Selling Your Home? How Agents Devalue It

Selling or buying a house. What you tell the estate agent determines the price. For example, an agent told me that owners were in the middle of a divorce. I found that unfair to them, because the agent was telling prospective buyers that they were desperate to get rid of it.

Who is the agent working for? The owners who trusted them to sell their home, or the buyer who will dumb down the price as much as possible, after getting that information? Truth is, agents work for themselves, for the commission they get from telling you the obvious: This is the kitchen. This is the bedroom. This is the garden.

Agents who tell prospective buyers that you relocated to Germany are  not helping you. They are indirectly encouraging buyers to take advantage of that information and put on the table, a lower offer to purchase the house/flat/apartment.  

Be careful with personal information you give agents, although there are questions you cannot avoid like: Do you own your home or renting? There’s a reason for that, which is public knowledge online but we can deal with it in another blog.

The bottom line is that estate agents should not tell buyers that you’re divorced, you’re black or white, you’re approaching retirement, you’re a single parent or leaving the country. That is not relevant to the price, but agents use it to influence the price buyers offer. They just want their percentage, the commission.

By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.