You have decided to sell your warehouse, factory or industrial site in Melbourne's western corridor. An agent has walked you through the marketing plan, the commission structure, and now they are asking you to sign an agency agreement. The number they want you to initial next to, the exclusive term, is the one clause most owners skim past. It shouldn't be.
Why the length of your agency agreement matters more than the commission rate
Commission gets all the attention in these conversations because it is the easiest number to compare. But the term of your agency agreement decides how much control you have if things do not go to plan. Sign too short and you may not give the campaign room to breathe. Sign too long and you could be locked in with an underperforming agent while your property sits stale on the market.
The agency term is really a bet on how confident your agent is in their own campaign.
What actually happens during an agency agreement period
An exclusive agency agreement gives one agent the sole right to market and sell your property for a set period. During that window you cannot appoint another agent, and in most cases you still owe commission even if you find the buyer yourself. Once the term expires, you are free to renew, renegotiate, or walk. This is standard practice across Victoria, but the length of that window is negotiable and it should reflect the realities of industrial property, not a generic template pulled from a residential file.
Industrial buyers move on different timelines to homebuyers. Your agreement should reflect that.
The factors that should decide your term length
Common mistakes owners make when signing
What a fair agency term looks like in the west
There is no single correct number that suits every industrial property in Melbourne's western suburbs. What matters is that the term matches the property type, the current pace of the market, and the depth of the campaign your agent is proposing. Typical marketing periods for industrial property in this corridor can vary depending on asset type and location. Ask your agent to walk you through recent comparable campaigns and how long each genuinely took from launch to unconditional contract, not just from listing to first offer.
A well matched agency term gives your campaign time to work without leaving you stuck if it does not.
If you are weighing up selling an industrial property in the western suburbs or Geelong corridor and want a straight answer on what a fair agency term looks like for your specific asset, have a conversation before you sign anything.
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Fairmont only sells and leases industrial property across Melbourne's western corridor and Geelong. That focus is deliberate. It means we know the buyers who are active right now and what they are prepared to pay.