Many vendors find it hard to hand over control of the sale of their beloved home – even to the person they have selected as best able to do the job! Unfortunately, vendors trying to ‘help’ the agent do their job can put purchasers off without realising it.
Many vendors think their knowledge and input are essential to presenting the property’s best features. After all, no one knows the home like they do. But all too often, their subjective, detailed commentary has the opposite effect to what it was intended to have.
In most cases, direct contact between vendor and purchaser results in lost opportunities, especially when purchasers are put off the property by too much information too soon. It is not uncommon for vendors to anticipate and answer objections before they are voiced and in so doing highlight negatives purchasers have not even thought of.
For example, vendors – conscious of the fact that their home is near a school – might say: “We hardly ever hear the children. They’re only outside for half an hour before school, during recess and an hour at lunchtime. It’s nothing.” The purchasers, in reality, might not have paid much attention to the school’s proximity, especially since it is not recess or lunchtime at that moment and because they are still at the stage of picking up a more general impression of the house itself. It’s like pouring the proverbial cold water on someone’s enthusiasm.
Vendors who hover during inspections can also make buyers uncomfortable. It is harder for them to ask the agent for the very details they do want to know. They are less able to make themselves at home and their attention is sometimes on small talk rather than on the property. And it is much harder to imagine themselves as proud owners while the current owner is looking over their shoulder.
Of course it is important for home sellers to be connected with the selling process and even more important that they can see that their Campbelltown agent is doing the right thing on their behalf. The best way to stay involved is to choose an agent they can trust to show their house to the best advantage – and one they know will communicate with them every step of the way.
