9 Costly Mistakes to Avoid When Placing Your Home for Sale - Part Nine

Don’t Pay an Agent for Advertising!

The way that typical real estate agents advertise is a waste of money. Make Sure it is not your money!

Why We Advertise.

The objective of any property advertising should be to give a potential buyer a reason to call to find out some more information, since what they seen, heard or read has given them enough to establish that;

• The property is in their price range – they can afford it.

• It meets their basic criteria – it has enough bedrooms etc.

• It sound or looks attractive to them – they like it.

Done correctly, that’s all an advert has to cover, and a call to action should get the phone or email enquiries coming.

Here’s The Catch.

When an agent receives an enquiry, should your property not suit them, a good agent will work with them to find a suitable property for them to purchase, but if you paid for the ad that attracted the buyer, aren’t they `your’ client? In which case, aren’t you at least entitled to a referral fee?

Most agents will say that’s absurd, but if their job is to attract buyers for your property, not someone else’s why shouldn’t you be rewarded for your investment?

Why do you have to pay them to do what their job is AND pay them again when they actually do what they said they would?

Here’s a really good question to ask a potential agent;

“Where is your list of all the buyers who have previously contacted you? Because I don’t want to pay to advertise for a buyer that you already have or for you to get buyers for other properties at my expense”

Where Are The Buyers?

The answer to the question about their list of buyers might disappoint you as most agents will only have a few they are working with. What happened to all the others?

Most agents have short term thinking and are only interested in working with buyers who want to buy today, so don’t usually keep an up to date list of the buyers who are not yet ready to buy, so they keep on advertising to get the same people back again and again.

A buyer focused office, will make sure that all enquiry is recorded, whether they are `now’ buyers or `future’ buyers and that the office, not the salesperson, keeps the information.

This type of agency will have a constant supply of buyers and will advertise regularly to encourage more buyers to contact the office.

They don’t need to charge you for this, because if they advertise correctly, they probably have the best buyers on their books already who will get immediate notification of your property coming onto the market.

It Pays To Shop Around

As I previously mentioned not all agents are created equal, so check around.

Advertising can be expensive, and if it is going to benefit the agent or company more than you, why should you pay for it?

Maybe there’s a better deal out there.

This is part nine of a nine part series for home sellers.

Author, Graham Lester
Maggie Dixon Real Estate

Graham Lester

Graham is known for his passion and his drive to succeed in all aspects of his professional life. A man with a big vision.

Other posts by Graham Lester

Contact Full biography

Full biography

Graham is known for his passion and his drive to succeed in all aspects of his professional life. A man with a big vision, Graham has immense pride in the company he directs; and is particularly proud of having been awarded the BDH Cup in 2010, and becoming one of the top 10% of performers in Australasia while maintaining a 79% repeat and referral client ratio.

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