Exclusive agency agreement - why it is worth signing
Text from 2023. Laws, rates and prices may have changed since then. Ask an agent
We hardly need to point out that working with an estate agent pays off. Especially if we want to sell a house or flat - a good agent will take most of the work off our hands and help find the ideal buyer. Such cooperation can be based on one of two types of agreement: exclusive or open. Today we will focus on why it is the former that is preferred by agents and their clients.
What is an exclusive agency agreement with an agent?
Put very briefly, an exclusive agency agreement (umowa na wyłączność) concluded with an estate agent guarantees that they will be the only agent handling the sale of our flat. This means that once it is concluded we will not be able to entrust the handling of our property's listing to several agencies at once.
Importantly, an exclusive agency agreement concerns agency services, not the sale itself. If we find a buyer for our property ourselves - we will be able to complete the transaction without any problem, without paying a commission to the agent.
Exclusive agency agreement versus open agreement
Unlike an exclusive agency agreement, an open agreement does not oblige us to be "faithful" to one agent. By concluding such an agreement we can instruct several estate agencies to prepare a sales listing for our flat - the commission goes to the one that manages to complete the transaction.
It might therefore seem that agents working on such agreements will compete hard to find the ideal buyer. In reality this is not the case at all. Every estate agent knows well that with such an agreement their effort may prove futile - which is why they will be far more willing to get involved in promoting a property covered by an exclusive agency agreement.
Why is it worth signing an exclusive agency agreement?
There are many reasons why an exclusive agency agreement is the ideal form of cooperation with an estate agent. We will discuss the most important ones.
Full commitment from the agent
A good estate agent will take care of every property - but with those they handle on an exclusive basis, they will certainly put their heart and soul into it. After all, their pay depends on the success of the listing; and that success is down to nothing other than the agent's work. By signing an exclusive agency agreement we can be sure that the agent will devote their time to comprehensively preparing the flat for sale and will do a great deal to sell it at the best possible price for us.
A well-thought-out strategy
What will happen if we instruct several different agents to prepare the sales listing for our property? You can guess that each of them will come up with a different strategy: other promotion methods, conflicting ideas for "home staging", and even different suggested prices! If our property is advertised on a property portal by several agents (with different descriptions and prices!), it will certainly not inspire buyers' trust. It is better to entrust the promotion of the flat to one agent - one who will bring out the best in the property.
Easy contact and fewer worries
By entrusting a property to an agent on an exclusive basis, we give ourselves great peace of mind - the whole sales process, from beginning to end, will be handled by one person. Not only will this take many duties off our hands, it will also allow us to build a good, trust-based relationship with the agent. Thanks to this, the agent will better understand our expectations and adapt their plan of action to them.
