Selling a flat - estate agents and time?

giogiu1974

Hi, as I'm moving out of the country, I've decided to sell my one bedroom flat in Sutton.
There are a few estate agencies around: Heart, Barnard Marcus, Foxtons, Burn & Warne, Cubitt & West, and I think a local one called Butler. Do you recommend any? I want to go with an EA for the peace of mind and save time.

Also, I'm thinking to move after December. Do you think it's ok to put the flat on the marketing during summer to be sold in December or better to sell it now? In that case I would need to rent a room somewhere but I've heard it's easier to sell during Spring.

Many thanks

Albermarle

The time to sell a property from first putting it on the market to completion is very variable. One in three sales fall through, and many more get stuck in elongated chains and/or have difficult to resolve issues.
So trying to time the process exactly is a bit pointless. Probably best just to get one with it and see how things develop.

propertyrental

Impossible to recommend an agent. Much depends on the individual branch, and the individuals working within that branch.

Also depends what terms they are offering, which will vary not just branch by branch but over time too. So an agency branch with a full catalogue of properties might hold out for a higher commission fee, but 6 months later offer reduced fees because their catalogue is half empty and/or the competition locally has changed.

Get 3 (or more) round and quiz them. Negotiate hard on fees, contract length, and notice period, Compare their website (and Rightmove listings), especially the quality of photos.

Go with your gut.

NameUnavailable

A sale is likely to take 3-6 months to go through assuming no major problems. You probably want to make sure it's sold/completed before leaving the country so I think if it were me I would be looking to put it on the market in the next month or two and hope for the best! Be prepared to have to move out and rent or maybe borrow a friend's sofa for the time between selling and moving away.

EssexHebridean

Got any friends or family in the area who have moved in the past 12 months or so? If so, ask them for their views on the agents they encountered. We would certainly have given a fairly definite opinion on the one we started with, and an altogether different view on the one we ended up selling through! Our sellers agent on the other hand were neither better nor worse than any other. 

When you do see agents, ask them what the market is like in your area for properties of your type too - we put our flat on the market at the beginning of last year - and were still well and truly feeling the effects of the bottom falling out of the FTB market thanks to the wretched "mini-budget" - that effect does seem to have eased a little, but there may still be ripples from it, and your property is prime FTB territory, so that's something to be aware of. 

Prior to 2023, flats in our block were selling above asking price within a few weeks of being listed. Ours took 5 months, as the buyers simply weren't about. Very frustrating, although in our case it did all end well as had it sold immediately we would not have found the house we eventually bought!