Having ONE Agent vs. Multiple Agents to Sell Your Place: A Sales Gimmick or Real Benefits in it?

“Can you give me an Exclusive to sell your home?”

If you’ve called a property agent to sell your home, chances are you would have been asked that.

An “exclusive” simply refers to giving only one agent the right to market your property for you. This means that only he/she can advertise it and is entitled to the commission for the sale.

The alternative (or “non-exclusive”) is to get multiple agents to market your property and bring buyers – the one who closes the deal gets paid the commission.

Is An “Exclusive” Yet Another Sales Gimmick?

Well, I have to admit – I’d be tempted to think that the more agents I have, the quicker I’ll be able to sell off my property.

The idea is that sending out an army to find that hidden pot of gold in the jungle is better than sending out a lone man to slowly dig around for it.

For many, it’s therefore easy to assume a request for an “exclusive” is merely about the agent wanting to secure the deal for himself, with little or no benefit to you.

However, marketing and selling a property is much more than being about finding a hidden pot of gold.

It involves a couple of things – capturing buyers’ interest, creating value and pro-actively pursuing a keen buyer – all of this takes considerable effort from the part of the property agent and also comes at a cost.

So from the perspective of the property agent, it makes more sense to be guaranteed a reward (yes – a commission) in return for all this effort and cost invested…rather than to land up empty handed after months of hard work, seeing another agent net the sale.

For this reason, property agents also tend to put little priority or focus on listings to which they do not have that ‘exclusive’.

Unlike many of the other (occasionally dodgy – yep, agreed!) sales pitches property agents make, this one about getting an “exclusive” therefore does have a real basis to it.

However, is it all about benefiting the property agent only?

Property Sellers Beware

A year ago, a friend of mine was looking for a new place to move to after his previous home went en-bloc (yeah, not nice to be displaced after living there peacefully for 17 years). He settled on a 3-bedroom condominium unit in the west area…which was marketed by (at last count) 14 different agents.

The first agent (let’s call him Daniel) he contacted was a rather earnest guy who told him “$1.18 million should close the deal” – a rather reasonable price. However, my buyer – being smart enough – refused to offer that amount. He thought he’d have some fun with the price.

He ended up contacting all 14 agents, telling them: “Hey, I’ve got an offer at $1.11 million. First agent to bring me the OTP from the seller gets the sale”.

I can only imagine the wars that went on behind the scene, with each agent fighting to secure the sale.

Long story cut short, one of the agents managed to secure the deal (he was shrewd enough to get the 1% cheque from my friend before anyone else did) – and the sale was made at $1.11 million.

My friend would have been happy to pay $1.18 million, if only Daniel was the only agent and stuck to that price.

However, when you’ve got 13 other competitors – one of whom will otherwise get the sale – you no longer work in the interest of the seller. You work for yourself. If Daniel had insisted on $1.18 million, my friend would have gone to another agent with his lower offer. So there was no way Daniel could have held on to bring in that $1.18 million for the seller.

This is not a unique story. In the course of my work, I have seen this scenario played out many times.

Sometimes, the sellers tell me “It’s ok, I don’t like this offer, I can wait for another higher one”.

However, if this scenario plays out repeatedly, do you think you as a seller will ever get a better price since the agents helping you sell the property don’t have the space to push up or even hold the price without getting undercut by each other?

Quality Over Quantity

Alright, I know there’s a conflict of interest here since I’m also one of em' property agents and I forgive you for thinking I’m attempting to coax you to sign an ‘exclusive’ with me.

But bear in mind that I have promised you “honest, insightful content” (it’s in that banner you see when you first enter uppmarketsg.com!) and in writing this, I certainly hope to give you as a property seller a different perspective towards this topic.

(There are some things I will sell and there are some which I never ever will – such as “buy this (obscenely overpriced) new launch!!” just because I will get a 6% commission from it)

Property marketing is increasingly competitive. These days, it’s the quality of the listing and how pro-active your property agent is that matters.

The days of property advertising being done solely through newspaper ads are long gone. So you no longer need Agent John to advertise on Monday, Agent Jane to advertise on Tuesday, Agent Mimi to advertise on Wednesday……you get my point.

The goal has shifted from quantity to quality.

A single property listing on portals like PropertyGuru or 99.co will be visible 24/7.

Therefore, what difference does it make if your property is listed only once, versus 20 times? If a buyer searches “3 bedrooms, district 20, budget $2 million” and your property falls within those specs, he’s going to see that one listing either way.

Of course I know that many sellers worry that if they give one agent an ‘exclusive’ and this agent goes on a holiday…falls asleep and doesn’t bring any buyers at all…that they’ll be wasting time.

Unfortunately it’s a fact that there are many such property agents in the market... Which is why it is important you choose one with a track record and is transparent about the work he/she does (you can see an example in the pitch I make to home sellers here).

Ultimately, when you do get an agent who is proactive and can drive the value of your property through his presentations – giving him/her the exclusive control to manage the buyers that come along will give you a definite advantage.

You’re more likely to get a better price and a quality buyer for your property that way.