Tue 05 Mar 2019

Does Multi-Agency Improve the odds of a Sale?

Should you go multi-agency when selling your home? It's a common question, and one you'd be expecting us to say "no" to!

However, this answer is not simply because we want exclusivity on your business to ensure we get the sales commission! Listing your home for sale with multiple estate agencies can have a varying impact for all parties involved.

Read on to learn that listing with multiple estates agencies can get you more than just presumed increased exposure.

Fees

What does the small print say about fees? If you list your home for sale with more than one estate agency, be sure you know where you stand regarding upfront costs or commission. Most estate agencies operate a "no sale no fee" service. However, this may be different if they do not have exclusivity on your prospective sale.

Lost in Translation

Have you ever managed a project with multiple parties involved? It can be hard to ensure that, despite best efforts, everyone is fully up to date with the latest plans and developments. At the end of the day, all the estate agencies you instruct to sell your property work for you; they are committed to ensuring you get awesome customer service. However, it can be difficult to provide this if you've accidentally missed someone off an email thread and they're working from old information.

You Can't Buy Loyalty

It's an interesting thought that, whilst you may be loyal to an agency to sell your properties, potential buyers may not share this view point. Buying a house is not lke buying the latest iPhone; if someone wants to buy your house, they will buy it through whichever agent lists it.

What does this mean?

Well, it means that a buyer will likely be registered with multiple agents to receive property alerts.

Doesn't that mean it's a good thing to use multiple agents?

Not really. Using more agents does not normally open up your property to a new and undiscovered pool of applicants. Whilst most decent agencies will proactively target pre-registered buyers who they think would be suitable to view your house, the chances are the buyer has already seen your home on a property portal. Which brings us on to....

Advertising

It's a good idea for you to list your home with an agency who uses all the main property portals. The main ones of note are Zoopla, On The Market and of couse the old stalwart that is RightMove! It could be a good move to use multiple agencies if one of them uses one portal and one of them the others. However, do you think it would be even better to use an agent who will list your property on all of them? We think that's good for consistency and avoids one of the main downsides of multi agency listing....

Ruining your Poker Face

There's a good chance that you property will come up as a perfectly valid duplication on a property portal if you're using multiple estate agencies to sell it. To a prospective buyer, this potentially gives across the feeling that:

You're very keen to sell;
You're struggling to sell;
There's a deal to be done!

So, it might improve your chances of getting the price you want for your home if you stick with one agency.

It could prove beneficial to switch agents if you're not happy with an aspect of the service they are providing. But, unless you're prohibited by the terms of the contract, it might be better to part company with one before enlisting the help of another.

So, does going multi-agency improve the odds of selling your home? We don't think so. We think it's down to the overall effectiveness and proactivity of your agent of choice.