Choosing an estate agent

[Ellena646]

Hi there, we are putting our very old house on the market. I've had three agents around, Fox & Sons (High street), Inigo (specialists in old houses) and Hamptons (old skool/old houses vibe)... They all seem to be talking the big talk, and I wonder if anyone has used these agents and can give advice? Thanks

What is the rough value? I wouldn't go specialist just on age but value probably influences the choice if more than £2.5million. I sold an early 1700s house just with local agent . What listing does it have?

These are always my main questions:
What % do they want?
Will then do viewing?
Do they have anyone on their books looking for similar?

To add: never heard of Inigo. Do they list on Rightmove (I wouldn't go with an agent that doesnt)

No advice other than to ask neighbours, friends/family, on nextdoor.com in your area for recommendations. One branch of the same company could be very different to another. Ask about commission.
Edited to fix a typo!

What agent do other local people use? And what are the fees? Hamptons are big and international, if it's very valuable they might have the reach to find someone willing to spend a lot, but might be expensive if it's more mundane.

It's £950,000 but very historic. The fees range from 1% - 2% (inigo the highest). All agents claim to do the viewings, and no-one very local to our house has been on the market for a while, frustratingly. Inigo do list on Rightmove.

Does indigo charge VAT on their fee? If so thats silly expensive in my opinion.

Most places charge around 1.2 to 1.5% plus VAT but open to haggling if you can convince them.

Sadly you will be out of FTB price ranges so you will need to go with a proactive EA who canvases well and can turn enquiries into sales.

It may be worth asking them about their average conversion to sale rate on a house in your price range, how they do viewings (eg only on a Saturday), and what their books are like at the moment for buyers in your price range. That will give you some ideas.

Also look at tie in terms. You don't want to sign up to an EA who has a 20 week tie in who does nothing as then it hampers you selling in a timely manner.

I would look on their websites as though you were looking for a property to buy and see how user friendly it is and how many houses they seem to have sold in your price bracket. Do they all display the houses equally well with good photos, clear floor plans etc.
Don’t necessarily pick the cheapest one in terms of fees or the one that gives the highest valuation. Do your own research using websites like Rightmove sold prices to get an idea of what comparable houses have actually sold for in your postcode. The price will be linked to the square footage so check that none of them are overvaluing your property just to win the business. Character properties are harder to value in this regard as someone may fall in love with the character and pay over the odds. But you don’t want to put it on at too high a price or it just won’t sell and then you will have to keep reducing which isn’t a good look.

Inigo just seem to take photos of objects in the houses they are selling - not useful pictures of the rooms

Partly agree with @fromtheshires though disagree somewhat about the fees as I know some areas do charge more than others so you can’t generalise that they are silly expensive. Nevertheless you have been given a range of fees so it seems like they may be open to negotiation or if not, will have to prove how they can justify the extra cost ( not just waffle on about good customer service, that’s to be expected).

Agree with asking lots of questions about tie in terms etc. You don’t want to be locked into a long exclusivity period if they turn out to be rubbish.

Ugh so irritating when EAs do that

Look at the one- the 1st few pictures are related and then non are large enough to see a whole room

https://inigo.com/sales-list/liverpool-road-ii

Though quite by coincidence I have just seen a flat advertised via Inigo and the photos are pretty good and I like the way they talk about the neighbourhood & include a couple of photos of that in their description.

It does seem like they have gone to more effort than most EAs do to both market the property and the area it is situated in, so maybe it is worth a bit of a higher fee, I don't know.

I used Inigo recently for both selling and buying and rate them very highly. I had three offers within a month and achieved significantly more than local agents had suggested.

The customer service was way better than with any other agents I’d used (selling a few period properties in London over the years) and although the staff are all pretty young, they were all smart, emotionally intelligent, and knew how to handle my difficult buyers to get to exchange.

I don’t agree re their photos - if they do highlight objects it tends to be a feature of particular note - as opposed to the usual silly EA shots of a close up of a wooden bannister or standard chrome tap with blurred background!

yes with the flat I saw advertised today through them, none of the photos are those pointless ones of a jug or something, they were all relevant to showing the character of the property

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/146561021#/media?channel=RES_BUY&id=media17&ref=photoCollage

I actually think they have presented that house in Chester beautifully @JackSpaniels - sorry!

I love their photos - the photographer was at my house for 6 hours and spent ages setting up each shot. They have lots of rules such as you will never see a television or any computer screens/ other tech (although on a rare occasion they’ll concede if it’s a well-styled MacBook 🙄😁)

Inigo do take a really good photo, but their listings sometimes seem to lack local knowledge for the houses I've seen it advertise in my part of London. Same with The Modern House, which is their sister agency. Think wrong park/tube/high street, or schools and amenities described as 'local' when they're over in the next borough and actually bit of a hike - and sometimes priced so ambitiously that they sit around getting reduced. Having said that I think they'd be a good choice for an unusual old house in an area where there aren't very many immediate comparables.

That sort of attention to detail is quite impressive.

I'm voting that @Ellena646 uses Inigo (though I haven't actually used them myself of course)

Yes I am familiar with The Modern House and love their photos also but have noticed sometimes that their local knowledge is a bit "off".

Though if I was the vendor I would insist on proofreading the blurb so that bit could be edited if necessary. Do agree they quite often seem valued too ambitiously. People will pay a premium for a property being stylish but there's a limit.

I've bought and sold through Hamptons. They seem to deal in higher end properties (mind you it's all high end round me). They've done a good job.
Look at their websites - are the houses similar to yours? Which one has sold recently in your neighbourhood?

Thank you all so much for this feedback. I have done a little more research based on it, and it feels like Inigo have better pictures and an enthusiasm for older properties, but their fee is very high at 2% plus VAT, and I think in the end this is going to be a sticking point as it's non-negotiable. The local agent is offering 1% but have said they will go as low as 0.75% if I am sole agent with them. I've spoken to some neighbours and they all used different high street agents (some time ago) and said the houses sell themselves (we are a row of conservation properties) and all the agents are on Rightmove so does the buyer really care about the agency? I think I might just stick to the high street.

Fair enough @Ellena646 and thanks for the update

Hi @Ellena646 having just sold through a high street agent we did feel like there were some differences with who we used vs the rest that I thought could be useful questions to ask l before signing up with any one in particular:

1. how many people have they got registered looking for houses in your location and price bracket. Our agent said only approximately 20% of their viewings come your specific Rightmove listing, the rest are people who have sold with them or are registered because of other listings that they introduce you to.
2. What is their marketing approach, ours was quite a specific house so they did an off market open house to gauge price and get feedback before our listing went live as an example.
3. Do they provide feedback after every viewing and what is their approach to keeping in touch? We had a call after each viewing, checkpoint meeting after the open house and after 1 week of being on the open market.
4. How do they manage sale progression, do they have someone whose role it is to get sales pushed through or is that largely left to the agents/you?
5. how do they qualify the viewers, there is nothing worse than tidying for viewings then finding the people who want to view aren't proceedable/viewing as a hobby which happened with our previous agent.

These felt like points of difference to us and happily we are under offer after 2 weeks on the open market.

hope this helps.