Real Estate Agents are not your friend although they will endevour to appear that way. So get your home valued by a qualified and certified valuer so you know what you home is really worth, as opposed to the hyperbole and over-inflated estimates the real estate agents (RE) will give you to entice you to go with them. Do NOT tell the RE you have the valuation, and see how truthfull their estimates are. The ones that overinflate your home’s value, will likely end up selling it for the less than the agreed value.
You should consider including in the contract that if they sell below the agreed value, their commission will drop according to how much less you get. This should get them to put more effort into selling your home at above the agreed value.
I agree. They should also be competing on the commission they are proposing to take.
If a RE is worth their salt, they will already have a list of buyers who want to buy, so they shouldn’t need to advertise. If they need to advertise, they should bear the cost. When the RE charge you for advertising, they charge the retail cost, but they pay wholesale cost and then they get lots of rebates, advertising primarily their business with your home as another lure earns them a lot on top of the commission.
The placard outside your home is no longer the attraction it used to be. Nor are newpapers. You don’t need to bother with them or pay for them. People are now primarily using the internet to search for homes. The cost of advertising on the internet should be borne by the RE.
Totally agree. It doesn’t have to be professional if you can do a good job of it. This includes indoors and outdoors. Make you home minimalistic. It helps make it look bigger, airier, lighter, and more attractive. Sell, give away, or put all your excess it into storage until you move into a new residence.
Do not have open home exhibitions. The RE should only bring people to look at your home, one at a time, who they have prequalified as having the available finance to buy your home. That way they can focus on real potential buyers, and your home is not subject to theft (this happens a lot), gawkers, or tyre kickers.
This is how we sold our last home. We only had three sets of people go through on one day, and it was sold on that first day. Advertising cost us nothing, and we knew exactly what commission we were paying. A good deal I think.