Seller's side: The curse of exclusivity

🎓 Understanding the “Curse of Exclusivity”

Imagine the situation. A motivated, professional real estate agent offers you an exclusive mandate. In exchange for your trust, they commit to implementing a comprehensive and ambitious sales strategy:

• creating a dedicated website for your property,

• marketing it in France and abroad,

• running targeted social media advertising campaigns,

• highlighting the property: photos, videos, storytelling, signage, virtual tours.

In short, they put in real, costly efforts that most other agencies simply don’t offer. At first, the property is often listed at a “high-end” price — for example, €650,000.The idea is to test the market.The agent agrees, knowing that the price may need adjustment later.

But over the following months, little happens:➡️ a few calls, no serious offers.➡️ first price drop to €580,000, then €550,000.➡️ still no tangible results.

Eight months later, the seller begins to doubt. They think:

“What if another agency could do better?”

They consider breaking the exclusivity and opening the sale to multiple agencies, lowering the price to €509,000.

This is where the misunderstanding begins. Many sellers assume that more agencies = more buyers. In reality, all agencies use the same listing platforms and target the same potential buyers. Changing agencies does not increase visibility. What really matters is the price and the marketing strategy already in place.

In the end, it’s often the first agent — the one who invested time, energy, and resources — who is disadvantaged just when the property becomes attractive. And the seller, frustrated, may feel that “the agent failed to sell.”

👉 Key Takeaways

• It’s not the number of agencies, but the quality of work and price adjustment that drives a sale.

• A well-managed exclusivity is an asset: it allows the agent to focus efforts and truly invest in selling your property.

• The initial price is critical: too high, and it wastes time while skewing the market perception.

💡 In Summary

Trust your exclusive agent, adjust the price at the right time, and remember that selling is a strategy, not luck.This is how you avoid the “curse of exclusivity” and maximize your chances of selling quickly and successfully.