what do I look for in an EA?

[mudpiesfortea]

We've taken our property off the market and are looking for a new EA. Our previous EA is a small local office. I've been tempted to go with another local EA that seems to have a lot of 'SOLD' signs in the area. I've also spoken with two big ones: Foxtons and Romans. My aim is to sellout house as quickly as possible and at the best price. So how do I know which one to go with?

I have always gone on - how much I like them (you will be dealing with them a fair bit), how efficient they are (initial impressions tend to reflect how efficient they are generally) and then how straight-forward/honest they are - they are representing you so you want someone who's going to do it well.
And I guess if you are in a competitive area (eg London) then you want someone who's going to be really experienced in dealing with sealed bid situations etc. Also don't just accept their first %quote (bitter experience) - I'd always haggle if you've got a property that's easy for them to sell.

Pleasant and respectful as they can possibly present themselves as being.

Being on rightmove and all the relevant websites. Good detailed floor plans, the best photos and factual, useful descriptions of your home.

A good EA will be happy with an incentivised payment, they'll work harder for themselves than anyone else.

As a buyer I purposely avoid looking at anything Foxtons have got on.

Online agents are cheap according to some vendors we've spoken to. We've seen several through Hatched.

They all advertise in the same places so how good do you think their photography is, do they know the area, do they have buyers registered, are they likely to seem approachable to your target market? Do they conduct viewings or are you on your own? In the end you just have to trust your judgement. We saw three and picked the one we felt was the best salesperson without being in your face or complacent. One we didn't go with hounded us and that put me off even more than his 'look how many houses we've sold on your street' patter. They said and did nothing which made me feel they were the right choice to sell our house.

Also, find out whether your contact sees everything through or do they farm getting feedback, etc off to more a more junior colleague.

Look at the photos for the properties they have on their books on rightmove. There's huge variation in the standard of photography, and his many photos.

Also one that'll do a good, easy to view on a mobile phone on rightmove, floorplan (without charging you extra).

Might be a London thing but we refused to go with all that had a buyers fee, because that £5k was money off the offer to us. The best way to find out what they're like is go to their viewings and see how proactive they are in chasing viewers and offers. We wanted a salesperson who would explain the flat but not hard sell. So many just say "here's the living room" these days. We went for the nice guys and they were happy to negotiate on fees (fixed vs %).