how did you choose which estate agent to market your house?

redmapleleaves1 · 2023-10-06T21:25:29+00:00

Wondering, particularly in a falling market, how did you choose between estate agents? Which factors made a difference for you? I'm thinking: - feedback from others who've used them (but don't know anyone who has sold recently) - local high street office - quality of their photos on rightmove - % cost - realism of their assessment of price. But what swung it for you? And/or what would you think important now in retrospect? Buying in another area, so won't be able to place with same agent. Thanks

FallingAutumnLeaf · 06/10/2023 22:31

Market dominance.
They sell about 75% of the houses in our town.
And when we'd seen a house we liked, they could get ours on the market that week. The other 2 possibles were either known for over pricing, or couldn't fit us in for 10 days for a valuation.

Hummusanddipdip · 06/10/2023 22:39

We had 3 agents come to visit us. I used to work in sales and was always trained in the power of 3, so tend to use it in personal life too:

local - got to know us a bit, asked about our moving onward plans.
online - was hard sale and pushy, I didn't like him.
national - was nice enough but he didn't seem to care much, just wanted to get us on their books.

The local agent were the most expensive of the 3 and we paid 1.5% +VAT on the sale. But for the experience and the personable approach to selling our house, I'd pick them again.

KievLoverTwo · 06/10/2023 22:45

An excellent sales progression team seems to be pretty key in a market with so many chain collapses.

I believe some EAs even outsource theirs, idk if that is a good or bad thing.

cocksstrideintheevening · 06/10/2023 23:51

Local market dominance. Not purple bricks, not individuals who seem to following the same pattern as realtors in the US.

Flubadubba · 07/10/2023 02:01

It you don't know anyone who has sold lately, it's worth asking for feedback on local agents in a local Facebook group.

DHisthethiefofjoy · 07/10/2023 02:21

Again, local market dominance. Even though I ducking hate the bastards. I had used them before. I have no idea how they are the best locally, they are an absolute ballache to deal with and need to be micromanaged every step of the way. One review - not mine - even referenced them as being a bunch of wide boys.

But yet they do have all the buyers on their books. And they do know the local market in terms of value.

LovesFood1987 · 07/10/2023 03:42

. Local office
. Local dominance
. Never pay more than 1% + VAT

The main thing we think of is our experience as a potential buyer with them, do we enjoy viewing with them? Do they try to accommodate viewings at the time requested or are they too busy? Do that know details about the houses? Do they mind loads of questions? Etc.

We want our buyers to have a good experience and some estate agents are not very good in these areas surprisingly!

Twiglets1 · 07/10/2023 06:40

There is a website that tells you which agents sell most properties in your area (can’t remember the name right now but can dig it up if you want) so I used that to narrow it down to the 2 most active in the area.
Then invite them round for a meeting and go with whichever one you think is the better salesperson. Not necessarily the cheapest one but the one that you think has the best chance of getting the best price on your property because they can see its good features and are talking enthusiastically about them. In the way you hope they will be talking to potential buyers.
I also look at their Rightmove listings and judge the quality of the company photos, floorplans & descriptions.

SuddenlyOld · 07/10/2023 06:45

We got quotes from 3 with excellent reviews and chose the one who our seller was using

nc14 · 07/10/2023 06:46

The number of branches they had outside my area to bring people in who had perhaps not otherwise considered my area. I paid a little more commission to use them but my property sold for full asking within 2 weeks to people from another City. I don’t know if it made a difference in the end but I felt it was worth it.

Haveyouseenthemuffinman · 07/10/2023 06:54

Quality of right move descriptions - I can’t stand the wanky floral language used by some, and one took noticeably better photos of properties. Having seen the care he went to take our photos*, I can see that this wasn’t at all accidental.

Nearly bought with another agent. When showing us around one property he didn’t know about the stream at the end of the garden, and when we bought it the office lost all our ID. So they’re bottom of my local list.

*originally taken on a grey March day, when a nice day in April came, he asked if he could retake a garden photo, and as both I and DH were at work, he was happy to take our washing down, move things around the garden and take a new photo. We

Elektra1 · 07/10/2023 06:56

Twiglets1 · 07/10/2023 06:40

There is a website that tells you which agents sell most properties in your area (can’t remember the name right now but can dig it up if you want) so I used that to narrow it down to the 2 most active in the area.
Then invite them round for a meeting and go with whichever one you think is the better salesperson. Not necessarily the cheapest one but the one that you think has the best chance of getting the best price on your property because they can see its good features and are talking enthusiastically about them. In the way you hope they will be talking to potential buyers.
I also look at their Rightmove listings and judge the quality of the company photos, floorplans & descriptions.

GetAgent

Jaffajiffy · 07/10/2023 07:03

Check they advertise on rightmove
Ring them as a potential buyer to see what that experience is like
See if they are passionate and knowledgeable about your property and location. We discarded agents who said “it’s a shame it’s not closer to…” as we knew they’d have that attitude with buyers.
Check the terms re cost and minimum length of contract. I always give notice for the minimum term to keep them on their toes.
Good luck!

KievLoverTwo · 07/10/2023 10:24

Just remembered we had one agent this year whereby we had to call head office instead of the branch to get an appointment as they hadn't returned four calls in as many days.

Another couldn't give us a viewing for 6 to 10 days due to being short-staffed.

So, maybe before you even get to considering which to choose, do some fake 'can I see this property?' calls and see how you get on.

We never did see anything by second agent, there were three we were interested in, by the time they finally had availability we had already talked ourselves out of all three. Not least because I thought buying a house through them would be a nightmare.

Tasha1989 · 07/10/2023 10:39

We went with the one who replied promptly and politely to our enquiries and showed up clearly having done his research. They are a smaller local firm and I felt they really took the time to go above and beyond than some of the big ones would. Got our not-easy-to-sell property on the market within 24 hours of getting them out, 6 viewings in the next 24 hours, offer from proceedable buyer at 10% over hoped-for price from the second viewing. So I would say go with the vibe you get from how hard they’ll work for you.

Original poster

redmapleleaves1 · 07/10/2023 15:50

Really grateful, thank you so much for all your posts. So many aspects I'd never have thought of, feeling much better placed to at least optimise the chances.

OP posts:

Watto1 · 07/10/2023 15:54

I got 3 local agents round to look around and value the house. I instantly discounted the one who didn’t offer to take off his shoes and proceeded to trample mud all over the stairs carpet . Out of the other two, I went with the one I felt most comfortable with. A gut instinct if you like.