In a city with an abundance of estate agents how do you choose which agent to invite to appraise your home? Is it how much they are going to charge you to sell your home? Is it how well they present their listings online? Is it their prominence of sales activity in your area? The simple answer is, yes, but only to an extent.
Whilst these are things that generally sway a seller to appoint an agent, there is so much more to consider. Trusting an agent to sell possibly your biggest asset is a consideration that shouldn’t be taken too lightly, looking at the bigger picture can pay dividends and decrease your chances or being disappointed in the long run.
Here are our top tips to consider when looking to instruct an agent to work with you:
- Check out how your agent markets their listings, this will give you some idea of how your property will be portrayed online. What websites will your property be showcased on? Do they offer photography, floorplans and video tours as standard? What social media channels do they subscribe to?
- What is an estate agent’s average monthly listing number? Dealing with an agent who lists a large number of properties may not be able to give you the service and personal touch you deserve.
- Cheapest isn’t always the best! There is so much work that goes into not only marketing your property in the best light, but the effort that goes in from your property being under offer to completion of the sale. If an agent quotes you a questionably-low selling fee, it could be argued that there may not be a great amount of incentive there to achieve the best selling figure, nor offer you the service levels as you’re likely to be one of many sellers on their books.
- Beware of the “over valuers”, they are out there! In a market with a lot of agents, all competing to work with you, some agents consciously tell you a higher recommended asking price to win your business, then contact you a few weeks later to recommend a price reduction due to the lack of interest. Always ask your agent to justify how they have arrived at that figure.
- What does your agents’ selling agreement look like? Some agents will tie you into long, sole-agency periods which means if you’re unhappy with their service early on, you’re bound to stay with them for the duration.
- We recommend taking a look at estate agents Google reviews, ultimately hearing what past clients have commented on the service they have received is a great way to establish if you’re likely to be a happy client or not.
- Ask your agent what their strategy will be to not only sell your home, but to ensure the process runs as smoothly as possible. Moving home is stressful enough without having to worry about an agent who won’t keep you in the loop or respond to you.
- Ask questions! Prior to your marketing consultation appointment, we recommend jotting down some questions that can be discussed at the appointment, no matter how trivial you think they may be, it’s important for you as the client to be 100% well informed of how things will go and how the agent will work for you.
- Knowledge is power! It’s all very well an agent mastering great marketing, having good online reviews and commenting positively about your home but how well do they know the local area? This really is important to quiz your prospective agent on, they need to have top knowledge on not only your property but the location its in if they are to successfully find you a buyer.
To sum up, look at quality over quantity and make sure you do your research if a low fee is attractive. At Nuttall Parker, we don’t just list your property and wait for it to sell, we take a proactive approach from start to finish and you can see this in our quality listings. If you are curious to know the value of your home and make a start on selling your home, contact us, for a free valuation.