It’s okay. I know. Nobody likes Real Estate Agents.
In the 1990s, before becoming an agent, I temporarily moved to Queensland and left management of my house with a local real estate agent. When I came back a year later, after the vacating inspection had been carried out and the keys were handed back to me, I went into my house and just about cried.
I was devastated. The immaculate little house I loved now had stains everywhere. There were holes in some of the walls. The pool needed to be resurfaced. The tropical garden had been beautiful but was now an overgrown jungle in some parts and just oily dirt where cars had been parked in others.
My neighbours had seen the tenants hosing the house out before they left (yes, it was carpeted) and the police had been called just about every public holiday.
But the cracker was the response from the Agent to whom I had entrusted the management of my beloved home. “Fair wear and tear” they said. Although, they did admit that they “may not have done as many property inspections as they should have.”
There and then I decided to do it up and sell it. I listed my home with two agents and they were terrible. Once again disappointment struck. They didn’t communicate. There was very little interest in the property, few inspections and not much bother by the Agents to try and get any more.
I thought, “How hard can this be? They would be getting paid a small fortune and doing next to nothing”.
I have since realised that it is not just about putting up a sign and expecting the phone to ring. There is a process involved in selling a home but my thoughts were that these agents were falling short.
I decided to sell the home myself. I wrote out a plan on paper and what I would do to get my house sold to someone who loved it and was happy to pay the right price.
In the first two weeks I had a few inspections and one party expressed an interest to purchase. We negotiated over the next few days and I secured my sale. The house had cost $140,000 ten years earlier. I had just sold it for $439,950 and this was where my enthusiasm and love of property, renovation and resale began.
I took the leap from Business Management to being a junior in a Real Estate agency so I could learn the ropes. I was in for a shock. It was aggressive, competitive, and seemed to require some kind of moral bypass. I didn’t stay long. In fact it almost turned me off the industry. However, my love of property made me keep thinking, “There has to be a better way”.
Of course there was.
At Rachael Goldsworthy Realty, my team and I are proud to offer something completely different.
We don’t just hammer in a sign and wait for a call. There are 88 essential steps we take in the process of selling for every property we list.
Our key professional strengths are:
- Presentation
- Pricing
- Negotiation
We use the best styling and photography available to us and we give advice on small improvements that we feel will reward you in your sale price.
When it comes to our customer care, our model is based on my personal experiences of “what not to do”.
Our company ethos is simply:
- Treat other people as you would like to be treated
- Be transparent and communicate well
- Know each other’s expectations and ensure they are met
- If you say you are going to do something, do it, and do it when you say you will
These are the things that make us better, faster and easier to deal with when it’s time to sell your house. Selling your property for its maximum potential doesn’t happen by chance. It is this that makes us The Agent of choice for people who love their properties.
I encourage you to <href=”contact-us”>contact me to discuss how we can tailor the real estate experience for you.