Thinking of changing estate agents

SkintMonkey

Have you ever changed estate agents while selling your house? We are really not convinced by our agent and that they are doing enough.

Is it worth it, or should we just hang on in there?

Doozergirl

You sound pretty sure. What do you think they could do that they aren't?

Personally I think the number of viewings you've had isn't bad unless you're in a real property hotspot in which case, I'd expect you to have sold, lol!

Did the EA give your details to your friend?

Would you be prepared to put up a link to the house if you have one?

SkintMonkey

Doozergirl wrote:

You sound pretty sure. What do you think they could do that they aren't?

Personally I think the number of viewings you've had isn't bad unless you're in a real property hotspot in which case, I'd expect you to have sold, lol!

Did the EA give your details to your friend?

Would you be prepared to put up a link to the house if you have one?

We've emailed our estate agents voicing our sincere concerns about them not pushing our property and that we may be considering changing estate agents, which of course is something that really we don't want to have to do.

We are hoping that it may prove a good kick up the backside they need!

Doozergirl

Did you tell them what you thought they could do what they weren't doing currently? If you just emailed them that they weren't doing well enough, it's a little bit vague!

People need to know what they can do to help the situation It's more constructive than just saying 'you're not doing it right' and you're more likely tp get what you need out of them.

SkintMonkey

Doozergirl wrote:

Did you tell them what you thought they could do what they weren't doing currently? If you just emailed them that they weren't doing well enough, it's a little bit vague!

People need to know what they can do to help the situation It's more constructive than just saying 'you're not doing it right' and you're more likely tp get what you need out of them.

Yeah, we told them that we feel they aren't pushing the property hard enough (recent mystery shopping has shown this) and just waiting for us to knock down the price and I think from other stuff we said, I think we've got our point across in the email, so will wait and see what response we get. We actually would rather stay put with them, we just need them to show that they are pulling their finger out and pushing our house and we don't feel they are....

vodkagirl001

I was scared when I told mine so instead of ringing them I emailed them and said we were very happy with the service but felt we would like to try our luck with someone in the nearer village to us to see if we could get any further lol I didnt like to say ''your crap and keep sending us people without checking what there needs are'' lol

prutter

Changing can make a big difference, particularly if you think your sole agent isn't pulling their weight.
We recently went sole agent on our flat, and they got us 2 viewings in 5 weeks!
We signed up with another agent (our preferred choice actually, but the other agents undercut them slightly - hence why we chose the cheaper option). Agent no. 2 got us 7 or 8 viewings in 2 weeks and a buyer after 2 weeks and a day!

And there was me thinking all FTB's would use rightmove and look at properties regardless of EA. Makes you realise it can make a difference, and that cheapest is not always best.

In fact, it was a fairly costly mistake, as EA 1 undercut EA 2 by about £100. Obviously when going on as multi wih EA 2, they revised the comission. So, we're paying a higher rate, which will actually cost us around £600 over what they quoted for sole agency originally! DOH! Lesson learnt....

vodkagirl001

prutter wrote:

Changing can make a big difference, particularly if you think your sole agent isn't pulling their weight.
We recently went sole agent on our flat, and they got us 2 viewings in 5 weeks!
We signed up with another agent (our preferred choice actually, but the other agents undercut them slightly - hence why we chose the cheaper option). Agent no. 2 got us 7 or 8 viewings in 2 weeks and a buyer after 2 weeks and a day!

And there was me thinking all FTB's would use rightmove and look at properties regardless of EA. Makes you realise it can make a difference, and that cheapest is not always best.

In fact, it was a fairly costly mistake, as EA 1 undercut EA 2 by about £100. Obviously when going on as multi wih EA 2, they revised the comission. So, we're paying a higher rate, which will actually cost us around £600 over what they quoted for sole agency originally! DOH! Lesson learnt....

There is hope for us yet then!!

Can I ask were either of the EA's national ones or were they both ''local'' ish ones?

We didn't pick our EA based on Fee's. infact we were rather silly and used the first one we got out for a Valuation, because we had never sold before we kinda just listened to what they said. We knew it should be valued between £110-£115k and they valued it £112-£116, they were very friendly, it was the owner who cam to see us personally etc etc and they explained in the village they were situated in, they had ALOT of investors asking for apts etc so we thought they would be ideal. About a week after we went with them they took on a new build dev of appts and about 4 weeks ago took another one on, so we susspect their main focus is selling those really!

prutter

vodkagirl001 wrote:

There is hope for us yet then!!

Can I ask were either of the EA's national ones or were they both ''local'' ish ones?

EA1 are a new independant firm desperate for business so offering v.cheap comission. To be fair, there was nothing wrong with their service as such, it's just I think they had a very small no. of clients on their books, and I guess people didn't recognise the name.

EA2 are a local'ish firm, but with a big name, and a large insurance firm behind them. 2 offices in this town, much more staff and advertising clout. And, people recognise the brand. Made a big, big difference. I was astounded to be honest.

vodkagirl001

prutter wrote:

EA1 are a new independant firm desperate for business so offering v.cheap comission. To be fair, there was nothing wrong with their service as such, it's just I think they had a very small no. of clients on their books, and I guess people didn't recognise the name.

EA2 are a local'ish firm, but with a big name, and a large insurance firm behind them. 2 offices in this town, much more staff and advertising clout. And, people recognise the brand. Made a big, big difference. I was astounded to be honest.

well were in a similar boat then I think, EA1 are a new ish independant firm, they were not offering cheap commision really (same as all others round here 1.5% plus VAT) but we went with their sales pitch and their personal touch (owner/MD came to do the valuation etc) but maybe perhaps there to small and people are not going to them - We like you had the opinion ''most people use right move so will see it on there & lots of people check the local paper and its in there every other week'' clearly this is not the case!!!

Were now unsure who to choose next! For example we know people who have used our local William H Brown and all have had bad experience re taking long time to get viewings and sales and bad service, but there are a few local firms in a much more popular village, both on the main street, and both seem to be recognisable in the fact that ive been dropping their names to people recently to see if they say they know them or not lol and most do so I think perhaps they are the way forward!

prutter

Are you looking for property at the moment in the same area?
Is there an EA you've been particularly impressed with whilst going for viewings? Or, if you've found somewhere you like, going on with the same agents can mean they'll be more likely to push your property as they know they'll potentially get two sales....

Anyway, choose carefully, as all the advice I've had is that going more that 2 agents gives the impression you're desperate to sell, which means viewers think they can go in with very cheeky offers.....