Is the buyer buying or is the agent selling?

During the boom, real estate agents did not really ‘sell’ real estate in the literal sense. The buyer was convinced of the merits of the home and the agent facilitated the bidding process.

A symptom of a boom is low stock levels and high buyer demand. The current credit squeeze has changed the environment. A genuine buyer in the current environment is someone willing and able to put a finance approved contract offer forward, so the vendor can consider it.

“Agents need to sell their listings, rather than hoping someone buys it. Herding buyers towards auction day ends badly for agents and vendors.”

As the auction clearance rate tumbled to below 40% in late 2018, those that were counted as auction sales were often sold prior.

If your vision is an auction with a crowd eager of bidders on the big day, be careful. The current environment is simply not conductive to a sales process that demands multiple buyers all bidding unconditionally against each other.

Buyers are not impulsively buying property at the moment, they are cautious and they require a reason to act. They will buy if and when the right opportunity emerges, but the sales person will need to negotiate every dollar in the process for their vendor. An agent that attempts to sell a home by spruiking “this is the kitchen, this is the bathroom and the auction is on in 4 weeks’ won’t be selling much real estate in 2019.

If you are listing your home in 2019, ask the agent, how will you sell our home for the best possible price in the current market? Select the agent that answers that question the best.

By Peter O’Malley