At a time when post-recession home prices have bottomed out and there are more houses on offer than there are buyers, many sellers are misguidedly resorting to open mandate, or multi-listing, in their quest to secure optimum price, says Ronald Ennik, executive director of the Leapfrog Property Group.
 
“Sellers who put their homes on the market on a sole mandate basis will almost always achieve better prices than those who go the open mandate route of using multiple agents – particularly in the generally languid market conditions we have now.”
 
The reason for this is that, under a sole mandate, the agent is able to create a forum of competition among buyers and, therefore, ensure for the client a sale at the best possible price.  And, if the best price is to be achieved, it is buyers – not estate agents – who should compete on a property, says Ennik.
 
“Agents tend to operate from the same pool of buyers – therefore it follows that several agents working on the same sale does not mean that there are several more buyers in the loop.
 
“One of the biggest downsides for the seller of a property handled by more than one agent is a temptation for the agents to undercut each other on price and commission in order to close the deal.
 
“In those circumstances, optimum price goes straight out of the window,” Ennik concludes.