Trust is to the successful sale of a house as location is to buying one.
"Find an agent you implicitly trust," urges Ray White Ponsonby manager Simon Damerell, "backed by a strong, ethical company that's been around for some time. The wrong decision could affect the rest of your life."
For starters, Simon Damerell says do your homework. Ask your friends. Read the property pages and local For Sale signs and identify the dominant agents and companies in the market. Go to open homes: does the agent motion you towards the register on the bench and subsequently ignore you, or do you get the same attention you want for your own potential buyers?
Ask agents how they see their role. If they answer "I'm here to sell your house," stop listening: the right answer is "To get you the best possible price."
Ask about their selling strategy. "If they say, 'I've got a big data base, I'm just looking for one buyer,' forget them," Damerell says. Top dollar is achieved when buyers are competing with buyers, not when they're effectively in a price war with the vendor.
"It must be an office-wide strategy, which means that when one agent in the office receives an offer, all other agents are contacted before it's presented to you to ensure other interested buyers get a chance to make an offer, too."
Never choose on price alone. The agent who promises the best price may tell you the following week that the market's mysteriously changed, and saving a thousand or two on a commission "could be the costliest mistake you'll ever make".
Will an agent with a vested interest - a discounted commission, a couple of grand spent on marketing - be prepared to wait for the best possible price to recoup it?
Get references. Is the agent familiar with your form of title; does s/he scrutinise your LIM?
Ask whether the agent or company has been up before the REINZ Disciplinary Tribunal in the last few years (vendors will soon be able to check for themselves on the Real Estate Agents Authority website: www.reaa.govt.nz).
And when you find the right agent, says Simon Damerell, stick with them.
