One of my biggest frustrations is when that those who were closest to me often did not seek advice on selling their home. They would often tell me how they had spoken to a trusted friend who was in real estate were confident in what they had been told.

I had one such chance conversation with an old friend last week. I called just to say hello and they mentioned they were signing up with an agent tomorrow to sell their home. I asked if they were open to having one of my free consultations that day (as in immediately!) first so I could make sure they were protected and really had their campaign set up to maximise the chance of the best result.

As we spoke I identified four areas that they were being taken advantage of. If you have read my book I have covered all these in various case studies. I call it systematic manipulation and it has been happening for years. The only reason that agents have got away with it is that the market continues to rise so vendors get a good result and don't understand they could have got a better one.

Here are the four areas I was able to identify that the vendor was doing themselves a disservice by going direct to the agent:

• The agent had told them their property was worth more than it realistically was based on comparative sales and data
  
  
• The agent was charging $3,000 more than a fair commission plus was putting in an incentive to get 20% of everything above a certain price (this could double the commission very quickly)
  
  
• The agent recommended an auction as the method of sale. If you haven't already read my chapter on auctions I suggest this will change your opinion on the benefits of auctions
  
  
• The agent authority was locking them in for an unreasonable timeframe

Agents are trained firstly to win your business, then to sell your home. If you want someone on your team team that will look after your needs book in a consultation before you go one day too many...