What Agents Do – Accompanied Viewings
August 19, 2020
The layman’s view of an estate agent is simply someone who shows prospective buyers round properties. Whilst understandable, this simplistic perspective belies the fact that the well-trained agent knows how to maximise the viewing opportunity with the specific objective of prompting a sale.
Whilst “showing someone round” might appear straightforward, vendors who do this themselves as opposed to allowing their agent to do so may be missing out on opportunities on several fronts.
Firstly, a good agent recognizes that they cannot “force” someone to buy a property. However, they can encourage buyers to buy a specific property in comparison to others on the market, based on a good understanding of the buyer’s specific needs, and importantly of those areas in which compromise might be found. Most buyers compromise on something! A specific vendor only wants to sell their property and generally has no idea of the buyer’s needs in the context of their stated preferences.
There is also a process involved as well as a degree of psychology. Most people prefer to view a property at least twice before committing. The first viewing is really to “get a feel” for the property – “could we be happy here?” Yet vendors often try to impress with logical/factual statements that would be better kept for a second viewing.
Showing a property is the correct order can be considered a fine art. An experienced agent will know which room is the best place to start a viewing and where the viewing should end. These can differ from viewing to viewing as the agent will recognise what is important to the prospective buyers. For some the kitchen may be extremely important for others it may be the garden.
Additionally, buyers prefer to discuss their plans for a property out of the earshot of the vendor and accompanied viewings allow them the space to do so.
Finally, a good agent is trained to spot buying signs and knows how to act on them, thereby helping the buyer to make a decision that genuinely is in the best interests of buyer and seller alike, resulting in a successful sale that will indeed go through to a satisfactory completion.
