Does WHICH Estate agent matter in driving interest to your house?

[ChaosTrulyReigns]

We've been on the market for 2 on the now, 3 viewings, one very positive, wanted it but couldn't quite offer near to what we were willing to negotiate to.

Other 2 liked but living room too small, fair enough.

We've priced at what 3 agents recommended, but went with a cheaper agent as new business, local man who I know vaguely through school.

I just feel that 3 enquiries in 9 weeks is low, and do buyers look for Big Names in the area and discount smaller companies when they choose?

I would have thought a for sale board, an Internet presence and local paper advertising would be enough to start enquires.

I'm now out of sole agent phase, bit can't imagine what a new agent could do differently?

Any advice or experience?

Do I just put it down to tine of year?

most people will look at houses having seen them on the internet these days - are the photos good? is there a floorplan? Unfortunately, little interest does normally indicate too high a price. What are you on the market for and what did those other people offer? You might be being unrealistic in what you are going to get. EAs do their best but sometimes they do have to quote what they 'think' is the best price to start at and wait to see what happens. Have you looked at other houses in the area to see what people can get for the same price - if other houses are on the market for the same price and offer more space or are in better condition then you have your answer. Speak to your EA who should advise you what he thinks.

A different agent can make all the difference. Our first house we put on with agent X, they got people in but little interest, after 12 weeks they suggested joint sole agency with agent Y - we got an offer within a week, and lots more interest.

For our next house we sold through agent P who were also handling the sale of the property we wanted to buy, having two lots of commission really focussed the mind and the manager did a lot of work for us.

Some agents work harder (but some of those I wouldn't touch with a barge pole as they are also the ones who pressurise people into making an offer), some agents are better at certain segments of the market. They key things are: do they believe in your property? do they mention it to all possible buyers? do they target who they send it out to or just blanket post? A small business might find the admin more difficult to be really organised.

I can't see the point in using a high st agent at all these days. A buyer wants their property to appear on RightMove and Zoopla and an online agent can do that for you much more cheaply than a high st agent. The only thing an online agent won't do is accompany viewings. I'm using an online agent now and they're very good for the fixed price they charge. Local information can be found online and the OA will do good photos and floor plans.

You do need to do some research into sold prices locally and be realistic about what you'll get for your house.

What's the best online agent to use?

I still think that for certain properties a high street agent can be well worth using.

We sold our house in rural Wiltshire last year. It was a gorgeous (IMHO!) Georgian vil?age house that has been fully restored with no expense spared, but despite that we knew the market was pretty stagnant, plus we were on an A road and potentially the most expensive house in the village.

It crossed our minds to use an online agent, but we felt we could get more exposure from a local EA that could help source buyers for us. The one we chose also had a London office for buyers looking to relocate/the second home market.

Initially we elected to go with the office in the nearest small city (1/2 hour away), but whilst they did get us a few viewings, interest only picked up after they suggested their other local branch (small market town 1/2 hour in other direction) marketed the house too - at no additional expense, obviously.

The branch manager there was very pro-active and found far more viewers - some at least that were already on their books - and we ended up with three offers over two days after he became involved. Moreover, his negotiation skills were worth every penny of the 1.25% commission we paid. We sold at asking price within five weeks of going onto the market which was excellent in an area where some houses remain unsold after eighteen months!

They also employed a professional photographer and the results were great.

If we had been in an area where properties were shifting quickly with little or no effort, we'd have definitely been more likely to have opted for the online route, but for our house the high street EA was best......

Pennies - I only know Housenetwork.co.uk, they've been very good as far as advertising, communicating, organisation etc is concerned. They've been a bit less on the ball since the buyer was found, but tbh I don't want them to do anything now it's in solicitor's hands, I'd rather do the chasing etc myself. The less people in the loop the better, to get it done quickly.

Yes, Raphaella, that's a good point about the location, I'm selling in the south-east, commuter belt, so know there's a fairly constant demand for this type of property. I had viewing requests within 48 hours of it going online and an offer within about 10 days. We're 8 weeks on now, ready to exchange in a day or two, and completion in 2 weeks.

Don't assume that people know where they want to live. We got a great price on our London house because an estate agent in a more distant branch took people who didn't know our area to view the house.