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Finding a real estate sales agent for the sale of your home is a personal choice that is important to get right to ensure that you are comfortable and informed throughout the sales process and the final decision of sale.
While you may be referred to agents from friends, family, colleagues, or online forums, in the end, a decision on who you choose to engage is something personal to your needs.
Get a market appraisal
When you are looking to find the best agent to sell your home, arrange for several agents to come through your property and give you an estimate of what they believe it could sell for.
During their appointment with you, they should also provide a history of sales that they have made and a report on the comparable properties in the area and where they would place your property in comparison to those.
Choose an agent with local knowledge
An agent with local knowledge will have a key understanding of the neighbourhood and will be able to market the property to the demographic that your property would appeal to.
They will also have knowledge that is specific to the area like school catchments, amenities and lifestyle options that can be used in the marketing to attract the right buyer to your property.
Discuss fees and their role
During your appraisal meeting with the agent, ask about the fees that they will charge for marketing and commission plus any other charges such as styling. This will help you with your budget and give you a range when you are comparing agents.
Ask the agent what tasks they will carry out through the campaign, including marketing, open home, finding buyers and the negotiation process. If you are choosing to auction the property, find out if they have an in-house auctioneer or if there are additional costs with an external auctioneer that they will need to employ for the auction.
Shortlist and decide
Once you have met with the agents and have the information in hand, shortlist those who you found to align the closest with you and the needs of the property.
Remember that the cheapest agent doesn’t always mean the best agent for your property or the one that gives you the highest price estimate. Choose an agent that you feel the most comfortable with considering that this is going to be a life changing event.
When you are engaging the agent of choice, ensure that you are communicating all the key criteria that you have in the sale of the home so that the message is clear from the start of the campaign.