What Agents Do - Guide Number 6 - Offers

19 Jun 2015

One of the most important aspects of your estate agents role is not only to negotiate a price (or ideally secure the full asking price of course) but actually to generate an offer in the first place! Too many agents simply see themselves as people who show buyers around property, hoping that an offer will be forthcoming as a result. It probably won’t! 

Purchasing a property is potentially such a big decision that even if a buyer prefers your property to all the others they have seen, they may still feel reluctant to progress to the offer stage. It can appear “safer” for them to keep looking – just in case they miss out on an even better property!

A good agent understands this and sees him/herself as a facilitator whose role it is to help the buyer make the right buying decision, that is genuinely in their best interests, which, without the agent’s involvement, the buyer might otherwise have had difficulty making. The agent will then use various techniques, including the use of open, closed, leading and closing questions to help the buyer arrive at that decision themselves.

The agent additionally understands “buyer remorse”, which is that niggling doubt in the back of the buyer’s mind that they might have made the wrong decision, and can prepare them for this.

Of course, there is also a lot of skill in assessing the strength of the offer and whether to recommend acceptance. Do the buyers have their mortgage in place? Do they have anywhere to sell and if so do they have a buyer yet? Are they committed to moving to this area and especially to your house?  Are they also considering other properties? Are they likely to let you down? How excited are they about buying your property?

So when the time comes to sell your property, please take advantage of our skills in helping you move.