Commision = Incentive
I am about to sell a property
talking to agents
would you give an agent
an incentive if he sells a property over
a certain price
eg up to 900k 2%
BUT if they sell for 1Mill
the last 100k at 10%
or will you spend morre in advertising
thank you
I think that the standard commission should be
"incentive" enough for any agent to get the best possible price for any given property. In theory at least... If an agent doesn't try and sell the property for the best possible price and for the standard commission he/she is simply ripping you off because he/she is absolutely obliged to do so anyway. But as someone here mentioned before, agents need to meet office sales targets (number of sales, not commission amounts) so even if they are really nice people on a personal level the reality remains that they are working for themselves in order to meet those targets and to put food on their table. You as a vendor simply provide the means to that end and are simply a another sale on the office sales board when all is said and done. Most agents I have come across are basically good folk but that is the system we have embraced as "in the best interest of the vendor". Also depending on the price of the property and the "incentive" scenario you come up with, there is the possibility that you will be faced with an anomaly where if they get X amount for your property you might actually loose on your net profit. Play with some scenarios and you will see how that can happen. It happened to us and we ended up $3500 worse off when all was said and done. You live and learn (pay)...
If your agents needs more incentive to sell your property for the highest possible price then you need to go with a more ethical agent, or even better sell it yourself, thus avoiding the systemic and ever present potential conflict of interest that exists.
Most agencies focus most of their training time and resources on the subject of listing and not selling. It is all a numbers game. More listings = more opportunities for potential sales/numbers on the board. Most of the glossy advertising is designed to attract vendors, not to sell the property. Agents will vehemently deny this but... alas, it is so. The vendor is the mark, not the buyer. Buyers are pretty much a given and are looking to purchase anyway and will look at what they can find and which happens to suit their needs.
And who here as buyers hasn't come across that friendly agent that will give you the hushed "inside running", revealing lots of useful info about the vendor, bottom price etc etc ? The real incentive is a quick sale...
This is simply my opinion based on observation and experience, and you might not agree but if you have a good think about it and check it out you will find I speaketh the truth...
Sell it yourself, I say!
