Probably a stupid question - what do I need to look out for when choosing an estate agent?

[Halstead]

I’m about to put a house on the market for the first time in 10 years… last time when we chose an estate agent it seemed to be fairly straightforward (easy to sell house, chose one that offered a flat fee). Plus I was up younger and more naive 🤣

This time, I’m selling from a distance so want to choose wisely.

So … other than fees … anything else I should be looking out for? Anything dodgy that’s become common practice recently? (read one post where the poster’s contract had them paying a %age of asking price, not selling price 😱 … the agent overvalued the house as a result)

Any advice gratefully received.

Stalk your local Rightmove and see how each price houses relative to the market. One EA round us is notorious for pricing stupidly high, gets the business and properties either sit about for ages or reappear a month later reduced and with a different agent. Look for the sold/stc ratio for each EA.

How well presented are the photos & floor plan? What’s the quality of the description?

Our EA has an advance notice private Facebook group that properties get added to before Rightmove - at the peak this meant his stuff was only appearing on Rightmove after it had already sold. Does the agent have initiatives like this?

Some agents specialise in smaller houses, some in the upper end of the market.

Choose an agent that sells your type of property, what are they currently selling and how quickly, Rightmove tells you the listing date. If they have lots of reduced properties listed this can demonstrate that they price too high just to get the instruction. How many buyers do they have registered as looking for your type of property? Find out what’s included EPC etc, how will they present your property ie do they use a professional photographer? You have an average of 3 seconds to get a buyer’s attention on RM so photos are very important. Are there any charges if you change your mind or change agent if it doesn’t sell? It’s to be expected that there will be as agents have lots of upfront costs that people don’t realise. On fees, don’t go for cheapest. Selling a house is relatively easy for the agent as long as it’s priced correctly, it’s getting it all through to exchange of contracts when they really earn their money so this is where an established local agent is best. Not online/PB they’re a nightmare!

We went with one who seemed genuinely enthusiastic about the house ( ok, he might have been acting, but if he can fool me, he'll talk the talk with buyers!) and had done his homework about the house. It wasn't the highest valuation, ( or the lowest) but we sold in a few days in excess of the asking price. A lot of that was "can I work with this person?"

Style of house you're selling. Does it sit well with their usual stuff?

Do they have a dedicated sales progressor? I'm finding that very helpful at the moment.

I also used "Get Agent".

Mine charged less if you had a for sale board up.

Also, I spoke to them on the phone rather than email, to make first appointment, so I could get an idea of their customer service/attitude.

Final point, I didn't want a racist or homophobic estate agent, not that you can easily ask but the more conversations you have, the more you can tell.

Good luck OP.

Hi all… thanks so much. Plenty of food for thought. I have been on Rightmove a lot but will take a fresh look based on your suggestions!

Agree with the PP about a dedicated Progressor - ours was invaluable! She was the only one in contact with everyone in the chain and their solicitors.

Our EA was great at putting together chains - he knew exactly who in the local area was looking to buy, who was looking to sell, so he got us viewing houses before they went to market. This kind of thing (local knowledge) would give me confidence that if I wanted to sell a house, he'd probably have a couple of interested parties ready to go.

I looked at www.getagent.co.uk/
Also at which agents were listing most of the properties in my price bracket

A word of warding about GetAgent, the agents who sign up to this site will be paying a referral fee to GetAgent for any leads, so the commission paid will be higher to allow for this.

Far better to look through Rightmove and see who's selling similar type/price properties and approach direct.

*warning

@Mildura I didn't contact any agents via getagent though - I telephoned them direct instead

I looked at the agents who were actually selling properties, who was recommended on Facebook groups in my area, who wrote decent blurb. I had 2 agents come to value and chose the one who listened to what I wanted (right buyer more important than unrealistically high pricing). It was the owner of the estate agency who came round. He had lots of comparisons of houses in the local area and he impressed on me how he would help us find the right buyer and do anything he could to help us with our onward purchase. The other one that came round talked about how she would invoke a bidding war and not a whole lot else.

Photographs. Check out the photographs they put up on right move. There can be quite a difference.

Speak to them and see if you like them. If you do, then people looking at your house will like them to. We had a few around to value our house and one chap in regard to our laundry chute said "it they want to keep the hole they can" Eh? He clearly did not understand the needs of a family, the "hole" is brilliant.

Oh and our sales progressive was also fabulous, she had her finger right on the pulse the whole time

Does the estate agent host open house events?

(One of my neighbours literally had a queue outside her house when selling and they held an Open House)

See if you can get some recommendations/reviews from local people.

I also ruled out some based on their photos and marketing being very poor.

Get lots of quotes & make sure you ask lots of questions and I think you'll get an impression of them from their responses.

I avoided estate agents who were evasive. One in particular weirdly refused to state what he'd put our house on the market for - he kept saying 'around £X maybe just under' but refused to give me an actual figure.
I was also less than impressed by one who couldn't even be bothered to set foot in the garden despite it being a selling point of the house - showed an arrogance and lack of interest that put me right off.

The one we went with was open to negotiating fees based on the sale price and held up well to the grilling I gave him.

Of the 4 I’ve been looking at, only 3 appear to have Sales Progressors (looking at their website) so that’s really helpful, thanks.

Those 4 I selected from Get Agent (but approached directly) so good to know others have used that site. I can’t quite believe the stats published on there (speed of offer = 2 weeks and %age of asking price achieved = >99% in a couple of cases) but is interesting.

Photos and Blurb all seem much of a muchness…

I will definitely ask about Open Houses and will get a feel when they come round… will let you know how I get on.

Thanks for your advice.