Is this petty?

[Cheeseycheeseycheesecheese]

Hi,

I've had 3 Estate Agents come to value my house over the past 2 days with the view to sell our house.
One was a well established local, one was national and the third was online.
All 3 of our valuers said the same things around saleability, value etc.

I am tempted to sign with the local, simply because besides discussing the house, he also asked about our next move and got an idea about what we're looking for and seemed very proactive about helping us find our new home. Neither of the other two agents did this, the online one, while friendly and knowledgeable felt hard sale, was very fact based and listed off all the properties they've sold locally recently, which was confidence boosting, it felt hard sale to me. The national one, again nice and knowledgeable, but I didn't get that "I like you" (I know it's not neccessary to like agents, but I'll be talking to him a lot, I'd rather I did iyswim?)

So yeah, is it petty to choose the most expensive of the 3 local agent simply because they seem like they'll be proactive in helping us to move aswell as sell?

Go with your instincts. Also the local one can tell prospective buyers about the area and facilities.

Just don't sign up to a very long contract period.

It's not petty at all to go with the agent you liked the most (for whatever reason). Online agents generally don't offer much after sales service, and that is an important part of the process as lots can go wrong after a sale is agreed if you don't have a good agent to keep on top of things.
If your local agent is more expensive than the national agent, I would point this out to them and ask if they can match the fees of the national agent. No point asking if they can match the online agent because they are offering a different level of service.

I too received similar valuations when last selling a house just over a year ago. The two valuations from high street EA were similar and with a 1% and 1.2% fee. I decided that houses were selling like hot cakes anyway and went with Doorsteps online. The photographer came to the house and did the valuation based on the EA's and my thoughts. He was like a breath of fresh air and was upfront in saying his job was to do beautiful photos and he didn't know the area at all. The photos (12) and description were great ( I helped with description) and it cost me £250 to sell my house in two weeks! The way I look at it is most people use Rightmove and the house was on there, I was happy showing people around ( only two couples before it sold)and actually had no human contact after the visit from the photographer, everything was online except for a last minute hitch when I phoned their office and asked that they push something with the buyers solicitor. I also paid up front for their conveyencor services for selling then buying ( although hadn't found anything yet) and it all went very well even when I found a house to buy six months later.
So I saved myself around £5,000 and it was pain free ( or as pain free as house sales can be)
Promise I'm not advertising for them but atm houses are almost selling themselves, why pay 1% plus to street EA's when that money can be used in your new property?

I train salespeople in how to sell, and by far the best methods are to build relationships with clients first, understand their situation and problems that need solving, and then be the one that is able to solve it.

So your instincts are spot on, because you found an agent who is building a relationship of trust with you, who knows that you'll need support for the next phase of your sale, and he is perfectly suited to help you get there. Makes sense why you liked him!

Petty? That would be not engaging someone because you didn't like their shoes.
You have been sensible in getting three agents' opinions. You have connected more with one than the others. If they have success in your area and fees are the same why second guess yourself?
As for online agent - if I see something listed with an online agent it really puts me off viewing in the first place.

Thank you all for your opinions. Its really helpful to see that going with what I thought was best.
DH a bit useless here and has been very "you met them, you know what you're doing, go for it"

I went for 3 because I used to work in retail and I always worked to the power of 3, so in my head it made sense to look at 3 different options.

I've spoke to the local agent this morning, they're not able to move on fees, beyond drop the +VAT, so its gone from almost 2% over all to just over 1%. I'm happy with that, we've got enough equity in the house for the move and money in savings to cover fees and stamp duty.

We're also in the fortunate position of not being in a rush to sell, the local agent are sole agents for 6 weeks, but we can pull out at anytime with no costs to pay. However they've already asked if they can do viewings on Saturday when the photographer has been. So I'm quietly confident we will agree a sale in the next week or so.

Again thanks everyone :)

You’re welcome and it’s great that you managed to negotiate a slightly lower overall rate, a short sole agency period and that they already have people lined up to view.
Some people might say why not pick the cheapest online option but not all properties are selling easily, that is dependent on location and to a lesser extent some other factors. Also, it’s fine if a sale progresses smoothly but what if it doesn’t? Our estate agent helped to keep the deal going when it nearly fell through and gave us useful advice at various stages. And no I’m not paid by a high street estate agent to say that - I just think the good ones are worth the money in most cases. And I hate trying to arrange viewings through online agents because half the time no one responds to you in a timely manner so I like having an office to pester.