Our Secret Weapon
Do you want to know about our secret weapon? The one that works harder for our clients than anything else? We used to be real estate agents. Yep, that’s right, we used to be one of ‘them’... and we’re not mad about it!
In fact we love estate agents, they are our friends, personally and professionally, and we appreciate the job they do. However, it is a massive win for our clients that we understand how the other side works.
We’ve attended sales training and real estate agent coaching for over 8 years, we’ve sat in on countless sales meetings, we have talked directly to vendors about their wants and needs and how to achieve them, and negotiated directly with buyers from the other side of the fence.. we’ve done it all.
Why is this such a key value add for our clients?
Talk the talk.
We know classic agent dialogue and how to read between their well rehearsed lines. They know we are not the average buyer, which often helps cut out the jargon but if they slip into agent speak, we know what to listen out for. This allows us to give our clients a more rounded view of how a property is tracking, what to expect come auction day and potentially even where the vendors expectations are sitting.
How commission works within agencies and between agents.
We all know that the vendor pays a percentage of their sale proceeds to the agent. But how it is then split within the agency is important to help understand agent motives in certain sales scenarios. Usually, the listing agent takes a cut, the selling agent takes another and the company gets what’s remaining. Mostly, like in an auction scenario, the same agent will earn both the listing and selling portion, but not in all cases. The way commission is split in a private sale negotiation can affect how the agent conducts themselves. Whilst becoming an outdated practice, the use of ‘shepherding’ buyers is still seen. This is where the listing agent may favour their buyer (perhaps with more information) to ensure they earn both listing and selling commission. Being aware of this and understanding the dynamics of commission in an agency is very advantageous.
How different negotiation processes work.
Buyers often don’t realise how much of a difference this can make in negotiations. All agencies run their negotiations differently, on top of that individual AGENTS within agencies may also run things differently. Because we have experienced the myriad of ways a house is purchased, we will often direct the agent to negotiate in the way we want it to run. If you are planning on putting a pre-auction offer in and the agent tells you if it’s acceptable and there are other interested parties then they will move it to a closed envelope negotiation, this is not the way to go. This happened with a client of ours just before Christmas, we managed to ask the agent to instead bring the auction forward to a live zoom auction instead of calling for best and final offers. We were the winning bidder on the day and with plenty left in the pocket saved our client tens of thousands of dollars.
We love to share this information with our clients as part of our Buyer Advocacy process. We don’t just present our clients with the result, we love it when they tell us how much they have learnt along the way! What to say, what not to say, when to speak and the right questions to ask.
Know anyone in 2022 who could use this competitive advantage?
Get them to reach out to us for a complimentary chat!
Take care,
Tabitha
