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When it comes to real estate in Beenleigh and Eagleby, there’s one name you need to know: Benjamin Waite. As a trusted expert with deep local knowledge, proven results, and a passion for helping clients succeed, Benjamin is the go-to agent for sellers, buyers, and investors in the region. Worth the Waite is more than just a podcast—it’s your insider guide to Beenleigh's property markey, offering valuable insights and strategies designed to position you for success in the property market.
From understanding local trends to maximising your property’s value, each episode equips you with the tools and knowledge you need to make confident Real Estate decisions. With a friendly yet professional approach, Benjamin shares real-world advice, stories, and tips, making complex real estate topics accessible and actionable. Whether you’re planning your next move or simply want to stay informed, tune in weekly and discover why working with Benjamin is always Worth the Waite!
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Selling your home is a big decision and choosing the right agent can make all the difference. But how do you know if you're picking the right one? Welcome to Worth the Weight, Ben Lee's local property podcast. I'm Benjamin Waite and today we're going to unpack and I'm going to share some tips on how you can ace your listing meeting and choose the perfect agent.
Looking to stay ahead in the Beenleigh and Eagleby property market? Want to get local insights from someone who knows his community inside and out? Then you've come to the right place. I'm Benjamin Waite and welcome to Worth the Waite, Beanley and Eagleby's local property podcast, where we'll be diving into everything you need to know about real estate right here in our beautiful region.
So, in today's episode, we will walk through what you should expect during a listing meeting. The key questions you need to ask and how to evaluate each agent so you can make the best decision. When selling your home, the listing meeting is a chance to interview agents and to make sure you're choosing the right one.
Because ultimately, they're going to be representing you. So it's not just about picking someone that's going to sell your property, but it's about finding an agent who's going to get you the best possible result with the most stress free and smooth process. In today's episode, we'll walk through exactly what you should expect during this meeting, the key questions you need to ask them and how to evaluate the agent and their answers.
A listing meeting is essentially where you're interviewing an agent or a number of agents that you're considering. And you might ask, how do you find these agents? Well, there are a number of ways you can find an agent, but probably the best way is if you search on realestate. com or domain. com, and, there within the suburb that you have your property.
And it might not necessarily be where you live, but, you know, where you might have your investment property. There will be, every agent who has sold a house in that suburb in the last 12 months. Usually, you're trying to want to speak to maybe two or three agents, and you want to make sure that they're dominant in that area.
Now, you can also have Agents who you might have a previous relationship with and you know how they work and the results that they deliver and they might be able to sell out of area. And this is what we would call an out of area agent. Now the processes are all the same, but I suppose the difference between an out of area agent and a local agent will be essentially the nuances that they know.
They'll also have genuine buyers in their black book, so to speak. And The thing to point out with the nuances is that a local agent will know what's under contract and what's recently sold before it hits the, the public portals. So they'll know that if there's some really strong price growth happening very quickly, they'll be able to go, well, you know, this one's on a contract for this price and that price, which is why I believe that, you know, we can get a little bit more for yours.
Whereas if you've got an outside area agent, they're only going to look at the. public records, which you've got access to as well, and they might be leaving money on the table. So what should you expect a listing agent to come prepared with? There's different styles and different agents will have. Some of them are conversational.
Some of them will be very prepared and have quite a structured presentation or pitch, if you will, and others will be based on case studies. It really depends on on the agent and there's no real right or wrong answer, but there are some really key questions or bits of information that you want to draw out of this presentation.
So these bits of information you want to draw out, their experience in the area, which is what I touched on before, their marketing strategy, how they would There's so many different nuances to this and the way that you would market a unit, against a five bedroom riverfront property will be completely different.
And there's also elements within, within this would be the pricing tactics. And there's again, so many different areas around this, whether it's, you know, an offers over campaign, whether it's a price, whether it's no price, whether it's an auction or a private treaty and an agent should be able to unpack all of those for you and the pros and the cons.
To each of these, how they intend to communicate to you and does that suit what your, what, what communication style you like. So some agents will be, will be very verbal, some agents will be more in writing, some agents and a growing trend now is to develop a bit of a chat. You know, typically on WhatsApp or other platforms like that that will have all the stakeholders involved as well.
I typically like to, like to do it that way, because it's very, very efficient. You as a client have access to all of my team. You're not just needing to chase me for some information. Because a lot of real estate agents, are very, very busy and we're talking to a lot of people. So to be able to do the job properly, you need to delegate certain roles within the workflow.
Otherwise, not one person can do it all at once. And in the chat scenario, you've got access to all of those depending on which area of that workflow, or the onboarding process you're, you're involved in. You also want them to understand and unpack all of the costs around that. Now, there are typically three costs in selling a home, but you need to unpack all of those.
And, you know, part of that will obviously be their commissions, advertising, fees. Are there any extra fees that would not necessarily be part of the real estate agent per se, but they're also part of the changeover cost in selling a home? Like a conveyancer or solicitor, for example. You also want to unpack what their negotiation skills are like.
How they will negotiate. How multiple offers look like, if you're lucky enough to have multiple offers. How they will present those to you. What's expected from you in a decision. Some people are very experienced in selling a home, so they know how to play this from a, from an owner's perspective.
But also, will they give you some guidance and some recommendations around that? Or are they just going to give it all to you and then you need to give them the answer back? You want a bit of, I would think that from an agent, you would want a little bit of guidance and a little bit of, a little bit of recommendation as this is what they do all day every day.
And then you also want to kind of understand the timeframes. What's the period of time that it usually takes to sell a property? Who are these buyers? I really unpack who the buyers are and who the target audience is. And what is necessary, what, what's going to be, when are you going to get your money at the end of the day?
Is it going to be a long settlement? Is it going to be a short settlement? You know, knowing who these buyers are will, will better equip you to, plan a time frame and when you're going to get your money. Because a lot of the time we're selling for a reason and we're usually needing the money for something to, to move forward with.
So we need to be able to plan around that as well. So. The agent has given you their pitch, or answered all of these questions. But how do you know if they're talking out of their rear end? How do you know if, how do you evaluate their answers? I think a really good understanding is reading their body language.
Is it clear and concise? Are they delivering case studies on previous sales that they've done? Are they, you know, the recommendations and the suggestions that they're providing, have they worked for similar properties in this market? And have they worked recently? Or are they drawing on information from, you know, three years ago or two years ago, which could be a completely different market with completely different buyers.
So very, very important that they are clear. They're concise. They, they look like they know what they're talking. They're not stumbling across any of their words. And also that they, they look very, very confident in what they're delivering. It's all about a numbers game. And I think that if they're not across the numbers, how are they going to be able to sell your property and the area more importantly to a buyer and give the buyer confidence?
to put an offer in if they can't give you confidence in their, in their ability and what they're trying to communicate. So I think that's a red flag. I think the over promising on price is a classic tactic and what we call that in the industry is buying the listing. So a lot of agents will try and shoot for the stars to try and get you interested.
And then they will, you know, potentially, you know, kind of work you down. Now there's market. Does stuff and it's uncontrollable. This has happened to me before where we've appraised a property and I've genuinely thought that we would come in at this price, but you know, the overwhelming feedback has been on a certain area in the, in the property or, you know, for example, it might be that the floor plan was a little bit small or that, the gardens looked too onerous to upkeep.
Okay. Now, when I assessed it originally, it was beautifully renovated. I'm thinking of one property in particular recently where it was beautifully renovated. It was a four bedroom, two bathroom. They converted it from a three bedroom into a fourth bedroom. The living room was a little bit small, but I didn't think it was, it was small enough to to really be a strong constraint for buyers.
But ultimately, when we came to the market, that was the overwhelming feedback. So we had to make an adjustment on our price expectations with the seller. And I think that the communication with an agent to a Owner needs to be really transparent and needs to be really, really quick so you can act quite nimble on it on this.
But, this is why real estate agents will give you a 10 percent range in their appraisal because market factors will come into play. And sometimes markets change while you're on the market as well. So that's an important thing to know. But over promising on price can be a tactic that agents can use.
Being vague on marketing plans. You want them to be clear and precise around this. If they're selling a lot of property, they've got a tried and tested process and system. And the way that agents will deliver consistently is through a systemized, systemized process. And you want to make sure that you can, you can draw that system out.
If they're poor in communication, that's also a red flag too. So you, if they don't have an answer on how they will communicate to you efficiently and in a timely manner, I think that would be a red flag to look out for. Another question, you should ask when your agents are competing with each other or you're getting multiple agents in is what's their point of difference?
Why are they different to other people in the area? Now an agent who's good at marketing, because ultimately they're going to be marketing themselves as much as they're going to be marketing, your property. They should have a very clear understanding on why their service is better and consistently.
higher and more deliverable than what somebody else is. If they've got a clear point of difference that shows that they, they are a marketer in essence, which is what you want for somebody selling your home. Other things to note I think is personal fit. There's been agents or there's been listing presentations that I've delivered.
And it's been perfect. I have walked out of there thinking that was a great presentation. We just didn't gel and that happens. There's personality types. My personality type might've rubbed them up the wrong way or vice versa. So there is an element of a personal fit and you need to have a gut feel with with an individual as well.
So I wouldn't underestimate that. So your final steps in choosing an agent is ask all those questions. Evaluate the answers that they give you, make sure that they are concise. When probing for case studies or examples, they can rattle them off straight away and they can also provide for some, some stats or some data to back that up and that will help you make your decision.
Agents and some agents out there who are, you know, good operators or have been around for a long time can sense desperation and they can use that to their advantage. So I think that you take the information in Ask for all of that, you know, to be communicated to you so you can refer back to it and sit on, sit on the decision for a couple of days before you go back to the agents.
And there's nothing wrong than going back to the agents to, to ask them to clarify or confirm some, some other, some other items. Choosing an agent is one of the most important decisions you'll make when you're selling your home. By asking the right questions and carefully evaluating those answers, you'll be in a great position to choose someone who will make the process as smooth and ultimately successful as possible.
If you're thinking about selling, I'd love to chat to show you what we can offer. You can reach me at ljhookerbeinglee or visit me at benjaminwaite. com. au and remember When it comes to real estate, it's always worth the wait.
Thanks for tuning in to Worth the Wait. If you enjoyed the podcast, please be sure to share with a friend and don't forget to hit that subscribe so you won't miss an episode and all my local property tips, updates, and insights. Until next time, I'm here when you need.