Agents who are selling a lot of property are in a much better position to truly act in your best interests.There are a lot of mediocre agencies out there who are basically desperate for each sale.This is the last agent you want working for you.Choose someone who you feel comfortable with and someone who can offer you proof of their company's recent successful sales history.Also look for an agent who will add value to your property's marketing exposure.Most agencies these days look to their sellers to contribute 'vendor paid advertising' to their property marketing campaigns.There is nothing wrong with this, though some advertising can be quite expensive and to buy high-profile exposure for any product (including your real estate) might mean committing some of your own funds to the advertising campaign - this is very much an industry norm today.So in researching and interviewing agents to sell your property, you need to take into account their commission plus their proposed advertising costs. A very simple example of this is that one agency might charge $9000 commission to sell your property and want you to contribute $2000 towards advertising.Another agency might advertise 'Free Advertising' with your property sale-even itemizing an impressive list of marketing initiatives,but their commission to sell your property will cost $14000 -a simple analysis shows the agent with the 'free' advertising is actually over 25% more expensive than the agent who asked for $2000 towards advertising.So it seems to me that when a real estate agent asks you for a contribution towards the advertising of your property for sale,it is fair to ask them what they will contribute to your property's marketing.Elements like signage, window display, internet exposure and some forms of print advertising should all be available with no contribution from the vendor,and if the vendor is looking for 'enhanced' or higher-profile advertising,it seems fair that the 'user pays'.Often, agents who are using a high volume of professional marketing and advertising have access to resources which are simply not advertising exposure for costs which are signifiantly less than any member of the public would receive for a 'one off' booking with the same publisher.This is just one way that a good agent can add value to your property's marketing exposure.
