Selling with an agent based in a different but nearby town - bad idea?

[Shattered04]

We've been very unhappy with our (chain) estate agent almost since we listed with them, formal complaints have got us nowhere, and we're nearing the end of our tie-in. There's no agents locally that particularly stand out as necessarily any better even after asking on local FB groups etc.

For tl;dr reasons, I won't go into details as to how this came about, but there's a small, independent agent in a town about six miles away (where we want to move to) who has offered to market our property when our current contract expires. If they were in our town, we'd have no hesitation, as they come across extremely well and have excellent independent reviews. However, they have no other properties on their site anywhere near our town, most are very local to them though they do have a few properties a similar distance away in other towns.

This agent is on RightMove, and unlike our current used car salesman outfit agent, is a member of PropertyMark which I think somebody on here recommended you should look out for.

Are there any compelling reasons why we shouldn't use a non-local agent? Personally, as a buyer, it wouldn't bother me as if I was looking at houses in a particular area, I don't need the area to be sold to me - that part has already happened. But I am not everyone! Is there any other reason I've not thought of? Does it make a significant enough difference for this to be a bad idea?

Thanks!!

Are your buyers likely to come from within your town or outside? I’d have thought if they are in rightmove that takes care of the out of Towners, and allowing a sign outside your home will alert locals, who are also probably looking at rightmove.
Other than that, how knowledgeable are they about your town? Do they know about schools, local amenities etc? It won’t look good if someone calls them asking about the local school catchment area and they get an ‘I don’t know’ answer.
As long as you think they can cover that then go for it - they’ll have a double incentive if you buy through them too.
Caveat: are you sure it’s the agent not your property or price that’s an issue?

Thanks for your reply! To be honest, I don't actually know where viewers would be coming from; our agent hasn't told us (or given us much feedback at all!) It's a long story that would fill paragraphs here, so I won't, but I'm very sure that while the market isn't as good as it was, we're priced correctly (under, if anything - there are a lot of comparables) and the agent has been incompetent - two separate written lists of complaints have already been ignored. This is an agent that cannot spell "tree" correctly in our property listing (and had the wrong number of rooms for the first month) which pretty much sums them up!

I could easily provide the local schools info to the EA; heck, our current one didn't know and was giving out incorrect information and wasting people's time, so it can't be any worse! I would think they'd have a fair idea of the amenities in the town as it's one of the bigger towns locally, but I could provide that as well. Those are good points - thank you!

I didnt use a local estate agency I used one from the town we are buying in, within the same county. As it has ended up the property we are buying, our property and our buyers property (all 3 in the chain) are with them so now that we are hitting issues they are working with all parties to resolve as they have 3 lots of commission resting on the deal competing. That has been worth a lot in our circumstances.

Yeah as long as on rightmove I don’t think it matters. Maybe if your “target market” is older people who are perhaps slightly more likely to want to go into the agents, but my grandparents are in their 80s and have been sending me rightmove links to look at!

I’d try ringing them and emailing them once or twice just to talk through, if you haven’t already. Their responsiveness is far more important than physical proximity IMO.

How far away from the office are you - you just need to think how easy is it for the staff to get to you and conduct viewings? If its 30 mins each way that could be 1 1/2 hr trip to come and conduct a viewing.

Thanks all! Given we're in a four bed, it seems unlikely we'll attract the older generation, it's far more likely to be younger people upsizing. We're a 20 minute drive away, so not too bad - they seem willing to cover the distance anyway!

Couldn't agree more on responsiveness. Fortunately we know this agent is very responsive from experience - the direct opposite of our just-been-given-notice one - which is the main reason we're considering them even though they're out of area!