Which EA should I pick?

[MammyNeedsASpaDay]

We're putting our house up for sale as we've decided to move to a different town.

I love my house. It's a 4 bed townhouse with garage, double drive and quite a big garden. It's a really good layout with tons of space. My friend lives in a townhouse which looks similar from the outside but when she came in mine she was shocked at how big it was (it's not just me bigging it up).

I can't decide whether to go with a local agent or one from a nearby town. I guess most people look on rightmove but I thought having a branch in the town might help?

Has anyone got any advice on this? I had one of the local agents out and he tried to massively undervalue the house (by about 20k) I'm not looking for a ridiculous amount, it would be less than ANY other townhouse in the town on rightmove in my area at the price I had in mind!

I have three more agents coming over, the next isn't in the town.

Does it matter these days?

I do still think it matters, but I would focus on things like the quality of the pictures they take and their write-up of your home, as these will go on Rightmove.

It's good that you're already planning to meet with a few. I would ask them for some figures on how many homes they've sold in your area in the past x months.

We used a local agent last year to try and sell, house was on the market for 2 months and had 2 viewings. Their pictures made our house look smaller than it was.

This year we tried a different agent (local but much bigger). They provided us with some data, showing that they have sold 45 homes in our area since the beginning of the year, more than any other agent (not sure how true this was but it seems pretty legit). They took fantastic pictures and our house sold in 3 weeks.

Also depends if you're in a fast moving area. If your house will sell very quickly, it could be worth instructing an online agent to save on fees.

Is there anyone you could recommend online agent wise? I googled about purple bricks and read nothing but horror stories!

I'm not in a particularly fast selling area. I'm in south east Northumberland. It's a busier town (not rural) but I think it's a bit marmite. People love it or they hate it!

We used a local on line agent - they were online in that they didn't have a high street office (and were significantly cheaper but still not cheap cheap) but they were local and knew the local market very very well. They were really good. When they came round to value they showed me all their stats and had a v high exchange to completion ratio because they vetted potential buyers and kept chasing post acceptance of offer. They also said they looked at click through rates on rightmove in the first couple of weeks when you are on the market because they said it gives a good indication of whether you are in the right price bracket (prob more relevant if you have a house that's tricky to value)

Get a few round - when they value ask why they arrived at that figure, they should be able to talk to you about the local market and know what similar properties have sold and are up for. They may also have a view on price where it impacts what price band you fall in when people search on right move/zoopla etc

Ask what they do to check out buyers and what they do post offer - I think that's when agents can really help with chasing solicitors and liaising with the chain.

Try and limit how long you are tied in for on the contract so you can jump ship if you think it's not going well.

Meant to say I can't recommend because they are not in your area but maybe see if you can find someone similar - I think local knowledge does help and I also think it's far better if agents do viewings instead of home owners

Thanks for your advice, it has made me feel more confident about my choices. The next agent came out and gave a much better valuation. Think I'll go with them because I liked their attitude. Not at all pushy and realistic price.