Choosing the right agent is a crucial decision.  It can make the difference between getting a really good price and not selling your house at all.  But how do you tell the difference between a good agent and a bad one?  The important resources your agent should offer are dependent on your own circumstances but the basic ones they need to show are:

 

• Website - Do they have the ability to promote your property to potential buyers by direct advertising?  Are the pictures well taken?  Are they presenting their vendors homes in the best possible light?  Do they have prominent offices and well run sales departments?  What are the opening hours?  How responsive is the agent? What are the team’s size, structure and experience?

• Attractive property details; do they offer professional photography?  Floor Plans?

• Do they advertise in the local and/or national press?

• Do they run mailing campaigns? 

• Do they recommend solicitors and financial services based on merit? Having the right solicitor can take weeks off the sales process.

• What are their standard terms and conditions and typical tie-in period before you can break the contract if you’re unhappy with them?  What commission rates do they offer for sole agency, dual agency or multi agency?  You have to decide whether you are going for one, two or more agents.  Do you even know the fee structure?  It’s usually always a lot more expensive to choose more than one agent.

• Are buyers qualified? Vetting purchasers and checking financial positions will limit the chance of the sale falling through at a later stage.  Do they have a mortgage approved?  Are they proceedable?  Do they need to sell to buy?  If so, have they accepted an offer on their own home?  Are they even on the market?  You'd be surprised the amount of agents who don't ask these questions.

 

You should be notified of all offers within 24 hours of them being made.

 

As the seller you are in a strong position with the estate agents, unless they have properties to sell they won’t make any commission.  

    

We compare local agents success based on the facts; how quickly they sell and how close they come to achieving the actual asking price. We make sure the agent has experience of selling property like yours.

 

We look at all estate agents and decide how likely they are to sell a house such as yours, are they even members of professional trade association and an accredited independent ombudsman service?  Is your agent knowledgeable, enthusiastic and motivated to sell your property? What will happen if the property is not generating the interest hoped for?  All of this needs to be considered.

 

Don’t be fooled by all valuations; estate agents know one of the main reasons people pick them is because of the valuation.  Some agents deliberately offer optimistic valuations to make you think you can get a higher price, then after you have chosen them, and are tied into a lengthy contract at a high commission rate, talk you down in price to something more realistic, by which time you’ve missed out on the all important impact when first hitting the market.