PROPERTY NEWS - If you're in the market to sell your home and looking to make a faster-than-usual sale, you may be tempted to list your property with a number of different estate agents, rather than a sole mandate.
"There's a school of thought that the greater the number of agents listing the property, the greater the exposure to potential buyers and so the faster the sale.
Experience proves it isn't so and in many instances such a strategy actually backfires," says Lee-Ann Dobrescu, head of Group Business Development at Hollard and co-creator of the Hollard Home Warranty solution.
Reasons why a sole mandate is likely to get you far superior results:
Focus
With a sole mandate you get the benefit of focus on a proper sales strategy, getting the pricing right, and most importantly ensuring that a decent level of pre-qualification of buyers has taken place. There's nothing pleasant about opening your home to every Tom, Dick and Harry in a free-for-all, potluck situation where agents bring as many buyers to the table as possible, often with no pre-qualification done, in the hope that one will be suitable.
Assess buyer feedback
Buyer feedback is important, and with a sole mandate your agent is able to carefully consider all the responses in terms of pricing and selling points of your home and make recommendations on how to tweak your strategy going forward.
Over-exposure makes buyers nervous
Potential buyers may wonder why a property is being listed so widely - they may think that there's something wrong with the property or the area, or that it's a distressed sale - which will either put buyers off completely, or get offers way below the value you're asking for.
Buyers look for areas, not agents
Buyers look to buy properties in specific areas with features they need and like, and don't go out with the intent of buying from a specific agent. An agent with an area specialisation knows who the serious buyers are in an area and will be able to link you up with them.
Properties are online
The digital age has made shopping for properties eminently easier and convenient. Buyers are able to compare properties online and then register their intent directly with an agent and are unlikely to want to deal with more than one point of contact on a single property.
Know exactly what offers are on the table
In a multi-listing scenario, offers happen in isolation. This means you may very well accept an offer from one agent, only to find out afterwards that another agent had a buyer who was willing to offer significantly more. With a sole mandate, buyers compete with each other, not agents.
Differentiation is powerful
By providing exclusivity to the agent, and in turn your buyer, your property is eminently more appealing. As a seller, you can also bring an entirely new level of differentiation to the table by adding a home warranty to your sale, which makes your house instantly more attractive to qualified buyers.
A home warranty can mean a faster sale because any issues of mistrust between buyer and seller are removed. It can also mean getting a higher price for your property as you're less likely to be negotiated down with such guarantees in place - this provides differentiation in a market flooded with properties for sale.
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