Booming markets over the past 3 years have meant that real estate agents have become facilitators of sales, rather than negotiators of them.
When there is one house and 3 buyers who desperately want it, an agent does not have to sell the property. They simply facilitate the bidding process to find the highest paying buyer – or highest bidder, if you are selling by auction.
Buyers are conditioned to accept extreme buyer competition in a boom, so they willingly accept the buying process agents ask them to go through.
As the market consolidates, the ratio of sellers to buyers evens out. Many agents are already reporting in the press that they are now dealing with less bidders per property than earlier in the year.
As a home seller, selecting an agent who uses a strategy that exclusively requires multiple bidders could be a strategic error.
How do you have an auction with one bidder? Given the recent shift in market conditions, its crucial you don’t sign up for auction unless the agent can adequately answer that question.
Amongst many other equally pointed questions!
If there is only one bidder for your property, the success of your sale is going to depend entirely upon your agent’s negotiating ability.
How do they negotiate the best price without any buyer competition? That is very difficult to do.
In a consolidating market, the right agent will always have a plan to get the best possible price for your home, regardless of whether there is buyer competition or not.
If there is competition in place, they seamlessly facilitate the process to ensure you obtain the best possible price.
Conversely, if the agent possesses the necessary negotiation skills to extract full market price when there is just one buyer in play, you will have selected the right agent.
How can you tell? Ask them about their selling strategies. You will know you are dealing with an amateur agent if the agent’s only negotiating tactic is to threaten them that there is ‘another buyer interested’.
You don’t want that type of agent acting for you when you are selling.