How to choose an estate agent

The one thing we have more of than ever before today is choice. Whether it’s TV channels, stores, food, or yes, even estate agents. With the combination of the high street together with online, and everything in between, it can often make these decisions difficult. When the time comes to sell your biggest asset, your home, the stakes are raised, so how do you choose the right estate agent?

Word of mouth

Recommendations are a great place to start. Most people have a story about moving home, so speak to friends and family about their experiences. Review sites will also give you an honest appraisal of what it would be like to sell your home through a particular agent.

Research

You need to find out as much as possible about the estate agents to ensure they will be right for you and your home. Use the property portals such as Rightmove.co.uk and OnTheMarket.com to research which agents are selling properties in your area. Not only that, check out what kind of properties are they selling too.

How do they respond?

Once you have your shortlist of agents, before you decide to invite some round to appraise your home, give them a call or drop them an email. Their response to your initial enquiry may help you whittle your shortlist down to your top three.

It’s all about me

It is always good to get more than one perspective on the value of your home, you can then see if any agent is over-valuing your home to win your business. When an estate agent appraises your home it is an opportunity for them to sell the benefits of their agency, but this meeting should never be all about them.

This is your sale and your home, so the agent should be listening to you and your needs, and asking questions about your situation so they can ascertain how best to market your property to achieve the best possible price. You should always challenge them; see this as an interview as, in effect, you will be offering one of them the job of selling your home.

Don’t be afraid to ask too many questions; one thing we love at Cooper Adams is the chance to really earn your business. We want to assure you that nobody does more than we do to find the right buyer for your property.

Rapport

A good relationship between you and your estate agent is a crucial part of selling your home. You will know when you meet your potential agents if you hit it off; it isn’t just about building a rapport, but also a belief that you can trust them to act in your best interests.

If you receive recommendations, do your research, and see if you are happy with how they respond, and listen. Should they answer all your questions and reassure you of any concerns and, what’s more, you like them, then you will have found the right estate agent to sell your home.

Invite us over to see if we’re up to the challenge.

Photo by Letizia Bordoni on Unsplash