Sell with A Team or an Individual Agent?

Being a savvy seller dictates that you interview several agents before making the decision as to who will best represent your interest in selling. If you ask an individual agent what the pros and cons are of working with an individual, invariably you will hear things like:

"You'll be just another client, you'll never hear from that great agent who signed you up again"

"You'll get my undivided attention and I'll always know what's going on with every aspect of your sale"

"I don't do more than XX deals at a time so that each one gets the attention they deserve - a team needs to support the team, it's a numbers game to them"

"I have more flexibility with the commission I charge, I don't have to support a team, the broker provides my support."

Ok, so that makes sense.... Let's ask the agent who works as a team how I would benefit from the team as opposed to an individual agent:

"My team consists of 5 licensed agents and 2 support people. There will always be someone available to answer your questions, see to the many details of a successful listing and sale, and you benefit from the buyer base that our buyer's agents have."

"We have a person in our office full time who is experienced in coordinating advertisers, photographers, and trade people you might need, from electricians, plumbers, painters, handymen, locksmiths, cleaners, etc. That same person tracks every showing of your property and follows up with every agent to get feedback. Feedback is essential to understanding what needs to be done if your house does not sell quickly."

"Another full time person in our office is not only a licensed agent, but acts as our closing manager. She will continually follow up on inspections, the borrower's bank to be sure the loan is fully approved, the title company to be sure title work is done timely, earnest money is deposited, appraisals are done, and a long list of other details necessary to a successful closing."

"We have a team meeting once a week to discuss any listings or sales that are pending and the status of each, so that every team member knows at every juncture what the status is and can step in at any time in an emergency."

"I will call you once a week to give you an update on all aspects of your listing and/or sale, you can call my office any day, there is always someone available to help."

Hmmm..... This sounds awfully good. Actually there are more arguments for working with a team than against - may be one of the reasons that more agents are forming their own teams.

So, you need to make your own decisions, weigh all the options.... I will post a list of questions you might want to consider asking a potential listing agent on an interview. Hope you find this helpful.

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