Working with a 0-week contract estate agent - don't get tied in

How long will it take to sell my house?  A question almost every vendor asks.  The simple answer is that we simply don’t know.  We can use marketplace trends and industry analysis to give us an idea, but this is based on a ‘similar’ property to yours and can be way out.  So, if we, as experts, can’t predict the future, why would you agree to a tie-in of 16 weeks with any estate agent? A very good question.  The one I often ask myself is this. If I am tied-in for 16 weeks that must surely mean that the agent isn’t expecting to sell my house within 4 months?

At Orchards Estates, we don’t offer 16-week tie-ins, we don’t offer 4-week tie-ins, in fact we don’t tie you in at all.  We are confident that we know your property and the marketplace well enough that we can and will sell your house.  We don’t mind if you shop around either, we are confident enough in our ability to market, and sell, your property that we know you won’t be fooled by the ‘Shiny Suit Brigade’ and special offers of tie-ins or low percentage rates, or cash back deals.  We know that it is a quality service that is as flexible as you that our vendors really want, and that is what we offer.

Our 0-week contracts are simply that, we will market your property until you tell us not to, or until we sell your property, whichever comes first. And we believe you don’t need to shop around or engage multiple agencies either.

Of course, the argument in favour of multiple agency agreements has always been that with more than one agency working on your behalf, your home benefits from wider exposure to a greater number of potential buyers, which is why so many people used to go for them, and still do – even though sole agency agreements are less costly and with 0-week contracts like ours, a lot less risk than being tied into two or three 16-week contracts.

A vendor who had been on the market with two other local agents told us that they found neither agent pushing out the boat to sell their house as they only had a 50% chance of earning the commission and the terms on their contracts were not even compatible. One agent even hinted that at the end of the joint term they would reduce the fee for a sole agency agreement.  The vendor came to the conclusion that both agents were stalling deliberately for this same reason.  We got them an offer on their house in less than 19 days on our 0-week terms and charged them less than half that they would have paid with their previous agent(s).

 The truth is that sole agency agreements are the best bet – as long as you choose your agent and contract term wisely of course; it’s much better to have one highly motivated and thoroughly professional agent on your case than a number of them just going through the motions. And it’s cheaper.