News & Advice.

Selling your home ranks right alongside buying one as among the most stressful tasks anyone can take on. This is a process most people will only experience once or twice in their lifetimes, so it is completely understandable for anyone to feel out of their depth with no clear idea of even how to go about the initial steps, let alone whose advice to trust and follow down the track.

Add in the time involved and the prospect fast becomes overwhelming. Most vendors, no matter their situation, are already stretched to the limit by work, family, study or other demands. Combined with the multiple tasks and brainpower required to successfully go about a sale, the entire process becomes a weight many find difficult to bear.

This is why vendor advocacy – whereby a vendor appoints an expert liaison between themselves and the real estate agent selling their property – is on the rise. Just like mowing services and childcare centres, the concept of the average homeowner appointing someone to take charge when it comes time to sell is simply another product of a time-poor society where people are flat out managing their daily lives.

How a vendor advocate can help you  

Maker Advisory takes numerous calls from people who want to sell their homes but haven’t the faintest idea of where to start. Their queries are as simple as who to call first and what to ask, to how to know when an agent is giving them the right advice on setting a reserve.  If a client has sold in the past, they are generally after help to avoid pitfalls they previously encountered. Many just cannot face doing it themselves. Sometimes, clients can be emotional as they are dealing with a deceased estate. Others may not have the time or capacity to prepare their home for sale.

In cases like these appointing a buyer’s agent as your vendor advocate and letting them take charge can provide the perfect solution. As buyer’s agents we know how to analyse markets in depth no matter where they are located. We buy and sell multiple properties every week across a variety of markets and so are acutely aware of buyer habits, from exactly what they look for to how much they are truly prepared to pay.

A vendor advocate covers every base of the home selling process. They act in virtually the same way as a concierge and will arrange everything required to prepare a home for sale. They will carry out quotes for styling to organising any gardening or repairs.

Importantly, a Maker Advisory vendor advocate will work hard to choose the best agent for your particular property and interview as many as required until the right one is found. 

A vendor advocate will know how to pick the right agent and it’s not simply based on their profile. For example, Maker Advisort will look at which agent is selling the most homes with the same or similar attributes to the one our client wants to sell and then which one is achieving the best prices for that style of residence. This is critical because most homeowners would not be aware that those agents with the highest sales volumes in an area are not necessarily the ones achieving the best prices or pitching the marketing correctly.

No added cost  

The beauty of the service is that there are no additional fees for the seller. A vendor advocate receives a percentage of the selling agent’s commission as a referral fee.

How it works 

During the campaign, the vendor advocate works with the appointed agent while carefully studying and analysing feedback from potential buyers. Once the picture is clear, the vendor advocate deciphers the agent’s feedback and then makes recommendations to their client regarding where to place the reserve, when to sell and whether their property would best be sold by private treaty or auction.

Taking care of all these many factors that comprise a home sale is important if a vendor wants to fetch the right price for their property.

Who a vendor advocate can help  

While a vendor advocate gives any home seller an advantage, they are especially useful for busy executives, for expat owners living overseas or executors of wills.  

For example, Maker Advisory recently helped two siblings who had to sell their late parent’s home on Sydney’s Lower North Shore and felt too emotional to do it themselves. They also were not living in the area and had no real idea of which real estate agent to appoint.

Four agents were sent by Maker Advisory to view the property who gave estimates on what they believed it would fetch. Our team appointed the best agent, and then managed the property’s styling and preparation for sale, taking special care to ensure the late parents would have been proud of the home.

In this particular case, the first time the beneficiaries met the agent was when they signed the reserve letter. After the property was sold, Maker Advisory managed readying the home for settlement and organised removalists and cleaners.

Contact Maker Advisory today to discover how a vendor advocate can help take the stress out of selling your home.