Jim Parker
February 22, 2020
Life is a relentless stream of decisions.
What to wear?
What to have for breakfast?
Where to go on holiday?
Decisions, decisions, decisions.
Some are trivial choices. Some are life-changing ones.
And deciding to sell your house is right up there towards the top of the decisions pyramid.
Choosing to sell is an important step but selecting the right estate agent to market your property is a crucial one. It is often the difference between a successful sale or a stress fuelled nightmare.
A key point to remember is that not all estate agents are the same.
To sieve out the good from the bad, the exceptional from the average, ask any estate agent you call in for a valuation, these five questions.
- Show don’t tell. Any old agent can tell you how good they are. But you need to dig a little deeper and ask them to show you testimonials and reviews. An agent worth their fee won’t have an issue with answering this.
- What’s your plan for my property? A well organised, efficient agency will have already know how they will market your property to give you the best chance of selling success. Ask them to outline the steps and marketing actions they’ll take to put your home on the road to success.
- How long is the contract? This is a VERY important question to ask. A good agency won’t tie you in to a contract as they should be confident on doing an outstanding job. Less scrupulous agencies insist on people signing long contracts which works in their interest NOT the home sellers. Ask to see a copy of their standard contract upfront.
- Ask for valuation evidence. When an agent tells you what they think the current market value of your home is it’s not rude to ask them how they arrived at that figure. This is a commonly asked question, and good agencies have plenty of data and comparable evidence to support the valuation.
- How Much? Perhaps counter-intuitively this is one of the least important questions and should never be the first you ask. Why? Well, there is a difference between cost and value. Consider this. Agent A charges a 0.5 % commission to sell your home. They value it at £200,000. But only secure a sale at £190,000. Meaning you end up with £189,050 after their £950 commission.
But – Agent B charges a 1.5 % service fee to sell your home and thanks to better marketing, superior skilled staff and negotiation nous they achieve the asking price of £200,000. Meaning you end up with £197,000 after their £3000 fee. This scenario makes it clearer that cost and value are very different things. (Fees are often subject to VAT).
Ultimately the best agents are the ones you feel so comfortable with that you can ask them anything.
Because after all, they’ll be working on your behalf.
And they need to be on hand to help, advise and support you with decisions such as how to present your property, what sales strategy to take and which offer to accept.
For more information about how we help homeowners in FIFE give us a call at any of our offices.
