For sellers, there are a few ways to climb to the top of your estate agents’ hot list.
The obvious ones are giving them a sole mandate and then marketing your property at the correct price. You will certainly get priority doing this.
Not as obvious are two factors equally as important with regards to getting results.
First, a seller needs to be flexible and accommodating. Many viewings are arranged at the last minute, mainly owing to buyers’ availability.
Additionally, and these are usually the best outcomes, during a viewing the buyer provides vital new information which means an unplanned property needs to be shown.
Agents understand not all properties can be viewed at the drop of a hat, but if yours is one that can be presentable within half an hour, you will fit in more quality viewings.
Buyers’ decisions are often on a knife’s edge, so delaying someone by a day can often result in the moment of willingness to purchase passing.
Secondly, sellers should not hijack a viewing!
This is probably the biggest bugbear of most agents when the seller takes over the showing.
First of all, and this is a fact, an eager seller on a viewing just unfortunately comes across as a fervent seller, which will only hamper you when it comes to offering and negotiating.
Additionally, sellers can inadvertently, and totally innocently, talk their property out of a sale – which leads me to the main point. No one will deny that the owner knows his/her property more than anyone else, but in turn, no one knows the buyer better than the agent, and that’s key here.
Agents are not selling the property per se but are rather offering a solution to the buyer’s “needs”. Every buyer is different, and they all need slightly different solutions.
Sellers will not be privy to these requirements and alternative solutions, and although sellers can “sell” their property better than anyone, they might be saying all the wrong things that make a buyer who could be perfect for a property now having second thoughts.
The truth is a property will sell itself.
The best agents will generally stay quiet and observe the buyer’s reactions.
The agent should know what the buyer’s key drivers are, which will in turn dictate how they navigate what they say and how they conduct a viewing.
Indeed, we might have just been told something in the car previewing about what the buyer needs, and then on the viewing the seller starts to talk about something that could lead to a false perception about the property or to the solution.
I have witnessed this “car crash” a few times.
What I would honestly suggest, and I would do the same if I were selling, is not to be there. There are two advantages to this.
First, the viewing will be longer. I think most of us innately feel like we are imposing if we view while a seller is present and so will often go through the house much quicker.
It can also feel awkward looking at a property while the seller is there.
Some properties grow on you and so being there a little while longer is a big plus, dispelling the myth that a buyer knows after the first 5 seconds of viewing if they are going to take it or not.
This rarely happens if the seller is there.
Secondly, an agent can openly handle objections while on the property without the seller’s presence, which can again make the difference. Agents will rarely get the chance to handle objections if the seller is there as the buyer, being polite, will seldom raise objections in front of a seller – which is fair enough.
Agents are trained to handle viewings, so my suggestion is let them have the reins.
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