by Neil Jenman
Reading Time: Apx 4 mins
As much as one million dollars.
If you’re selling, that’s the likely difference between hiring a good agent or a bad agent.
Especially during what’s being described as “a bad market”.
Let’s face it: When the market is booming, any fool can sell property – as many fools did.
Back in mid-2024, when the Sydney market was booming, Adam and Kate thought about selling their home. It had been their ‘forever home’. But then Adam got transferred to Queensland.
They called a few agents and got quotes ranging from $2.4 million up to $3 million.
Despite the high value of their home, they couldn’t bear the thought of selling.
They decided to rent it instead.
A year later, Adam and Kate were heartbroken. Their much-loved ‘forever home’ had become their much-trashed rental home.
Fast forward to another year. Adam and Kate had evicted the tenants and restored their home to its former glory.
They faced a hard truth. Selling their home was better than seeing it trashed by tenants.
They began contacting the agents from whom they’d received quotes during the boom.
“You’ll be lucky to get $2 million for it now,” said an agent who’d once quoted $2.5 million.
“The buyers have disappeared,” said another agent. “No one is coming through our open-houses.”
In a panic, Adam and Kate called me.
So, I called these agents.
Sure enough, the first agent said, “I’m not going to take it on unless the owners are realistic.” In real estate speak, this means, “I want a low price which means an easy sale.”
“Can’t you convince buyers to pay what you said this home was worth in 2024?” I asked him.
“The buyers are not stupid,” he shot back.
No, you’re the one who’s stupid, was my thought. But I held my tongue.
I called the second agent.
This was the one who said, “buyers have disappeared” and “no one is coming to open inspections”.
He asked me: “What am I supposed to do when no buyers are coming through?”
I asked him how many buyers were enquiring to his agency during the boom.
At least a thousand enquiries a month.
Wow, 12,000 a year.
And how many properties did he sell in a boom year?
At least a hundred a year, he boasted.
“Okay,” I said, “You got 12,000 enquiries and you sold 100 homes. What happened to the other 11,900 people?”
He didn’t know.
I suggested he start calling 11,900 people. Maybe some were still looking to buy a home.
Then he told me something else. Something that must apply to thousands of agents. He never had to chase buyers.
Disclosure: Adam and Kate are my friends. I wasn’t going to give up on them.
After a few weeks, I found an agent who loved their home and was super keen to become their agent. I asked him if he felt he could get close to the prices that Adam and Kate had previously been quoted. I placed the emphasis on the figure of $3 million.
This agent – who I have known for many years – didn’t flinch. Indeed, he said something that I really appreciated, “Neil, I know how much these people mean to you. I will sell it. And I will get them a great price.”
After the agent agreed to the Jenman protection conditions, Adam and Kate listed their home.
What a difference.
The worst agent with whom I spoke had told me, “Under $2 million”. And the best agent was willing and eager to list the home and try for $3 million.
That’s 50 per cent more.
That’s as much as $1 million dollars more.
That’s the difference between a good agent and a bad agent.
As all good salespeople know, an essential rule in selling is qualifying prospective buyers. But there aren’t many good salespeople in the real estate world.
Therefore, home sellers need to qualify agents.
Here are the five essentials needed if you want to find the best agents.
Selling has often been described as “the transference of enthusiasm”.
Unless your agent is positive, you will never get a positive result.
So, whatever you do, don’t hire the Negative Nellies.
The best agent is one who projects the image, “The market might be tough, but I’m tougher.”
You need an agent who works hard. An agent who’s not afraid to make calls to hundreds of buyers. All agents have got hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people on their databases.
When buyers have stopped calling agents, you need an agent who starts calling buyers.
Unfortunately, laziness is rampant in the real estate industry. It’s been so easy for so long that many agents have never had to work hard. All they did was advertise and wait for buyers to show up.
As a seller in a tough market, you can’t afford to hire an agent who advertises and waits.
The legendary real estate trainer, Tom Hopkins, always had a four-letter message for agent – GOYA. It means Get Off Your Backside.
Granted, there might be fewer buyers around now.
So, make sure the agent you employ treats buyers well. An agent who calls (or emails) them back promptly. An agent who’s willing to show properties at a time to suit the buyers. Good agents are always available to show homes to buyers.
During the boom years, many agents developed the habit of treating buyers badly. Unless the buyers had a home to sell, these agents treated them like dirt.
The worst thing you can do in a bad market is hire an agent who treats buyers badly.
So, be sure to mystery-shop an agent before hiring them. If you don’t feel comfortable mystery-shopping them yourself, get a friend to do it for you.
Or ask me. I’ll get someone to do it for you. It’s one of the services we offer sellers at Jenman Support.
Under no circumstances – especially in a bad market – should sellers pay marketing costs before their homes are sold. Good agents never profit from the losses of clients. Do not fall for the upfront marketing costs.
Unless your home is sold, don’t pay anything.
Agents have had it so good for so long that most of them have either forgotten how to sell or they have never learned how to sell.
You can easily pick the bad agents. These are the agents who say that “buyers are delaying” or “buyers are too fussy” or “there is no urgency in the buyers”.
As all good salespeople know, a sale begins when a customer says no.
You need an agent that knows how to sell. An agent who knows how to persuade buyers to act. An agent who can create urgency in the buyers.
In sales – and in many things in life – you only get two outcomes. You get results or you get reasons.
And you can be sure of one thing: If an agent is giving you reasons before you hire them, they’ll be giving you plenty more reasons – that morph into massive excuses – after you hire them.
In a bad real estate market, you need a good salesperson. Not an excuse maker.
Most agents have three characteristics. They are greedy. They are lazy. And they are stupid.
Greedy agents want to charge you for marketing costs. Lazy agents want to show your home to buyers for just 30 minutes a week. And stupid agents are doing auctions.
Good agents are fair, hard-working and smart. These are the only agents you should consider.
As Adam and Kate discovered, the difference between a good agent and a bad agent can be hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Choose carefully. Your financial future depends on it.
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