There are about as many ways to market a property or an agent as there are properties to market. When a seller interviews their potential agent, they should be certain that the agent is keeping in mind what is best for the seller…not the agent. There are many marketing tools that, on the surface appear to be great, but upon reflection maybe not so much. There will be agents who disagree…these items are simply my take.
•”I already have a buyer for your house, so you won’t have to do any preparations to put it on the market”….aka “hip pocket listing”. Don’t be fooled. The only purpose for a hip pocket listing is so the agent or the brokerage can get both a listing and selling commission. The best thing for a seller is to have their property exposed to as many buyers as possible. If it is priced well, it will sell quickly at a maximum price.
•”Let’s put up a “Coming Soon” rider”. The wow factor for any listing is the first few days it comes on the market. It should hit the market with signage, advertising, MLS entry, etc all at once. When a Coming Soon sign is placed on a property, after a while passers by don’t notice it anymore. They don’t see when the rider comes down and it actually is available. It is already shop worn and it hasn’t even hit the market yet. The only person to gets an advantage on this is the listing agent who has their name on the sign for a longer period of time.
•”Let’s offer the selling agent a bonus for selling the property”. Any agent worth their salt is there to find the best home for their buyer….not the home that nets the agent more money. If the seller wants to offer an incentive, offer the buyer money towards closing costs or lower the price. Give the dollars to the buyer…not the agent.
•”Let’s make the buyers agent go through me to get access to the house.” Most lock boxes now have the ability to read who has been in the house, so if this is the purpose of contacting the listing agent, it doesn’t hold water. If it to control who gets access and when, it defeats the purpose of exposing the property to the maximum number of buyers. Buyers agents get discouraged when they can’t get in touch with the listing agent quickly. They will skip your house in favor of properties with easier access. Make your property easy to see to maximize the number of showings and the possibility of a quick sale.
Marketing a property should be all about the sellers needs and goals. Make sure your agent is representing your best interest
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