This is the continuation of an earlier article on How To Sell A Property In Costa Rica. That article left off with the statement: “listing your property with an agency doesn’t guarantee that other agencies will know about the listing. There is a gap that the listing agency should try and fill with extraordinary marketing services.”
Here are some possible services that can be offered to fill that gap.
1) Market the property to other agencies, allowing them to list the property as well. They will obviously get a share of the commission if they sell it. (I’ll deal with the possibilities presented by this option below).
2) Prominent Internet exposure. The agency can put the listing on their web site and feature it so that it gets better exposure than their non-exclusive listings.
3) Real World Advertising. Depending on the property, and the agency’s normal advertising program, an exclusive lister can request that their property be mentioned on any magazine, newspaper, or other type of non-electronic advertising.
4) Pay-per-click Internet advertising. This again depends on the value of the listing. Normally this type of extraordinary marketing would be for a luxury property to justify the expense to the listing agency. This is highly effective.
5) Signage on and off the property. Directional signs leading from the main road to the property as effective as sales tool as well, but can be limited by permissions in placing the signs.
More about #1:
The listing agency should promote the property to other agencies, doing that grunt part of the listing work that would normally be done by the seller themselves. In order to appeal more to the other agencies, a creative commission structure can help to stimulate things.
For instance: The listing agency could offer to pay a 6% commission to the selling agency, and keep 2% for the listing agency. Sellers should keep in mind though that doing an exclusive listing correctly is time and labor intensive on the part of the agency. Reducing the listing agent’s share may not be the best way to go about this. The seller wants the listing agency to be motivated to share the listing.
The lack of the MLS results in the real estate agents being accustomed to the full 8% flowing into their agency. So any deviation from this can have a negative effect. The ultimate marketing formula is for all agencies to receive the full 8% while still making it worth the listing agency’s while.
Obviously the seller can simply be willing to pay a 12% commission in the case of another office selling the property. Some might feel this to be a bit steep in the commission department though.
So what can a lister do that wants to have the benefit of the exclusive listing?
The listing agency should have in mind the standard and try to reach it’s level of efficacy in getting the property marketed and sold.
I suspect that some day we will have an MLS here in Costa Rica, but until then we will see a diverse mix of policies that vary from office to office of how best to serve the people and still have good business take place.