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By Law a Real Estate Agent cannot offer your property for sale
without a contract.
That contract must contain certain specific details, the most
important being the agreed fee if and when the property is sold
and settled.
That fee is negotiable and can take various forms. For instance,
it can be a fixed fee, a percentage of the selling price or a sliding
scale again based on the selling price.
The contract should also contain details of the property to be
sold, how long the contract is to remain inforce, any agreed fees
for marketing, and your general rights should there be a dispute.
Most sellers get a little hung up on the fee. Yes, there will be
variances but the price won’t necessarily reflect the level of
service you’ll receive. Remember the point of the exercise is to
sell the property.
As suggested earlier, go with the Agency you feel will get the job
done irrespective of the fees charged. There is no point paying
top dollar to an agency in the belief that it guarantees the best
service — because it won’t! Similarly, there is no point opting for
the cheapest quote if they don’t sell the property because in that
event you have saved nothing.
Please read the contract carefully especially in regard to the term
of the agreement. Some will try to tie you down for 12 months,
some as little as 3 months. We believe that 6 months is a fair
compromise.
What you need to ensure is that it is not a set and forget scenario.
In other words the property is posted online and the same advert
with the same words and photos are there 12 months later! At
Country Realty we change the script and photos regularly.
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