Women today are so busy– running your businesses, running your homes, caring for your children, tending to your partner, plus everything else you do every day. Do you need to add the job of selling your home to your list? You can sell your home without an agent, but why should you? Do you need that stress? Successful women know how to delegate, to maximize efficiency through specialization. If you delegate the task of selling your home to an expert, a real estate agent, you will save time and stress and you will likely realize a greater return on the sale. A real estate agent is truly a girl’s best friend.
MYTH 1: A real estate agent can’t sell my house for more than I could on my own. This is not true.
• Agents can sell your home for more. Statistics from “Sell Your Home for More” show that when you sell your home by yourself, you usually sell for 17%* less than if an agent had sold your home. If you sold your home directly for $400,000, an agent could have sold your home for $480,000–a difference of approximately $80,000! With an agent’s commission at around 2.5%, for a $12,000 commission, you can pocket an additional $70,000 on the sale of your home! Knowing that, why would you not use an agent to sell your home?
• Why do agents realize so much more on sales? Primarily, because they are experts in their field. The real estate market is their playground–7 days a week. Agents bring talent, skills and resources to the process that you do not have.
o Real estate agents know the current real estate market. Because of this, they are better able to price your home. They have access to proprietary real estate tools and information you do not, such as comparable sales data and premiere, agent-only marketing tools. They visit many of the properties currently on the market and are better equipped to assess the competition. They know what the market will allow and seek to maximize your return.
o Agents provide better market exposure for your property. They know where to advertise to maximize your advertising dollar. They have access to premiere online property listings such as www.realestate.com.au not accessible to non-agents. They have a vast network of other agents and prospective buyers they can access to further expand your market exposure. When an agent gets a new property listing they have a group inspection (known as “groupies”) with all the agents in their office. As a result, instead of one agent marketing your property, you now have 20 agents showing your property to their prospective buyers.
MYTH 2: Real estate agents do not earn their commissions. Many people are under the false impression that real estate agents earn commissions for doing very little work. This is far from true.
o Agents can sell your home for more. For this reason alone, an agent earns his commission. If she can sell your home for 15% or even 10% more than her commission, she has provided you her professional services for free and put money in your pocket on top of that. Could you ask for a better deal?
o Agents put substantial time and effort behind the scenes to become experts. Many agents work 7 days a week. There is no 9 to 5 for agents, they work from early morning to late at night. A good agent has to know her market and this requires she spend substantial time viewing and showing many properties, as well as monitoring sales and new properties coming onto the market. She also has to build and maintain a broad network of agents, buyers and other professionals.
o Agents save you time and remove much of the stress of selling your property. For busy women today, it is difficult to find all the time you need. Why add the stress of selling your home? Do you really want to be fielding phone calls from prospective buyers at work or spending your limited down time figuring out how to market your property? An agent provides expertise and will save you both stress and time by doing all the legwork for you.
MYTH 3: Agents make a vendor sign an exclusive listing agreement so they don’t have to work that hard.
Agents prefer exclusive listings because it ensures them that their hard work will pay off; it’s not an excuse to not work hard. This myth is based on the misunderstanding that under an exclusive authority the agent gets credit for any buyer that buys the property and need not work hard to find a buyer. The fact is that an agent will work harder to sell a property under an exclusive than a non-exclusive because they are guaranteed a commission for their hard work and it justifies their working harder. Under a non-exclusive they are less inclined to work on your property because it could easily be sold by another agent, and their hard work was all for nothing.
MYTH 4: A real estate agent wants to advertise my property only because that helps them. This doesn’t make any sense.
• Advertising increases your property’s market exposure. Yes, an agent who advertises more properties does appear to many to be a better agent, a top seller, because she has more listings. But that is a byproduct of the agent’s marketing goal and not her initial motivation to advertise your property. An agent wants you to advertise your property because she wants to increase your market exposure. If, as a result of the agent’s advertising of multiple properties, she creates a larger pool of properties from which to attract more buyers, you, as a vendor, will benefit from the larger market attracted through her advertising efforts. The larger the agent’s market, the more buyers that are exposed to your property.
Christine Stow B.Sc. M.B.A.
Christine was a successful real estate agent in the northern suburbs of Melbourne who now runs Women in Property Melbourne- a group to support women who are interested in property but don’t know where to begin. Christine is on hand to guide you through any real estate or property questions you might have.
Christine Stow is the director and founder of Women In Property Melbourne an organisation supporting women interested in property investing and renovating. They offer host joint venture opportunities, information workshops, networking meetings, property resources and contacts. If it is in property- Christine knows where to find it.
Christine is also a available to present at workshops on real estate and property questions: having run workshops for first home buyers and Women in Property Melbourne for over 2 years- Christine provides an insight as to how it really is now, where to find properties and support to begin your journey.
Contact Christine Stow
Christine@womeninproperty.net.au
hhtp://www.womeninproperty.net.au
* Gil Davis, “Sell for More”, Harper Collins Sydney Aus, 2008.
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