Selling Tip #3: Choosing the Right Agent (Part 1)
You’ve made a decision to sell. Fantastic! While it might have taken quite a while to get there, now that you’ve decided to move, it’s important to find the best agent to represent you. This video is about how to choose a real estate agent – we couldn’t do it justice in one video so we’ve spread it over three.
From talking to buyers, we’ve found that not too many vendors make a decision based on fee structure and marketing expenses alone. While important, they are not deal breakers because the fee structure (the commission paid) is negotiated between yourself and your agent, but typically the figure is about 2.5% of the sale price (the fee for service).
Marketing – to get your listing on the internet – is about $1000 plus. If you choose to advertise in the newspaper, it’s about $1700 a page (you’ll be one of many houses so you won’t pay that full amount). Let’s park those thoughts for a moment because they don’t tend to be the major decision making elements.
What I’m going to do is look at the two types of agencies in this Ballarat. There are two distinctly different groups: independent real estate agents and franchise operations. An independent company like Jens Veal Partners don’t have an affiliation with a Melbourne office, an interstate office or international company. In other words, they don’t have a parent company.
At Jens Veal Partners we feel that our boss is you. We work with you and together we establish a partnership to get the job done. Our agents are equally as good, if not better, than some big agencies who require a large staff. We hand pick our team members and, interestingly enough, three of them have previously worked in big companies and are now relishing the freedom that an independent company gives them.
Furthermore, the independent company can still use all the same tools, internet sites and marketing techniques – the resources are available to all. Also, an independent organisation such as ourselves don’t have the massive overheads so we can take the time needed to get the best result for you. We don’t have this crass culture of ‘slam it home’. Food for thought.
As mentioned earlier, the franchises are a marketing brand, a bit like McDonald’s (very well known). There are some real estate firms that are also very well known too but here’s probably what you aren’t aware of: that company has had to pay for the privilege of marketing under someone else’s umbrella – under their brand. There is a franchise fee that is payable.
From all the money that comes in, there’s a 10-15% franchise fee that has to be paid. Who ultimately pays for that? I’ll give you a clue (it’s you).
Now the important thing to consider is that a big organisation with a large staff has got big overheads. I just don’t want to think that you will have your home undersold – just for speed and results – because they need it listed and sold quickly to meet those overheads.
I bear no malice to a franchise organisation. I’ve left one after 8 years and I am delighted to be in an independent company, for all the right reasons. However that’s just a little behind the scenes snapshot that I hope that you can take on board when choosing an agent. There is more to say about this but, for the sake of brevity, we’ll discuss it in the next two. See you then!
