How to Decide Which Kind of Estate Agent is Right For You?
Estate agents are all the same right? WRONG! This 4 minute read talks about different types of estate agent and sellers experiences and how picking the wrong one can add to home moving stress! 👇
How to choose the best estate agent for you…
Selling your home may be one of the biggest decisions you ever make, it can be emotional and doesn’t come without some trepidation. Your home is usually your biggest asset and more than that it is your home, a place where you’ve made memories, maybe raised your children, or perhaps its been your first home. Whatever your stage in life you’ve likely dedicated much of yourself to make it exactly what you want, so when its time to pass it on to the next owner its essential that you pick the right estate agent.
This blog discussed the different kind of estate agents and the pros and cons of each of them.
The National online agent
The large online agents have memorable TV advertising campaigns to promote their services, and generally offer low or no cost fees, but what are they like at promoting your property?
Online agents generally have very basic marketing which gives your a limited number of photos, floorplan & a description. They generally promote your property on the main property sites such as Rightmove & Zoopla.
Online agents don’t generally offer virtual tours or videos and give you limited or no marketing on social media, which seriously limits your properties exposure.
Valuers that work for online agencies generally cover large geographic areas, this means that it is impossible for them to have detailed local knowledge over all of the area that they cover. Often valuations can be inaccurate and whether over or under valued, this can be damaging to your property marketing and/or your wealth.
Meet David who works in contract negotiations and Claire who is a marketing consultant, they chose an online estate agent as they felt there was no value for them using a high street agent. They were confident to do their own viewings and would prefer to negotiate their own sale and follow through the after sales process. David and Claire knew they would be doing most of the work themselves and just needed an online advert and would do the rest and wanted to pay as little as possible.
The only surprise for David and Claire was when a property across the road sold for more than theirs and had more viewings than they did, but as they don’t work in the local property market they didn’t know that their property had potentially been under valued.
Once their sale had been agreed the house was immediately marked as sold but then some 7 weeks later the buyer pulled out, unfortunately Roger had shaken hands with his buyer and even though the buyer was keen it turned out that this buyer couldn’t get a mortgage after all. Frustrated and disappointed they re advertised the house and found another buyer quickly. The price was less than they got before but now they were under pressure as they had agreed to buy another house and were running out of time to secure their chain.
After a very long and time consuming process they arrived at their new house, vowing to never move again!
Vital info:
PROS
✅ Low or £0 fees
✅ Control over your sale
✅ You can get your house on the market often within hours
✅ You can negotiate with your buyers directly
✅ You deal with your buyers yourself
✅ National companies
✅ Tv advertising
✅ Choice of services at additional cost
CONS
👎 Sellers do their own viewings
👎 Sellers arrange their viewings
👎 Sellers negotiate directly with their buyer
👎 30% of buyers wont book on line so wont view your home
👎 Less viewings
👎 Less personal service
👎 There is usually no aftersales support
👎 On average you may lose as much as 10% less compared to a local agent represented home
The Traditional High Street Agent
Dave and Pete were selling their parents home after they had passed away. Working on a recommendation they only spoke to one estate agent and thought they seemed reasonable enough, so instructed them. The agent took some pictures themselves of the house as it was and started advertising almost immediately, within a day it was on the national websites.
Dave started to become concerned when after 3 months as they’d only had a handful of viewings, resulting in no offers, and they had received very little feedback on why buyers weren’t keen to proceed. They also had not received any contact form their agents or advice on how that might increase the levels of interest and agree a sale. When their agent did call the agent asked them what they thought they should be doing, Dave was disappointed as he thought they would be advising him on what to do. After another 2 months they decided to change agents for a new approach but they quickly realised that in their area most agents operated that way.
Traditional estate agency has been done the same way for decades and very little has changed. With the focus being on speed and selling to the first buyer to offer, with an urgency that really only benefits the agent.
The process usually involves having some photos taken, in some cases even by an untrained agent, and then rushing the details onto a national website like Rightmove as quickly as possible. Sometimes without floorplans or poor / unedited photography. This can damage the sellers potential of achieving the best price as the first 4 weeks are the time when your house will receive its greatest level of interest.
There is very little consideration given to the presentation or process for the seller, the aim is to sell for what they can as fast as possible, this often leaves the buyers with a good deal and the sellers walking away from thousands in potential lost value.
Vital info:
PROS
✅ Average fees, not as high as some but not cheap either
✅ Often they can get your house on the market very quickly, sometimes within 24 hours
✅ A local office means sellers can call in if they want to
✅ The agents should have knowledge about the area local to your home
✅ They can help finding you a buyer from other local houses for sale
✅ They handle negotiations and offers
✅ They often have mutliple buyers registered waiting for the right house
CONS
👎 Sellers often can do their own viewings
👎 High stock volume means they may be the biggest, but that leaves little focus for individual properties
👎 Lack of innovation with a reluctance to adopt new, modern methods of marketing like video, social media & virtual tours.
👎 There is usually no dedicated after sales support which increases seller stress and buyers pulling out (UK average is 40%)
👎 Average photography
👎 Potential of over valuing to gain the instruction followed by multiple price reductions
👎 Long contracts that tie you in even if you are unhappy
👎 You may have to pay your agent even if you don’t move (check the contract)
👎 Properties are often sold under value as you may be encouraged to sell quickly to the first buyer
The Complete Service Agent
Jamie and Zoe had their home on the market for nearly 2 months with a traditional high street agent. They were disheartened by the lack of interest and communication from their agent and wondered if they would ever move.
Jamie had been recently promoted at work and had now been posted at the company’s Lincolnshire office, which had increased his commute considerably and he was desperate to closer to work to reduce his commuting time. Zoe had found their dream new build home which was ready to move into, but was worried that they would miss out on this property as they hadn’t agreed a sale on their own home.
Jamie contacted Nicholsons through Facebook messenger and we went round for a chat to see if we could help. After looking through the selling agents details, it was clear that some considerable improvements could be made to the marketing, and with a slightly different pricing approach we could ramp up interest considerably. We explained our unique marketing strategy and both Jamie & Zoe felt that our structured approach gave them the best chance of them achieving a sale. The next day Jamie dis-instructed their original agent, and was made to pay a considerable withdrawal fee, due the to long contract that the agent had tied them into.
Two days later our marketing began leading upto our open house event, which generated three offers, all from proceedable buyers. 12 days after our marketing had begun we agreed a sale to the strongest buyer, at a price which was £4500 over the original agents asking price.
Vital info:
PROS
👍 Strategic marketing aimed at finding the best buyer
👍 Magazine quality photography by a trained photographer
👍 Open house viewings package with immediate feedback
👍 Higher than average sales prices (2-10% more than other agents)
👍 Experienced and trained negotiators dealing with your offers
👍 Personal direct communication with your sales team
👍 Complete after sales service will full advice and support throughout
👍 Limited property clients at any one time to ensure dedicated customer focus
👍 Less than 25% of fall through compared with up to 40% national average
CONS
👎 Fees may be higher than average
👎 You hand over your property to the agent and have little involvement yourself
👎 Contact between buyer and seller is discouraged
You are going on a journey, from house 🏡 A to house 🏡 B. What you need to decide is how you get there and the experience you will go through on the way….
Think of a budget airline ✈️ vs a private jet 🛩, do you want to arrive bedraggled and tired, vowing to never do it again or refreshed and relaxed after a fantastic boutique style experience with an exceptional result. How do you want to get to your next home 🏡 ?
Call Nicholsons to chat about how we join your journey and guide you to an amazing outcome. 01777 808777 or hello@nicholsonsestateagents.co.uk