Selling our flat - advice on how to choose an estate agent please?

Having sold a few commercial properties in my time and just selling my own house and recently sold my wifes flat here's my thoughts.

When the agents came round did you ask the question how did you reach the value (I'll use that term losely)... I'd want them to show me evidence of similar nearby properties that they had sold (and what they had achieved) and if they couldnt show me that at least evidence that they had done some research i.e. they were prepared to do some work to get the instruction. Dont necessarily go with the highest ... are they giving the best valuation just to win he job and then two months later will come back and say we have marketed the property and now need to reduce the asking price to generate new interest, a pretty common practice.

Viewings - are you available all the time? If not the agent doing them might be better. Are you confident in the agent will they sell it to viewers, is the person who came round to sell the estate agency to you going to do the viewings or are they going to pass the viewings over to some junior joe who will open the door and stand their gazing into space.

Fees - generally I would recommend an incentive fee, remember 0.25% difference in fees is in the grand scale of things might be a relatively small amount. I would be very reluctant to pay up front as some agents once they have your up front fee will then do little more than list on web. If you try and chip their fees too much (and they still want your job) likewise they are likely to do the minimum.

Contract length - if they are confident of selling at their recommended 'value' perhaps suggest a short contract length.

For Sale Board - do you really need one ... most interest now generated via the web (right move, zoopla, prime location etc). I didnt bother on my house as no passing trafic, the agent should be able to advise how many hits your property is receiving on the web (they certainly can with rightmove).

I hope some of that is of help. PM if you have any specifics.

Baz

Ps so far the local agent who knew his market has done a good job on the sale of my house and fingers crossed found me a house 'off market' to purchase so it goes to show there are some positives in using an agent.

ps2

 

when we sold the brighton house last year - we started with a local estate agent .... they were bloody useless ... they used to bring people round to view the house who did not even want a 2/3 bed house with shower room and garden...they were idiots and i fell out with them.,


we then used cubitt & west who were amazing ... they did brilliant photos and worked really hard to get the right people through the door. after each viewing we could access feedback online from the people who saw the house.

they were honest about the valuation and really helped us ....


my view is this .... use a good company who you get on with ... you may know them for 6 months and making sure you click with the team there is important.

i would not use the online place at all ... yes - it will cost you £1k more to use a real estate agent - but at the end of the day - if you want to move its better to sell the flat for £2k then not sell it at all ....

 

Not for everyone, but we did it ourselves with www.mypropertyforsale.co.uk. We tried a local agent who was less than brilliant and after a couple of months we wrote the blurb ourselves, took our own pictures and they had someone come to measure up and put it online. Brilliant service right up to exchange. I think it was around £365 all in for a year's marketing. We only needed 6 weeks. It's not for everyone though, we did all our own viewings and got out of the way so they could talk without us earwigging. We used an online no sale no fee conveyancer too who worked their socks off for very little reward. It was pretty full on but quick and painless. Just my penny's worth - I'm sure there are horror stories from people who've had bad experiences doing it themselves. Good luck with the sale whichever route you take

 

i dont think people should ever show perspective buyers around their own home ...

 

I agree with Owen.
I'm using an agent because our house is the only one like it in my city and I'm expecting it to sell in a week because it's ripe for "doing up" which is what people want in a difficult market. I know I could spend £50K then add £100K to the price but I don't want to live in a building site for 6 months just to give £25K to the ex. I'd rather burn it to the ground. Everyones case is different.

On that subject, if you've made your house "perfect" and trying to extract the max, in this market what'll happen is you'll think you've sold it, then at the eleventh hour your buyer will try and knock off a wodge. Remember they've forked out for a survey and stand firm.

Again I wish you the best of luck. I know you're young peeps and £10K either way matters a lot, I've been in your position. I'm so lucky I couldn't give a flying damn because I'll die in 20 years anyway + every £10k is in reality only £5K (divorce), so mine will sell pronto. Then I can move to a boat with £100k in the bank. My dad will then die in 10 years and load the bank again. It's hard being young. I know very well that sounds appalling I'm not daft, but that's the reality of the situation for me. Your time will come, so concentrate on what you what from life rather than money is the best advice for anyone. Onwards and upwards, do what you need to do to move forwards and try not to get embroiled in the minutae and £1k here or there.

 

people over here try to sell their property for unrealistic prices ,the old couple I know say they are going round europe in a camper when they sell ,funny thing is it has been on the market 2 years and the price has been reduced once ,there time clock is ticking and I fell they will never chase the dream...

zed I will give you 50,000 for your shack?

 

I've got a board and web address you can use if you want to go down the totally self sell route, Can just link the web address to the rightmove ad if you want, Also got a mobile no. (provided it hasn't been disconnected that is soley used for the board)

 

Thank you to everyone who gave us advice on this thread - we've instructed the online estate agent after I spoke with him on Friday

I asked who do I complain to if I'm not happy - he advised himself
I asked if we had final say over the photos and he said yes

It's a £300 punt to get our place on rightmove, find a property etc and we are willing to take that risk to see if there is any interest in our place (we'll get stats each week of the number of 'hits' our flat has generated on the portals)

If we get no enquiries we'll know it's either on at the wrong price or it's the wrong time and revisit the situation...

 

one place i owned (overlooked a main road , ) i got good estimate of value, put mega poster in window saying" this property 4 sale, fixed price off" " ,to view call ........ > sold no prob . and saved a wedge (me ? tighter than 2 coats of paint!)