When you appoint an estate agency to market your home, you can grant one estate agency exclusive rights to market your home (sole mandate) or multiple agencies the right to do so (open mandate).
A sole mandate means the estate agency that you have appointed exclusively will know that if they can find your buyer, they will be able to close the deal for your benefit and fulfil their mandate. They do this by finding you a willing and able buyer at the price you are looking to achieve. As the estate agency has exclusivity (which agreed to be for a fixed period – known as the mandate period), not only is the agency focused on finding you your buyer and getting you the best price for your home, they also know that they can invest more into marketing your property and spending time to find that right buyer.
With an open mandate, you have the benefit of a second or more estate agents looking to bring buyers to view your home. That can be a plus if they have a buyer on their books already. The challenge with an open mandate is that the estate agencies can’t afford to spend as much marketing your property, as another agency may be the one to find the buyer. This will leave the other agencies out of pocket. With commissions, you only pay the successful agency.
Home sellers have a lot more options available to them now, and it’s important to know what those options are before you commence with the sale. You want your realizing your investment to be as profitable as possible.