How should I choose an estate agent to sell my house?

[Doryhunky]

What should I ask the agents before deciding on one?

I’d look at their online listings and discount any with poor photos or bad descriptions. Then, I’d invite 3 of the promising ones to value the property. Make sure to compare their fees too and have a think about their valuations: if they’re about the same or one wildly off etc. You might find that you have a strong preference based on their personality too.

Also if there's not much in it, having an out-of-town office to collect the keys from on moving day can help.

I asked on the local Facebook group. 85% of replies were for the same company, one that I hadn’t considered. They have been amazing.

If you visit their offices and have a chat, you will get a feel for who you can work with.
There is also quite a range of fees as well so that's definitely a major point.
All the posts already have good points. If you go on Getagent it will tell you a lot about different agents.

Don’t forget to pretend to be a buyer and go on their website to see how user friendly it is. Your potential buyers will be on it so if it’s crap like my local estate agents one is...

1. Look at the photos that they put on their website - some are seriously crap.
2. Make sure you negotiate their fee. You can knock them down.
3. Think about companies like Purple Bricks who are massively cheaper and in my experience very helpful and with local knowledge.
4. Remember that in practice the agents do very little (except take crap photos!) but put details on rightmove etc.
5. There is sometimes something to be said for using the same agents as that for the property you wish to buy as they then have a double incentive to sell.
6. Ask them exactly what they do - in particular as regards proper professional advice if there are choices between buyers that need to be made; and how far they check out potential buyers credentials.

I would look at their sites and short list agents that sell properties similar to yours.

I would go with an online agent like Purple Bricks and save myself a fortune and a load of hassle if we ever move again.

We bought and sold twice over the last 5 years using normal high street estate agents and in both instances they were awful. Really terrible, in so many ways.

We know several people who bought and sold during that same time with Purple Bricks and spoke very highly of them. And we had several viewings for properties through PB and all went very smoothly.

I think they run as a Franchise so each area will be different depending on how good the local Franchisee is. But overall it's much cheaper and you have a lot more control of the process.

I don't work for PB!

I had visits from 4 when we wanted to sell i went with the one that came across as a normal person and not a flashy sales peraon

I narrowed mine down to the best three in terms of reputation, and the dog (I may not be joking) chose the final one, she was totally in love with him and didn’t like the others.

Worked out quite well, turned out to be a good agent.

I had about 5 agents value the house.

One gave us a really low valuation, then said he works on 100% commission as though it was a good thing, except that just means they want a sale to happen at any price. Didn't pick them.

One turned up (late) smelling of cigarettes, not wearing a mask until asked, and didnt take his shoes off or cover them. Couldnt wait for him to get out of the house. Didnt pick them.

One turned up in a flashy porch and made sickly over flattering comments. Didn't pick them.

One seemed like a nice guy but over valued the house and didn't seem to know the area as well. Their office was in the next town although they did act for local properties too. It was attractive that they had no contracted tie in period but we didn't want to have to reduce the price eventually as another of their properties locally had to do. Didnt pick them.

One seemed nice and gave a fair valuation and had the cheapest fees (0.85%). They were also the agency who sold us the house, however I then looked online at other properties for sale with them and the photos were awful and dark.

We then had Yopa around as I was curious about an online estate agent with fixed fees. That agent seemed the most normal and likeable of the bunch and the online portal where you can see how many people had viewed the Rightmove listing and manage viewings and offers from seemed good, until I suspected it was so that you didn't need to get hold of the agent. Feedback I had from a friend using them in a different area was that they only care about getting the job and don't provide much support for price negotiations. Didnt pick them.

The one we ended up picking was the most popularwell established local agent. Turns out they are popular for a good reason. Their photos were all really clear and bright. They send them for editing so that the sky is always blue even on a rainy day like it was when they took mine. They also only had a 4 week tie in period which was much less than some others. One had 24 weeks!!! We were offered a price of 1% but used the other agency's fees to bargain with them so we got them down to 0.85% too. Every little helps.
Our photos were taken last Tuesday, went on Rightmove on a premium listing on Wednesday, had 7 viewings on Saturday, 5 offers on Monday and sold that evening for £5k over asking. All within a week!

The ones with the most sale boards and sold signs in your area.

Thanks! Really helpful!

I wouldn't go with Purple Bricks as my Agent has been fabulous - they did all the viewings, including letting the buyers and their builder view. And they 've worked really hard (and employ a professional photographer for the photos).
But I wouldn't use the one I'm buying from - there is evidence that they didn't keep the vendor fully and honestly informed.

You need one that is aggressive and can sell. Also do not pay over the odds in fees. You need a realistic selling price. I wouldn't go with Purple Bricks

I think that you need to ask their viewing policy. There are a lot of stories on here about agents not letting potential-purchasers view a house unless their house is already sold. I understand that it is supposed to weed out time-wasters but are you happy with that policy? Are you happy that a substantial percentage of your potential market is ruled out?

My friend bought through purple bricks.

She felt that because they take fixed fees they have no incentive to try and sell your house for more money as it won’t increase their commission.

She said by all means buy through them as you’ll get the house cheap but don’t sell.

Our local ‘branch’ of pb was rubbish at stuff too, making mistakes, not keeping in touch with her about viewings etc.

senua - I think that under the coronavirus guidance, estate agents are not allowed to introduce potential buyers who are not in a "proceedable position". I think the idea was to prevent time-wasters and nosy parkers from spreading the virus.

It is a pain though as very few people are in a truly proceedable position. I have a buyer whose proceedable status collapsed when their buyer's mortgage fell through.

estate agents are not allowed to introduce potential buyers who are not in a "proceedable position".
This link from PropertyMark says otherwise. The guidance says "Viewings must only take place with serious buyers who are genuinely interested in the property". Doesn't say "proceedable".
It's the usual thing of people taking an official pronouncement and then tacking their own rules on to it.

Do not go with the one that values your house the highest.
Look out for the ones on Rightmove that have a higher number of properties with reduced values on. Avoid those.
Professional photos.

Make sure whoever you choose provides a proper floor plan with dimensions on it - not all do.

We invited three local 'traditional' estate agents and one local online only agent to value last time we sold. All the valuations were broadly the same. The three traditional estate agents all had appalling communication - appointments not kept, messages not passed on etc. The online one was great and did a fantastic job at a reasonable price.

I wouldn't go with Purple Bricks, at least not the franchise in our area. They took nearly a year to sell my friend's three bed family house that's in the catchment of three really good schools. They just did nothing to advertise or promote it but friends were tied into a contract that meant they couldn't leave for another agent without paying commission to Purple Bricks as well.

Thanks all. One further question. One agent said very categorically they did not do open houses (I assumed for Covid reasons so did not ask further) but the next said he only did open houses but in shifts for Covid reasons so all the sellers were aware that they were up against each other and he said he would sell on the first open day. Clearly o like the idea of that.
What do people think?

I've bought and sold a lot of houses in the last few years and never done an open house at all. If you could get all the viewings over in one go that would be brilliant! The EA sounds confident he would sell, but then they all do when you first see them. Our house is currently on the market and we have gone from confidence to desperation in the space of a couple of weeks!

went with online agent, I decided to go for an open day, 20 viewings, 10 offers, didn't bother to organise any more viewings.