Hey guys I need some advice

jackie_w

Hi There,

This week, Ive had 3 estate agents out to value my home, and I really dont know which one to go for.
They all valued my house at the same price, and I liked them all, they were all really nice people (which I know they have to be).
Basically the first 2 slagged each other off (just really saying oh they say the do this, but, they dont etc), the last one that came out didnt slag any of the other agents, but, she was a little bit dearer than the other 2. She said she would recomment putting an ad in the paper for my house as well as the internet, because, she doesnt think that putting it on the internet only would sell my house.
The first agent doesnt have a shop in a prime location (infact, Ive never seen their shop), but, every house I see thats being sold is by them, the second agent has a great big shop really trendy, prime location in town, and the third agent, has a shop on main street in town too.

First agent does all the viewings for you, 2nd one can do viewings, but, if there not available, then they said you should do it as you should be as flexible as you can be to sell your home, and the third agent doent do the viewings at all.

Hubbie and I are going to view a house tonight. This is a house first agent is selling, so, when I called their office to arrange the viewing, I was told that someone would call me back, and it took 3 hours for one of the estate agents to call me back. Now if that was me, and I couldnt get hold of the seller or the agent, I would call back and say "sorry, I cant get hold of the seller/estate agent, I will keep trying them for you"! Am I expecting too much.

I really dont know who to go to, cos I dont know if any of them are just telling me stuff just to get me on their books.

Anyway, if your still reading this, can anyone offer me any advice to help me make up my mind and choose one of the agents.

Thank you


Jackie

tonydee

Ignore the website comment. Lots and lots of homes are being sold through first contact on a website, namely https://www.rightmove.co.uk

Have you looked at any alternatives like housenetwork for example?

lindsaygalaxy

Hi

Personally I would prefer the agent to be showing me around if I was buying a house, but i would say like most people now, I always search on te internet first for property.

firesidemaid

why not ring them up posing an anon buyer and see what they are like?

have they said who they think is likely to buy your house and whether they have people looking already?

if you do go for the dearer one ask them to match the price of the others?

often, you will know when you've made the right decision, by the attitude of those who you then don't go with!;)

dnwilliams

Ask them if they have a list of satisfied customer testimonials.

Remember its not just about finding a buyer, the real stress comes during the conveyance and that’s when a good agent really pays off.

jackie_w

Thanks everyone for your advice, certainly comments there to take one board.

Am I allowed to name the agents who have been out, so that I can get comments from you guys?

rach29

Hi Jackie,

First off I would NEVER let an agent show my home if it was at all possible to show people round myself! Agents will point out the features of the property ie this is the kitchen/lounge/bathroom. They will not (in my experience) sell the lifestyle, local area, schools etc.

You know what's great about your house, how nice the patio is for family BBQ's etc how close it is to the best school in the area etc. So please try to show viewers round yourself unless it's really impossible.

From what you've said the third agent sounds like the best option but I would certainly get her to match the price of the other two. Take a look at the sticky at the top of this board re: selling houses. There is some really great advice in there about how to negotiate with agents.

GOOD LUCK

Phirefly

Have you considered an online 'agency' like housenetwork? If I ever come to sell, after all my experiences as a buyer and realising how USELESS most local agents are, I wouldn't instruct any of them.

If I HAD to choose between my local agents and the prices were the same, I'd pick the one whos properties for sale I like the most. This sounds unscientific but after 2 years of househunting I've found that each of my local agents all seem to have a kind of property. This 'kind' is not necessarily detemined by price bracket or property type, its almost more aesthetic. Whenever I see a new property on the market I like the look of, its almost always on with one of four agents out of the 10 or so in my local town.

I spoke to a couple of agents about this phenomeon and they said theres definitely some truth in it. One suggested that often people are selling a property with a view to buying a larger one with similar aesthetics... they see one they like the look of THEN put their house for sale with the same agent selling the house they're interested in. This snowballs and means the agents books have different properties with common threads.

At the end of the day though I think as long as your property is competatively priced and on Rightmove it doesn't matter a scrap which local agent you use.

saxy1

If you are going to be showing people the house yourself, you would be better of as phirefly says, and consider selling it yourself, avoiding the estate agents fees!

tonydee

If I was selling (will be very shortly) I would want to do the viewings myself. If I was buying (will be very shortly) I would want an agent to show me around.

My reason being that if an agent shows you around you tend to really explore and find any visual faults that may or may not be present.

If you show the potential buyer around then with the flowing banter and brisk pace alot of what may be perceived as faulty will potentially be missed.

Devious aren't I

Seriously though check out http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=299611&highlight=housenetwork and you could save thousands.

jackie_w

tonydee wrote:

Ignore the website comment. Lots and lots of homes are being sold through first contact on a website, namely https://www.rightmove.co.uk

Have you looked at any alternatives like housenetwork for example?

I checked housenetwork, but, they dont have any properties listed in Scotland, so, that kind of put me off, cos, I didnt know about it until you mentioned it, so I dont think I would advertise my house there (at the moment anyway), but, thank you for the tip, I will keep checking that website anyway to see if it changes.

I always check Rightmove, so I thought that the internet would be better than the paper, but, the third estate agent, said my house wouldnt get to as many people if it was advertised only on the interent!