The agents were friendly enough and maintained communication throughout the process, which I appreciated. They are pleasant people and in general I didn’t have issues with my interactions with them. However, there were a few frustrations that left me feeling underwhelmed. When trying to sign me as a vendor, they were more than happy to come to my place after hours and work around my schedule. But once I’d signed on, that flexibility seemed to go away. I was asked to do things like signing auction documents in person at their office, which felt like a clear shift in priority. The listing description for the house read like it was generated by ChatGPT — generic and impersonal. It didn’t really capture the unique features of the property, so I rewrote it myself. There was also a lot of vague talk and hedging when it came to market insight. I was told things like, “houses like this could often get 10–20 viewings on a weekend,” but also “no guarantees.” It felt like they wanted to sound confident without committing to anything meaningful. I felt pressured into choosing auction as the sales method, even though it didn’t suit the current market. The agency was running a big auction day, with 20 properties listed — presumably after giving the same pitch to all those vendors. Less than half sold. The auctioneer came across as pushy, trying to get me to drop my reserve just to sell it to the sole bidder. Ultimately, it didn’t sell at auction — it sold later through negotiation, which I’d suggested would be the better option from the beginning. I’m not saying the agents didn’t contribute to the sale in some way, but it’s hard to justify over $27,000 in commission and marketing fees. You could probably handle it yourself, offer the property at a lower price to attract buyers, and still come out ahead financially. Also, when the sold sign was put on my house, I was randomly asked to shoot a video promoting the service - I felt uncomfortable but did it anyway.
Shelza Sharma
