Hello

You might be thinking about selling your home and most sellers will call on the local agent that seems to sell the most houses in their area. The other option is to call on the agent that has kept you up to date with the market over the last year or so. Or you might just call the agent that sold your house to you years ago. In theory any of these methods could work, however your house is usually your biggest asset so why not do some legitimate market research when selecting an agent?

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The reality is that best agent to use can change depending on their constantly changing circumstances. What do I mean by this? What if your chosen agent is about to go on a family holiday? What if your preferred agent already has 15-20 properties to look after? How will he/she find time for yours? Some successful real estate agents get so systemised that they end up being glorified order takers rather than ruthless negotiators. A lot of the best agents have support teams of 1-2 staff, and they can be imperative to the process. What if they are missing? All these possibilities don’t even consider that one agent just might mesh better with you than another.

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I’ve been a real estate agent for over 21 years now. In that time, I’ve rarely been asked about my experience when appraising a house. When I have been asked it’s usually just the client asking me out of interest during the sale process rather than at the point of pitching the business. I strongly believe that you have the right to know about your potential agents experience and tenure within your market. I believe that too often a vendor chooses his/her agent because they sold the house up the road or they made a few calls to them over the previous year. A great agent could be able to negotiate a 5% higher selling price and on occasion even 10%.

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So, in summary the point that I would like to make is that choosing the right agent is a moving target. In my experience, I’ve found that home sellers can get very anxious and sometimes even overwhelmed when it comes to selecting an agent. Having said that if you select a great agent that you have full confidence in it can be a real weight off your shoulders. Of course, it’s hard not to suffer some form of anxiety when you get to the pointy end of the sale. Although you will certainly feel better if you have 100% confidence in your chosen real estate agent’s ability to negotiate the very best price for you and your family.