A seller has many choices on how to sell their property. Do they try the For Sale by Owner route, do they use a Real Estate Professional or some hybrid of the two? Assuming that you have decided to use a broker to sell your property, you must still interview and select a specific broker to represent your best interests. Besides considering factors such as a brokers past sales history, their personality, professionalism, neighborhood knowledge, likeability factor, etc….you and your Real Estate Attorney must look very closely at the FINE PRINT in the Exclusive Right to Sell Agreement. Note: A seller has choices as to what type of agreement they will sign with a broker. For the purposes of this article, we are highlighting the Exclusive Right to Sell.Here’s an excerpt from a must read Real Deal article discussing what’s not inside NYC’S top brokerages Exclusive Right to Sell Agreement:Beyond payment, such specifications are hard to find. Things like advertising and the desired caliber of potential buyers aren’t detailed in the contracts, although Brown Harris Stevens and Halstead do specify advertising at their own expense.
Another aspect of the sale that’s left undefined is perhaps indefinable, to the chagrin of attorneys: the actual deal-making involved in selling a New York apartment.
“None of them actually say what they’re going to do to sell the apartment,” Fink said. “None of them say how they’re going to advertise. Some don’t say anything about putting the listing on their Web site. Who’s going to take photographs? Who’s going to create floor plans?”
Sellers, then, must force any changes in contracts before signing. Attorneys say they would advise sellers to make clear in the contracts who pays for advertising.
These are very valid points a seller must consider before selecting a Broker to represent their best interests.
Here are some other points:
1. What kind of exposure will you provide my property?
Maximum or limited? What does this decision depend on?
2. How are you going to advertise/market my property?
Signs, Company Website, Online venues, print, postcards, email blast, billboard, magazine, Open Houses - How many? - How often?
2a. Property Details:
Who is going to take the pictures? How many? Who will provide the floorplan? Will you provide a virtual tour? Slide show? Aerial pictures? Google maps? Google Earth? Will you provide comps to prospective buyers to justify our asking price? Will you provide as much detail as possible about my property to buyers so they can make an informed decison? Will you highlight improvements, upgrades, key property features of just a generic description? Will you offer suggestions on how to improve the property so it shows better? Do you use stagers? Will it cost me extra? Will you be available to show the property at the buyers convenience? What hours are you available to show? What days? Everyday? Holidays? How will you qualify a buyer?
3. Where are you going to advertise/market my property? Which print and online venues will consumers be able to find my property? Are there any restrictions on where my property will be listed? If I authorize you to list it anywhere as often as needed, without restrictions, will you?
4. How often are you going to advertise/market my property?
Daily? Weekly? Monthly?
5. Will you provide me with updates & statistics of your advertising/marketing efforts? How often will I be updated? How many people saw the property? When? How many people called? When? What are their names? How many were qualified? How many are interested? How many offers did we receive? How did they find the property? How many came and/or called from a particular medium? Will you ask buyers for feedback about the property? What they liked & didn’t like? Do we have any qualified offers? If so, how did you qualify them? Will I receive the offers in writing? What information must the prospective buyer provide on the offer sheet? Is it adequate? Is it asking to much personal info?
Brokers provide homeowners with valuable services. Sometimes you just need to understand the specifics in writing or at the very least verbally so that you can make a better informed decision on who is the best broker to represent my best interests.
In related news, the other day, Curbed pointed out that Corcoran has asked Trulia not to crawl their listings.
Curbed has learned that Corcoran parent company NRT requested earlier this month that Trulia not crawl its site; as a result, Corcoran listings don’t appear on Trulia at this time. (UPDATE: We had written that Elliman listings had also been yanked, but Trulia says that isn’t the case. Sorry about that.)
Are the sellers that Corcoran represents aware that they are not receiving exposure on Trulia? Should they have a say? And why has Corcoran chosen not to expose their clients listings on Trulia when other companies like Halstead, Brown Harris Stevens and Elliman have? Does anyone have an answer?
As a seller, I would always ask very specific questions about the agent’s experience:
1. How long have you been licensed?
2. How many homes did you sell last year? Since you started working?
3. How many of the homes you list do not sell (expire)?
4. How many homes did you sell in this (area) in the last year? Ever? Please document it.
5. Why should I hire you rather that “X”, who sells more homes here?
Excellent questions.
With the answers, a seller can intelligently discern the true professionals who are worth their weight in gold. Many sellers neglect to ask these questions thinking a broker is just a middleman out for a quick commission who does not EARN it.
Information as to services to be performed & performed in the past will help educate consumers of the agent’s vital role in the real estate industry.
Thanks for stopping by.