In This Guide
choosing an agent
1. Introduction
2. Cost
3. Terms and conditions
4. Valuation and price
5. Market reach
6. Regulation
7. Reputation
8. Standard of service
Conveyancing
Holding viewings
Negotiation
Planning your sale
Prepare your home
Seller's Packs
Selling at auction
Selling in Scotland
Selling privately
Selling your home
Using estate agents
choosing an agent
Reputation
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Reputation can be quite a reliable indicator of how good a company is, particularly in less built up areas where community is often a little more close knit and everyone knows each other that bit better.
Try to speak to as many people as you can to see if anyone you know locally bought their property using this agency. Recommendations and opinion will be useful in assessing past performance of different agents.
Don't rely too heavily on the word of others. Be wary of the fact that estate agents have a higher than average turnover of staff. You may know someone who used an agent, or you may have even used them yourself, but the chances of having the same staff deal with your sale a second time are not all that high. One way to check this matter is to actually find out who would be handling your sale if you used a particular agent. Find out their level of seniority and what experience they have.
Another by product of speaking to as many people as possible is that you should be able to build up a pretty good picture of who is well used in your locality. Although you want an agent who you can trust to do a good job, your ultimate goal is to get a good price for your property as quickly as possible. This sometimes means that the most appropriate agent is not the nicest, or the most popular, but simply the best known.
Think about the length of time that an agent has been active in the area. The longer that they have been active in an area, the better the chance that they will have good knowledge and understand the real worth and value of properties in the vicinity.
Finally, do not instruct an estate agent to sell your home just because the property you want to buy is on their books. This is a bad reason to choose an agent. No matter what they say, you will have no better chance of getting your offer accepted as a result of instructing the agent to sell your home. They have an obligation to get the vendor the best possible price and if they are willing to bend the rules for you, can you really be sure that they won't do the same in someone else's favour further on down the line?
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