How to choose a good real estate agent in Mandurah
It’s honestly amazing how terrible so many real estate agents are here in Mandurah. Not all, obviously. There are some absolutely amazing, hard working, honest ones.
But I come across so many in my travels that never respond to enquiries, don’t ring buyers back, don’t rock up on time for advertised home opens, leave home opens early, forget appointments, have no knowledge of a property they’re selling, or no interest in giving you any information, or just simply dgaf and just lie through their teeth.
Now to be honest the real estate agent doesn’t really owe the buyer anything. Their legal fiduciary duty lies toward the seller. But many are most definitely harming the owners of the property they are representing by giving such bad service to potential buyers.
I’ve had agents not contact me for 2 days after I’ve lodged an enquiry on a property, then when I’ve finally managed to get through to someone they informed me that the home just went under offer. I can guarantee they did not tell the seller about all the other enquiries on the property that never got to submit an offer. As soon as the agent sniffed a deal, they just pressed the seller to accept the first offer as quick as possible and lock in that juicy commission.
Great news for the buyer that won the property, but certainly not an agent I’d ever hand $20,000 or more to in commission for moving my house.
So might I suggest a few ways of finding an agent you would trust if you are wanting to sell your home.
Go to a heap of home opens. Spend a few weekends visiting as many properties as you can. You’ll meet lots of agents. You’ll find some that do a really good job of treating you like a human, following up on your interests, and you will recognise that they are exactly the type of person you’d want selling your home.
Make some purchasing enquiries online about various properties similar to yours through realestate.com.au etc. See who actually even gets back to you, and how timely they do.
DO NOT simply ask around. I have found sellers with the wool pulled over their eyes, that don’t even realise the salesperson ripped them off. I saw one on Facebook a week or two ago where the seller left an AMAZING review for a local agent. It was something like “he got me $20,000 more than I even wanted for my home within just a couple of hours of listing it.” I checked the property. The guy sold it $100k below market price, and it was below $400k! It never occurred to the seller that if your home sells before it even reaches the internet, you might not be getting top dollar.
Do not rely on the online agent rating services. I have seen agents who are utterly useless win those things for different suburbs. I have seen top selling agents who have great service, and top selling agents who must have sold their soul to satan because I can’t imagine how they ever get repeat business. Some agents are good at soliciting 5 star reviews, and some are good at selling homes. They aren’t always the same people.
Do NOT use the “find a local agent” services. Agencies who can’t rely on repeat business literally pay those websites for leads. You’re not getting the cream of the crop.
When you shortlist your agents, look carefully at the photos online of their other listings. I have found 90% of real estate photographers here in Mandurah are utterly shithouse. I’m not a pro myself or anything, but it takes 5 minutes of research to realise what a good real estate photograph is vs a mediocre one. Most photographers here just get a wide-angle lens and snap away, completely unable to capture views, never changing lenses, never bringing in extra lighting, and I don’t think a many here in Mandurah even know what a tilt-shift lens is. It may pay to go find a good photographer yourself, rather than just use the one the real estate agent rams down your throat. I have been to lots of home opens lately where the views were A LOT BETTER than the photos made out. I am sure the photographer just used wide angle lenses to try and capture amazing views, inadvertently making the views seem way off in the distance, and they would always warp the shape of the home and have way too much sky or ground in pics of the building, because they didn't know how to use a tilt-shift tens; not to mention every room looks out of proportion.
You’re selling your pride and joy, for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Put a few weekends of work in as you would if you were buying, and find someone who will put the same amount of effort in for you in selling your place.
And if you read all that and still want a personal recommendation, text, call me or email me and I’ll gladly share some local names that I do recommend. CLICK HERE FOR MY CONTACT DETAILS.
