Sell your property for the best price with the Bestag formula

Bestag is a free service accompanying homeowners from A to Z in the sale of their property, optimizing every step of the process towards maximizing the selling price. 

Our algorithm finds the agents who have sold similar properties in your area at the best prices.

After the three best agents pitch, you get all valuations. Then you decide with whom and on what terms you want to sell your property. Additionally with Bestag’s unique performance compensation formula you’re ensured to sell at the best price.

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Bestag optimizes every step to maximize the sale price

The final sales price sellers get for their property depends on many variables. It is definitely not a random result given by putting a house on the market for sale and getting an offer.

Bestag believes there are three factors that can be influenced to get the best possible price for a property: 

  1. The optimal choice of agent

  2. A careful and reliable evaluation of the property 

  3. The compensation given to the agent for their help

Other factors have an influence as well: Market conditions and interest rates are certainly two key ones, but they can’t be influenced by the seller.


How can an agent influence the price?

Of course, most competent and knowledgeable agents have a certification, and they should. Bestag just thinks that this is not enough of a guarantee that they will perform, and that also leaves buyers to choose among hundreds of agents in any given canton (thousands even for Geneva or Zurich). 

The agent can influence the price in many more ways: By having a portfolio of potential buyers from similar sales in the area, who can bid on the object from day one. Also an agent knowing the local market really well can indicate to the sellers how they can best prepare their property with the buyers in mind (in some areas, trim the trees for view, in some keep them for privacy). 

Being local, or at least working the area, allows the agent more flexibility to put it another spontaneous visit around 18:00, where a non-local could not. This is how potential buyers drop a property and sellers miss an opportunity.

A strong agent also shines in negotiation, but let’s keep that topic for later.

Bestag’s algorithm sifts over 10’000 agents with over 100’000 listings to find the agents with strong selling performance in the area. This is done by checking their portfolio to match with the property to be sold, as well as strong sales in the past. In total more than 15 factors are being analysed and taken into account.


Why will the choice of the agent maximize the price?

All sellers want an agent with a full database of potential buyers. And all sellers want an agent who is usually selling at a top m2 price for his area. The big problem is that all agents will say they have the buyers and the track record. Although they will not be backing it up with proof, that is how they acquire business. So many sellers end up choosing the sympathetic one, or the one recommended by their friend, even though they are unlikely to be the right one.

Bestag starts with the statistics to get any seller (you maybe? Or your family?) the best three agents for that exact sale.

In sales, which Bestag is involved with, the sellers are much more likely to get an offer at the right price in the first month of listing, because the agent starts with a full list of buyers. The goal is in fact to get two offers to get a bidding going from the right level (without underlisting the property in the first place).

Bestag helps with the agent choice by inviting the top three agents to appraise the property and meet the sellers. After this process, most sellers have a hard time choosing one of the three agents, as they are usually quite impressed with their local knowledge and references.


What is the influence of the evaluation on the final sale price?

The evaluation is one of the only reference points indicating to sellers at price they should accept or refuse an offer, so this is absolutely crucial: It will drive the strategy, it will dictate at what price to list, it will be key to negotiations.

And it will give a boost of patience in potentially stressful times for the sellers. Since the sale of the family house or apartment is a high-stake financial transaction, it is very normal to get a bit nervous. A robust and reliable valuation is critical to maintain peace of mind.

Bestag delivers the most reliable evaluation in Switzerland. The approach is to combine two hedonic valuations (IAZI/CIFI and Wuest Partner) with the appraisal of the top three agents for that property.

Two hedonic valuations: These are the valuations that banks use for mortgages, so they reflect the financing situation for potential buyers.

The three agents identified as most qualified for the sale of the property deliver three more valuations. Their interest is to value the property as high as possible to distinguish themselves from the others, but also at a price at which they think they can realistically sell the property (here’s where Bestag’s secret kicks in: the performance linked compensation - see below - by introducing a penalty for not selling at the valuation price, Bestag keeps valuations fair).

On the basis of these five valuations, (and in case of doubt, Bestag will often check with a bank on top of these five), the seller has a very robust understanding of the market value of their property. Seller feedback about Bestag’s support is that they feel that they have all the information they need to be confident in their sale, in their negotiations and that they made the right choice.


What are performance-linked commissions? And why does the compensation formula matter?

If you work in sales, there are good chances that your pay varies with your results: Sell more, get paid more. So you will be familiar with the topic. Most companies use such compensation for salespeople, and professional investors (most obviously: real estate investment funds) use it for large transactions.

Let’s look at three different types of agent compensation: i) standard commission as % of sale price, ii) fixed fee compensation and iii) Bestag performance-linked commissions


i) Standard commission as % of sale price

Let’s take a standard commission example, with Emma, an agent asking for 3% of the sale price as commission


ii) Fixed fee compensation

Take the case of Luca as an example: Luca asks for 10’000 francs for any outcome.


Or even worse: to list the property below its value to organize a bidding. This sounds smart, but is a terrible idea.

Buyers will rush to the property giving the appearance that everything is working well, so the listing will be removed soon as “we have plenty of offers”. There will be a bidding that will end up lower than what could have been reached by leaving the property on the market a bit longer. Two main reasons for this


iii) Introducing performance-linked compensation

When working with Bestag, Anna the agent agrees to a system of bonus and malus that works as follows: 

Bestag applies the best practice to a market that has never really used it. Sellers get a great price, or a substantial rebate on the agent commission. But the point is not to save money on commission, the point is to sell at a higher price.