Can You Put That in Writing?

When it’s time to sell, like most people, you will probably speak with a few real estate agents to get their respective views on how best to market and price your property. During the agent selection process, you will get a wide degree of variance from the agents on the expected selling price and service levels you are promised.

It can be extremely confusing to identify which agent priced your property correctly and which ones will come good on their service delivery.

The agent that quotes the highest price is usually the most appealing.  But they can also be the most dangerous – particularly if they want you to “invest” in their “premium” advertising campaign. This “investment” is paid in advance, regardless of the outcome, result, or success of the forthcoming campaign. If your property sells at or above what the agent quoted you, the campaign has been a success.

But what if the highest offer is below what you have been quoted by your chosen agent? You now have one of two unpalatable options to choose from – sell for less than you had hoped for or decline the offers and do your dough on the advertising campaign!  Many advertising campaigns start at $6,000 and cost as much as $15,000 (depending what state or territory you are in). In the day and age of the internet, this is a crazy and unnecessary upfront risk and expense.

Even though you committed to the advertising campaign based on your agent’s price estimate, you wear the bill when it fails!  Your money is where the agent’s mouth is.  Heads you lose tails the agent wins.

The solution? Have your agent guarantee the price and service they quote you, in writing.  The Price Guarantee is $_______, should your property sell for less than the agent quoted you, you pay the agent nothing or a reduced amount for the advertising and commission.

If any issues impact value such as building defects and/or strata issues, ensure these are disclosed upfront to the agent.

You may be able to hide it from the agent, but ultimately the agent won’t be able to hide such issues from the buyers. Therefore, it is much better to get everything that could impact the value, out in the open, upfront.

Many call the Price Guarantee a lie detector test for real estate agents.

If the agent is confident of achieving their quoted price, they won’t mind getting paid for the advertising on delivery of the promised result.

When employing an agent, capture all promises in writing before you sign an agency agreement. An agent who is prepared to stand behind their promises and guarantee them is infinitely more likely to deliver.

By Peter O’Malley, author of Inside Real Estate