These professionals might make the job look easy and glamorous, but there's a ton of work that also goes on behind the scenes to ensure a successful transaction.
Before, during and after your sale, they're working hard to get you the best possible price. Below is a list of things a good Real Estate Agent does to help sell your house, even when you're not watching.
They Build A Buyer Database
Having a list of buyers already on hand allows agents to do a few things. Real Estate Agents who represent buyer clients will work with a wish list of traits that their clients want in their future homes.
They can contact a few 'qualified' buyers who they know are looking for properties like yours and arrange private inspections before the home officially hits the market. This helps gauge market interest and sets a fair price. It might even mean you get an early offer and can save on marketing costs.
Building that database is an ongoing job. Agents chat to potential buyers at property inspections and auctions to get a feel for what they're looking for. With their permission, they record those details for future use. A good agent won't leave it there, either. They will nurture those leads by staying in contact and checking whether they're still looking or if their needs have changed.
They Research Comparable Properties
One of the most important parts of the selling process is coming up with the right listing price. A home priced too high will scare off buyers and cause a listing to drag on and become stale, while a home that is priced too low leaves a lot of money on the table.
To get the right price for your property, agents must understand the market. This takes skill and experience. They also receive information on quarterly median house prices and auction results, future property forecasts and legislative updates which can be time-consuming and labour-intensive.
This means that when they come to advise you on how much your property could sell for, they're drawing on a vast pool of knowledge. Priced just right, a home will sell in a relatively short amount of time for a fair price as dictated by the local market.
They Keep Abreast Of Market Trends
It's important that your home is marketed to the right people, the right way. Agents spend a lot of their time keeping up with trends. Different parts of Australia favour different marketing techniques depending on the demographic in those parts.
Marketing is a critical component to the home selling process, and takes up a great deal of time, effort, and resources. Agents will take all sorts of avenues to attract as many buyers as possible, whether it's advertising on their website, blogging, posting about the properties on their social media profiles, or networking with other industry professionals out there to get the word out.
Agents spend a lot of their time keeping up with trends. Through their association with professional bodies, networking events and ongoing professional development, they make sure they can advise which approach is best for the buyers you want to attract.
They Respond To Buyer Enquiries
When the listing is live, agents spend a lot of their time on the phone. In fact, sellers who decide to 'go it alone' and sell their own properties are often amazed at how much time this task takes.
Agents can often field several calls an hour for a hot property and should expect to answer a wide range of questions about the home, location and seller motivation.
They Showcase The Positives
Presenting your home in the best possible light goes beyond decluttering and cleaning. Agents use their skill and experience to turn negatives into positives and create a good impression in the minds of buyers.
Tired kitchen? Great opportunity to create something new! The property doesn't face north? It'll stay cooler in summer!
Where a seller might sound defensive or emotional about their house, an agent can bring a dispassionate eye to the game. By treating the buyer with respect and answering their concerns head on, they can often make a better sale.
They Host The Open Homes
Agents who represent sellers will often hold open houses on behalf of their clients to generate traffic to the home and hopefully find the right buyer. Often these open houses are held within the first week of a listing going live and can often be repeated as necessary. Holding open houses takes up plenty of their weekends.
This is one of your Real Estate Agent's more visible tasks. But even here, plenty goes on behind the scenes.
Before the doors are swung open, your agent will have made sure that your house is looking as good as possible. That might mean turning on the lights and opening all the curtains and blinds, checking for any mess you've overlooked, even pulling some weeds that have grown up on the entrance path.
They Negotiate
Whether it's on the buyers or the sellers side – or both in certain circumstances – Real Estate Agent put their negotiating skills to work to get the best price for their clients.
Either way, the negotiating process requires full knowledge of the local market and surrounding properties, not to mention cool nerves. The home buying process can be an emotionally-charged game, so having a third-party professional wheeling and dealing on behalf of the buyer/seller can help keep emotions in check while all the nitty gritty is ironed out on the table.
They Liaise Between Buyer And Seller
During the settlement process, an agent keeps both buyer and seller up to date with developments. If the buyer's bank doesn't finalise the loan in time, settlement might need to be delayed.
There may need to be some clarification about what's included. Sellers may get in touch to ask if there's any way settlement could be moved up. While your solicitor or conveyancer can handle some of these queries, it's common for the agent to be involved as well. Discussions at this stage can help acheive a smooth settlement for all parties involved.
They Undergo Ongoing Education
Just because a Real Estate Agent passes their initial courses and becomes licensed doesn't mean the training stops there. Real Estate professionals are required to undergo occasional training to ensure they remain up-to-date with the local real estate market and the tactics and tools needed to continue to be successful.
The Bottom Line
Being a Real Estate Agent involves a lot more than just bringing a client to a home, planting a 'For Sale' sign in the front yard, and drafting up a purchase agreement. There is a ton of work that goes on behind the scenes that clients are often not aware of. The reality is, Real Estate Agents work hard to satisfy their clients, and are often working around the clock to make a deal happen.