Exclusive listing may get better results

Should vendors list with one agency or many? The latter makes sense on the surface, a broad-brush approach with more agents selling your property has got to be good.

However, agents say they put more effort into selling a property if they have sole agency.

Barfoot & Thompson regional manager Vaughan Borcovsky says the reality is that an agency is going to work harder for a vendor if it's a sole agency because they earn more. The agency knows that when the property sells, its agents will benefit. That's not always the case with a general listing when vendors spread their bets across multiple agencies. Any of the agencies could clinch the sale leaving nothing for others.

In the case of a general listing no one agent has a specific responsibility to look after your property, which can lead to a lack of motivation to go the extra mile. So a sole agency can incentivise agents to work harder.

Agents with an exclusive listing will put more time into doing things such as leafletting and contacting potential buyers on spec for a property they are assured a commission for. What's more, says Vaughan, the buyer's marketing money is spread more thinly if they're working with more than one agency.

On the other hand, with a general agency there are more agents selling the property who in theory may have clients that other agencies don't.

Vendors sometimes don't understand sole agency agreements. The Real Estate Agents Authority (REAA) says these agreements give an agency the exclusive right to arrange the sale of a property for a specific period of time - usually 90 days. Vendors can't sell through another agent in that time or risk paying two lots of success fees.

When sole agency agreements expire and it's up to agent and vendor to sign a new agreement.

Regardless of whether you choose sole or general agency it's essential to read every last word of the agreement before signing.

The REAA recommends vendors only enter into general agency agreements with agents who use the voluntary standard clauses for residential agency agreements. See the link below.

Although the typical sole agency period is three months, a vendor can specify a different period of time. Once the sole agency agreement ends the vendor can open it up as a general listing to other agents or re-sign a sole agency agreement with another agency.

One the web: tinyurl.com/voluntarystandarclauses