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Selling via an estate agent is the most popular way of selling a property. The requirement for sellers to prepare home buyers pack has added confusion around what a seller needs to do.
If you decide to sell using an estate agent you should pick your agent carefully. Don’t just chose the one that has the lowest fees or the one that tells you they can sell your home for the highest price.
Chose an agent based on their expertise and track record of selling properties like yours. You should check which property sites they are included on as many people will start their search there.
Consider their fees carefully. Many agents will attempt to sign you up for a long period e.g. 12 weeks. Resist doing that; give them a maximum of 8 weeks. If an agent doesn’t sell a property within the first few weeks they will tend to not promote it so heavily and are reliant on new people in the market.
The estate agents database is very important as these are buyers looking for property. The first thing an agent will do is go to those potential buyers as well as advertise heavily. After 4 weeks or so they will have exhausted all of their easy sale routes and will have new properties to sell.
Here a few tactics used by estate agents to get you to sign up:
- Giving you a high valuation to justify a high fee – if i can get you an extra £10,000 for your home surely I deserve an extra 0.5% on the fees
- Pretending to have a buyer desperate for your house – do you know I had Mr & Mrs Smith looking for a property just like yours.
Always establish at the outset what advertising the estate agent will do within the scope of the fee.
Most estate agents will visit the property to take details, including measurements of all rooms.
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