Talk to me about how to choose an estate agent?

[alltheworld]

Had three round. Two gave same valuation. Third gave lower valuation by about a seventh but seemed more enthusiastic. All local, all same commission. One open seven days a week. Didn't warm to any of them. Complicating factor is I know one of my neighbours with very similar house is putting his house on the market at the same time and price. My sense is that in a slow market this will make selling harder and wonder if I should be sure to use a different estate agent from my neighbour. Thoughts? What should I look for in an agent?

Assume commission etc is the same? If you didn't particularly warm to any of them, I'd go for the one with the best contract terms - be very wary of long periods of sole selling rights.

Agents with no minimum contract period and a 14 day notice period have a much stronger incentive to sell your house and do a good job than someone with the security of a 16 (or even 26) week exclusivity period.

That is a good point. Commission is same.

Look at Rightmove to see how well they photograph houses. Some agents take awful pictures and miss rooms.

Definately that they have consistently good photos and always have floor plans of their properties. Being open 7 days a week is a big advantage for people who work during the week and potentially opens up more viewings for people who can't see it mid week.

You could always ask them what their best price is and negotiate their price down which might make one more attractive.

Have a look at how they present properties for sale online (presume that they are all on RightMove? And ideally Zoopla too? If not, get one that is!)

Ask around: who has bought and sold recently, and how were their dealings with the agents?

Being on with the same agent as your neighbour can be more helpful than being with a "rival" - buyers who like one house can be persuaded to like the one next door, and anyone who views one is going to see the other one is for sale anyway. You can't hide from this, so work with it. Speak to your neighbour and see what their experience with the agent is like first, though

Read the small print carefully about how long you would be tied into a contract. Also look at how much more expensive it would be to be in multi-agent agreement

All good points. Will check their contract terms and photos. My neighbour and I are not on speaking terms which is another reason why having the same agent might. E awkward

Recently I spoke to a new company called Nested as I was thinking about alternative ways to quickly sell my property (they have an unusual business model in that they guarantee you a price and pay you in advance of the property selling). Anyway - the guy I spoke to on the phone seemed to have access to some useful information which was the stats on how long it took the various local agents to sell a property. He told me the agent I'd chosen was the best in the area because they had significantly lower times with the property on the market and were also seen as market leader on the particular street my property is on.

Obviously it's just one thing to consider, but around here I'm not interested in those who give higher valuations as they often have properties sitting for ages unsold (Foxtons being a prime example). I'd ask around re. good user experience, and use that amongst all other markers to come to my decision.

Two thing I learnt when selling was that the people coming to value the house were not the same who would conduct viewings, and they tend to be the most experienced members of staff (that included online EA).
The second that the valuation is not how much they think the property is worth, but a mix between best price to sell quickly and what it takes to get you to sign up with them. The more the person you see is focused on just getting you to sign up, to earn their commission, the higher the valuation. Some big EA are very bad at over valuing.

I absolutely take your point about overvaluing in order to get people to sign up but also undervaluing to get a quick sale.