Q. I’m really not happy with the Agent that is currently marketing my property at all. When he came to value the property he promised me a first class service that he has failed miserably to deliver. I get no feedback after viewings and the viewings are so rare I wonder if they are doing anything to market it at all? I have yet to see it advertised in any of the places they promised me it would be? Is there anything I can do, unfortunately I signed a 12 week agreement with them?
A. Getting the right Agent to market your property is serious business. Regretfully, there are Agents out there that arrive on your doorstep all guns blazing for the valuation of your property and promise you the world along with a professional service but then fail to deliver the goods. I would suggest as a first stop either calling or dropping by their office to discuss your grievances with their current service, once highlighted it could be that they hadn’t realised they were not meeting your expectations and once cleared up you could find that they provide you with the service you expected initially. If this doesn’t change matters then I would suggest you check the terms and conditions of your agency agreement, they do all differ to see how much notice you need to give them to dissolve the agreement and whether they will agree to ending it prior to the 12 weeks already agreed. Losing your momentum for marketing is something you need to be acutely aware of and if they refuse to step up the game and provide you with the service you expected and are unwilling to dissolve the agency agreement early then I would seriously consider withdrawing the property from the market altogether for a while, this may of course not be possible if time is not on your side. That being the case I would definitely consider going joint or multi agency to get another agent on board. This time make sure you speak to friend’s family or colleagues’ and get a recommendation. Otherwise it will sit around on the market for ages doing nothing and then finally when the agreement expires, you would then be free to give it to another Agent but by then it could be too late as buyers are so deceptive these days they would have seen it sitting around for months on end and wonder if there is something wrong with the property? Don’t let this happen take action without further delay.