How much do you want?
What price did you have in mind?
What sort of money are you looking for?

Why would a real estate agent ask you these questions

One of the reasons, probably the main one, you ask an agent to come and see you when you are looking at selling your property is to determine your property’s realistic achievable sale price in today’s market. To advise you what asking price will be attractive enough to bring genuine buyers in and high enough to still achieve the best market price for YOU the seller!

The nodding dog

So why would the perceived expert, the agent, ask you for this information the answer is quite simple really…the agent wants to win your business, and they see that their opinion on price as being a major hurdle in doing so. See if they don’t tell you what you want to hear the chances are they more than likely won’t win the business. So it is easier to ask what you want, nod in the right direction, agree with you, and then deal with the wrong price once you are on the market, once they’ve won your business, once you’ve signed the selling agreement and are locked in with them for a period of time and can’t get out!

A big mistake

There are plenty of sellers on the market at the moment where the agents have never actually offered/suggested/committed to an estimated sale price. All they have committed to is agreeing with the seller! They’ve managed to get a figure out of the seller first and gone along with that price, so the seller now thinks that their estimation must have been correct. A big mistake.

You end up the loser emotionally and financially

Worse still there are so many agents not committing to a price and pushing the ‘let’s auction it and the market will tell us’ scenario or ‘let’s market it without a price’ scenario and the properties are just not selling. The biggest loser in all this is the seller. If the property is auctioned it’s the seller who looses the money spent on the auction campaign. If the property is not auctioned but has an expensive advertising/marketing campaign it’s the seller who loses money again on a campaign for a property that is not competitively priced and it’s the seller that gets frustrated and almost goes broke and still no sale! What’s it cost the agent so far…

The right questions

A good agent will sit with you and take the time to talk through the comparative market sales in your area. Armed with this information they will indicate a range where they can foresee a sale. They will also suggest an appropriate asking price to start at.

The price is the price and at the end of the day it is better to get an offer and reject it than have nothing to consider at all.

In a tough market it is even more important that you take the time to ensure that you are employing the best real estate agent possible. It is critical that you ask the right questions in order to have the right real estate agent working for you!

If you are thinking of selling, get the real estate agent to tell you what your property is worth first!

Independent Real Estate Consulting…. helping you stay one step ahead of the agents!

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If you are currently selling, or about to sell, and would like someone independent sitting on your shoulder observing the goings on, without interfering in the process, drop us a line and see how we can assist. We understand that you might have only dealt with agents once or twice in your lifetime but we do it every day! Contact iREC and see how we can help.