3 reasons to never open-list your property

“And what you usually find is that real estate agents use open listings to help sell their own listings,” he said.

“So they will highlight the negatives of that property to help sell the properties they have as exclusive listings.”

On the surface it may look like a safe option but it is the riskiest of the lot, he warns.

2. First out, worst dressed
One of the biggest issues with an open listing, says Mr Panos, is that it puts the agent in a difficult conflict of interest position.

“Because you know that you don’t have the property exclusively on your books,” he says, “when you get an offer, you tend to sell it and recommend the vendor take the first offer, not the best offer.”

3. You get what you pay for
It’s simple, says Mr Panos, if you want to retain the best agent to sell your property you have to pay the full price.

He says agents call open listings the “second-grade” listings.

“You are trying to hire the best agent,” he says, “the one that will get you the highest money.”

“But if they have 10 vendors willing to give them top dollar to go and sell their property, and they get the chance of a second-grade listing, they won’t spend much time or put in much effort on that one.

“They will spend the time on the people that back them.”

For more insights from Tom Panos, listen to his chat with The Smart Property Investment Show:

Episode 31: How to beat other investors