Emailing Estate Agents

marc-h_2

I'm currently deciding which EA to choose after having 3 round to value and give their fees. After a few days I have come up with a list of questions to ask them, some of which will probably need a bit of research/checking before getting back to us. I also want to ask one of them if they will drop the price because the other agent we are considering is charging considerably less.

I planned on writing an email as it will be easier to send the questions to both agents and compare the response. Plus I will have something in writing rather than just verbally if there are any problems later down the line.

Should I really be phoning to sort all this out or am I likely to get a satisfactory response by email? The field I work in uses email heavily for all aspects of business, but many EAs don't even seem to have individual email addresses on their business cards.

betmunch

If you phone to sort it out you will learn what the EA is like on the phone, if you choose to email you will see how they react to email enquiries.

Most enquiries come though on the phone so I would call them if I were you. If they are upbeat and positive when you ring in they should be the same when someone rings in to ask about your house.

With regard to the fees, there should always be room for negotiation on the fee, however this is not guarenteed. I would check what you are getting for your money, if the service seems the same as the one with the lowest fee then why pay more? If they more expensive fee will go the extra mile to sell your house then you should expect to pay more.

Also, check the length of the tie in period of the contract. In my opinion you shouldnt be tied in more than 8 weeks. If an EA is confident of selling your house 8 weeks should be plenty, unless they have given specific reasons why you should sign a longer contract. "All our contracts are 20 weeks" is not a good enough reason!

Cheers