and know how much you will have in your hand after taking an offer. The time negotiate should really be at time of sale when you have seen the level of service, communication and results the agent has achieved for you. It’s unfortunate that the time most people negotiate is at the start. Some people like the idea of a percentage fee as they think that the agent will work harder as the more they achieve, the higher their fee will be. This does motivate some agents but a long term agent will be just as happy to know that they achieved the best price from the market and will hopefully have a client for life who will also refer family and friends to them. Some other things to consider and maybe ask your agent is:

What questions will you ask when writing up the offer? Will they spend an extra 20 mins with the buyer after writing up the offer trying to get them up in price or are they more interested in just getting you your price?

How will the clauses be written to protect you? A vague clause can cost you a great deal of money in the future and leave the buyer in a situation where they can walk away leaving you to have to take your property back to market and find another buyer.

Will you be able to look back at this transaction in ten years and feel comfortable you got the absolute best price from the current market? Hire a cheaper agent that takes short cuts and you will never know for sure….