Open List - List With The Lot
(Or Pot Luck?)

As Open Listing is when your property is listed with a number of Real Estate agents and the commission is paid to the one who sells it.

Some people think that this is the best way to sell your property but unfortunately if a sale does result, it usually takes longer and is at a lower price.

Why isn’t Open Listing the most successful way to sell?

• When listing with several agents you do not have the same security or accountability and you will not receive, regular accurate feed back of purchasers’ comments.  Security of the home can also be a real concern.

• When you list with a number of agents no one agent is going to spend the time and effort needed to attract your buyer, or be prepared to do the many days of work that goes into the marketing and other aspects of the sale, to have another agent sell it.  The agent has no guarantee that the Vendor is serious about selling or that the property is still going to be available after completing all this work.  Unfortunately what happens is very little.

• These days most buyers see a property they would like to inspect in a newspaper or on the Internet.  They quite often prepare their prospective list before contacting a Real Estate Agent.

• When your home is Open Listed the buyers you are reaching are less than 10% of the total market.  These are the ones that actually walk into the real estate office and ask about houses for sale.  All the other buyers come from other forms of media or contacts.  Quiet often this 10% of buyers are the hardest ones to deal with because they are the ones that are looking for a $200,000 property but only wanting to pay $150,000 for it.

The Experts Agree

The Real Estate Institute of Queensland, the College of Advanced Education and the New England University all agree and discourage Real Estate Agents from wasting Advertising money and considerable effort on the Open Listing.  They believe that selecting one agent to go to work for you increase accountability, professionalism and most importantly your chances of a successful sale.