Selling your property can be a stressful experience, after all it’s likely the largest financial transaction you will do in your life. Vendor Advocacy is something that a lot of buyer’s agents offer as a service. The aim is to support and help you through the process of selling your property by being an independent advisor.
The first helpful thing that vendor advocacy offers is helping you decide on which agent is the best choice to sell your property. There are many things that are taken into consideration when choosing the shortlist of agents, things such as what type of property the agent usually sells, in what area, how is their pipeline at the moment – do they have time to nurture your property campaign or do they have a backlog of listings they are trying to quickly work through, is their marketing plan and selling strategy aligned with what’s happening in the current market, and is their listing price fair and reasonable. This can be a daunting task, and vendor advocacy is designed to take that stress away and help you make the best decision.
A vendor advocate will also help you cut through the jargon and explain things in a way this is simple and easy to understand. Sometimes it can be hard to know what to believe, especially in this shifting market, the bonus of having an independent vendor advocate is that they know what’s happening in the market, they have seen successful and unsuccessful marketing campaigns and will have the right advice on which way you should go about selling your property.
What is the difference between a private treaty sale, an auction, or expressions of interest campaign? What is the best campaign to achieve the best possible price for your property? A vendor advocate can help you through this.
Remember, the selling agent does not determine the actual selling price, the market does, but it is the agents job to execute the best possible marketing strategy and campaign to give you the best chance of achieving the highest sale price.
The listing price is a very important factor, if you get that wrong at the start of the campaign it can be detrimental to the entire campaign. If buyers see your price being too high, it will turn them off viewing the property and they may think that it will be more difficult to negotiate a fair price. If you price too low buyers may not have faith that the price is really what you’re expecting, as listing low is a strategy that some selling agents use that many buyers are wary of. It’s important to price it in a way that attracts the highest number of buyers that genuinely can afford your property. You want to create competition as early in the campaign as possible, as this is always the best chance you have to get the best possible price for your property.
Vendor advocates provide support throughout the entire sales campaign, so when you start receiving offers your vendor advocate will provide advice and guidance on how you should respond to that offer – whether you counter, accept, or reject. Negotiating on a property is just like dating, you need to play the game and keep your cool, which can be difficult to do when you’re so emotionally attached to your property. Your vendor advocate will take the stress and anxiety away by providing unbiased advice on what the best next move is.
Part of accepting an offer is making sure the terms are acceptable to you, it’s not just about the dollar amount offered. Things to consider are how many days do you require on your settlement period? Have you found your next house yet? Do you need time to search and don’t want to feel the pressure of moving out too quickly? These are all things to consider when deciding on the terms of your contract. Your vendor advocate can help you decide on all these and help you with all the factors that you should be considering.
The best part of the vendor advocacy service is that it doesn’t cost the vendor anything, as the selling agent gives a small portion of their commission to the selling agent. So, you really have nothing to lose by engaging a vendor advocate.
Are you considering selling your property and would like to learn more? Reach out here, we would love to chat with you.