How do I compare estate agents?

peter_964rs

I'm looking for a way to gauge how successful estate agents are in selling properties in my price bracket in my neighbourhood. When coming for valuations, they've typically shown one or two similar properties they sold recently, but I've no way of knowing if it was just the one or two properties, or one or two out of twenty or thirty in the past month.

I'm not finding a smart way of doing this on Zoopla or Rightmove, and I'd appreciate some guidance.

Tks

Tony_the_Greek

Not sure you can really get that information anywhere and there's other things to take into account.

DRP

peter_964rs wrote: »

I'm looking for a way to gauge how successful estate agents are in selling properties in my price bracket in my neighbourhood. When coming for valuations, they've typically shown one or two similar properties they sold recently, but I've no way of knowing if it was just the one or two properties, or one or two out of twenty or thirty in the past month.

I'm not finding a smart way of doing this on Zoopla or Rightmove, and I'd appreciate some guidance.

Tks

I'm not sure if this is exactly what you're asking , but you could examine the Rightmove 'No longer on the market' section for the area you're interested in (http://www.rightmove.co.uk/house-value.html).

This will tell you what previously marketed houses were asking for and the dates they went on to the market. Compare this to the 'sold' prices and dates (rightmove or land registry) of the same houses.

I think the best way is to just keep doing your research in the local area - over a few months you will get the feel for appropriate asking prices and how quickly they go SSTC

cattie

Have you never taken notice of boards put up by ea's when selling properties in your area? Only this can be a good way to gauge how successful they are at marketing properties.

When you invite ea's to value your house you can ask them to bring details of all similar properties they have sold in the area over the last year or two & that will give you an idea of what was/is on their books & the achieved price versus the marketed price. A couple of ea's in my area do this as a matter of course when coming to value.

Obviously those remaining on the books for a while can be considered overpriced & sometimes the ea will tell you that the vendors expectations are too high & will not heed advice to lower the price to achieve a sale.

ReadingTim

Estate agents don't sell houses, only the vendors' do. EAs market the property and facilitate the sale transaction, but that can only be made between the buyer and seller at a price the pair of them (and the market more widely) agrees.

You therefore need to be looking at how well EAs market the property - their online presence (own site + rightmove et al), their physical presence (offices, for sale boards etc), how they treat their customers (ie you), how they treat potential buyers (get a mate to mystery shop them by calling them up / going into their offices and seeing what happens), what their marketing strategy is, what the suggested offering price is, their fee structure, tie in periods etc. Beauty parade 3 or so and see who seems best. Remember, you get what you pay for!

peter_964rs

Thanks for all the responses. Some useful suggestions.

I ask because I am wondering if the way in which potential buyers approach their research has changed in the past five years. It strikes me that I have been looking for properties in my target location - which is some distance from me - simply by trawling through entries on Rightmove and Zoopla. In some cases I have phoned estate agents offering something that looks attractive on screen and been offered an alternative suggestion and/or sent a suggestion by email, but almost always for something that is already on Rightmove or Zoopla (the exception being 'just come to market' or 'privately marketed' properties, of which there have been very few).

So, in comparing agents, I felt that my potential buyers would just use the Internet anyway, and chose an agent who offered the cheapest rate, seemed to be knowledgable about the local area (and based very locally to me), seemed capable and responsive and also, coincidentally, displayed high confidence in achieving the best valuation.

I do take the point that agents don't sell houses, vendors do - and ours has always been prepared immaculately for each viewing - but even so, the relative lack of viewings is perturbing, and I want to try and find a way to understand if I get any advantage by going through a different agent, one that might have more physical branches both locally and nationally, one with a more well known brand name, etc, and that by making the change I might pay more in fee but make the deal happen.

There is a subtext in that I just don't trust what agents are telling me, either because they dissemble and spin, outright lie, or are basically misinformed. So I'm looking for any way to establish actual evidence of success - independently, if possible, of actually asking the agent for a list of property sales instead of just some indicative examples.

Hope that makes sense!

R_P_W

Personally I wouldn't trust what any of them say. Some are better than others but generally they want to ensure a sale completes so they get paid!

You want an agent that uses all the channels such as rightmove, has their own website, advertises in the local paper, advertises in their window etc.

Your house well sell if it is in a decent condition, decent location and priced well.....agents job is to get people through the door!

nomoneytoday

Ask your friends for their experience of buying property.

The EA that was best on that side is probably the best to sell yours IMHO.

For example, when I was buying, my spec was, "within one mile of location x, up to value £x". The EA that sent me details of houses 6 miles away and over budget didn't get to sell my house later.
On the other hand, the EA that gave me a lift when I had puncture were invited back to tender

Duskylady

Do you know anyone who's bought a house in your area? I only ask as we're going through the buyers process and the difference between the agents is amazing and from our perspective we can really see who is proactive and helpful and who is useless. When I phoned some of them to find me through suitable properties just referred me to rightmove!!! Others spent ages talking through requirements and referred me a number of houses and phoned me whenever something new came on the market which seemed right. From a sellers perspective it must be difficult to see what's going on but a buyer will be able to tell you what the agents are truly like.

DaftyDuck

You can access some of the data for time to sell and average sold price for free. I posted THIS ONE a couple of days ago. Be warned... it's quite possible for an agent to "fix" this data, but it's a helpful start.

Obviously, the average sold price doesn't reflect agent getting a better price for any house, just the average for the stock they sell. You should probably aim for one where the average sold price is similar to yours, and really not worry whether it's fastest to sell or third-fastest, just avoid the bottom two or three.

Nothing beats getting the agent to visit you AND you go into the office. Do the latter first, before they recognise you. If you are made to feel welcome fairly quickly, and not ignored while they tend to their mobile and re-arrange tonight's date, that's a start. It's always worth calling an agent up, giving a friend's name and address (having asked), and 'try to buy' a property... are they helpful, courteous, do they guide you to properties that are right for you? When they send details to your friend, do they arrive quickly, looking well laid-out, etc?

I_have_spoken

Tricky one. I don't think I choose that well when I sold last year, but anyway -

1) Do you like the people in the agency? If not, chances are buyers will be put off by them too.
2) How flexible are they on negotiating the lock-in period? A good agent won't mind an 6 to 8 week period if they are really confident they can sell
3) Get them to show you exactly what they will put on Rightmove, anyone who doesn't mention a floor plan etc. can be ruled out.
4) Any EA who wants money up-front for a 'premium' listing can be shown the door
5) Is their high-street shop likely to get any passing trade or is it hidden down an alley - peeps still look in the window!
6) Do they have staff who can speak Polish, Gujarati etc. depending on what is the largest immigrant group in your area.
7) Are they willing to share the EA data from Rightmove, # of hits on your house, # of click-throughs to pics and compare this to shop averages
8) What ideas do they have for Open Days etc to help shift your house