Legal, signed and typed mandates absolutely essential in home selling.

Those who have worked as estate agents for some time , says Rowan Alexander, Director of the Cape Town estate agency, Alexander Swart Properties, have regularly found themselves  having to deal with the concept that a seller believes that by appointing several agents he is likely to achieve greater exposure of his property and a faster sale at a satisfactory price.

"It is perfectly understandable that those unfamiliar with the property marketing world should adopt this idea: it seems logical that the more people you involve, the greater will be your chances of selling the property. In practice, however, this is just not the case. The employment of multiple agents leads to many difficulties, especially when and if some or all of them are working on loose or even verbal agreements without signed printed legal mandates."

In these cases, says Alexander, the seller may well find himself being liable for two commissions, one to the agent who actually achieved the sale and another to the agent who may have introduced the same purchaser to the property or is deemed to have been the effective cause.

So-what are the lessons to be learned from this?

The first, says Alexander, is that the agent must be given -  and sign - a valid, legally explicit written\ typed mandate setting out in detail the terms and conditions under which he is mandated. Sellers who ignore this rule, he says, lay up for themselves a minefield in which arguments, claims and counter-claims can proliferate and cost them far more money and time than they had expected, including the already mentioned double commissions. It is noteworthy, he says, that one South African judge has actually recommended sole mandates as a solution to some of the difficulties mentioned.

The second lesson, says Alexander, is  that, provided the agent is reasonably competent, giving him a sole mandate almost invariably ensures a better result than asking him to share the mandate.

"If more than one agent is involved, it is inevitable that  they will be in competition with each other to get the first accepted offer. What this means in practice is that the agent will no longer make his client's goals his top priority but will be working for his buyer in an unseemly rush to get in ahead of his rivals. If, however, the agent has a sole agency he can take his time to negotiate with buyers to achieve a fair price and equitable sales terms and can discuss offers with the seller without fear of being pipped at the post. Knowing his position is secure, he will also probably spend two or three times as much  as usual on advertising the property and a much higher proportion of his time on promoting and trying to sell it."

Alexander added that all the best agents today refuse to operate on any system other than the sole mandate-and this has resulted at Alexander Swart in 90% of their sales being either at the asking price or within 5% of it, a record, he says, unequalled by other agencies who do not work on the same basis.

For further information, please contact Rowan Alexander by email : rowan@asproperty.co.za or by cellphone on 082 581 3116.