Bigger is better sometimes, but not always when it comes to hiring a real estate agent to sell your house. Many so-called "Mega Listing Agents" can and do provide excellent service; but service doesn't improve nor do the odds of your house selling merely because an agent or their company has a bigger than life name.
The factors that determine whether your house will sell are price, location, condition, marketing and market conditions. If these are in line then most competent agents can sell your house; whether that agent lists a dozen houses a year or five hundred!
A Mega Listing Agent may dazzle you during their listing presentation with how many properties they have sold. What many agents may not share is how many of their listings don't sell and/or wind up as expired listings. Some agent's statistics show a ratio of expireds to solds as high as two or three to one!
Don't be afraid to ask agents that you are considering to list your house for their statistics. You don't want your house to wind up as just another ugly statistic.
There is a sort of herd mentality for nervous or frustrated sellers to list their houses with big name agents only, especially when the market slows down not unlike the market we're experiencing lately. Whatever variety of agent you prefer, don't be afraid to ask them their game plan for selling your house. If you're the type who needs a lot of hand-holding from your agent then you should probably consider listing with somebody other than a Mega Listing Agent; unless of course you can find solace holding the hand of the agent's personal assistant or that of a team member. BTW, team members are often extremely competent and can perform many of the tasks you that might expect from your agent. However, Mega Listing Agents spend their time listing properties. This is what they do.
Finally, A large real estate company "may" have better a Website than a small operation. This is important. Before you list with anyone check out their company's website and see for yourself whether it's relatively easy to navigate and is truly state of the art. Check out listings belonging to the agent you're considering hiring, and see whether that agent took the time to upload professional looking photos and a virtual tour (when useful) of listed properties. Any agent who doesn't provide these simple-to-do basics should think seriously about another career.
FIND A HOME: http://markostrovsky.com
2010 Mark L. Ostrovsky All Rights Reserved
Comments(3)