Why you should choose your estate agent wisely

Selling your home is a big and important undertaking.  It’s likely to be your biggest asset, so when it comes to selling it, you want to use an estate agent who can not only get the best possible price in the shortest time, but who really understands the local market.

The right estate agent will have a big impact on the price your home sells for, how long the property is on the market and, in most cases, how smooth the sale will go. 

Here are some of the reasons why working with the right estate agent can help influence the price and speed of your sale:

Valuation of your property

Many estate agents give unrealistic and inflated home valuations because they want the instruction, not because they have your best interests at heart. If a property is overpriced, it will be overlooked by potential buyers and may take longer to sell. On the other hand, pricing your property below its perceived market value means possibly leaving money on the table.

Valuing a home to sell is an art. It needs to take into account buyer demand, economic and market conditions, the home’s condition and features, and of course, location.

Proactive marketing

There is much more to marketing a property than just advertising it online. A good proactive estate agent will be in regular touch with clients looking for properties to purchase and will be able to establish exactly what position they are in to proceed with a sale, thereby avoiding unnecessary delays in obtaining you the very best price.

Reviewing and negotiating offers

Receiving an offer is one thing, but you also need to take into account their financial position, and their position in the chain.

• Do they have a mortgage fully approved?
• Have they got a property to sell? If so, is it on the market, or under offer?
• If it’s under offer, how long is their chain?
• How keen are they to proceed? Are they willing to make compromises to buy this property? Is this their best and final offer?
• Are there other potential offers on the table that might be lower in price, but are in a better position to proceed?

A good estate agent will consider all these factors and help advise you whether an offer is a good, proceedable offer.

Pushing the sale through as quickly as possible

Once an offer has been accepted, your estate agent should help push the sale through as quickly as possible, speaking regularly to the buyers and their solicitors to keep the chain moving. This information should then be fed back to the seller so that all parties are kept in the loop, and everyone is working to the same target completion date.

Many estate agents don’t do this. They leave it for the solicitors to sort out, but this lack of communication can lead to frustration for all parties and cause unnecessary delays.

So you see how important it is to choose your estate agent wisely. There is so much more to selling a home than just good photography and marketing. It takes a proactive and a tenacious approach to introducing the right buyer and seeing the sale go through quickly and with minimum hassle.

If you are considering putting your property on the market in 2023, January is historically the busiest time for buyers looking for property.  Contact us today for a home valuation.