The prospect of either selling your home or buying a new home is something that can cause a lot of stress and anxiety. You are excited about the end goal of a property sale, but you have to go through all of the admin and red tape first! Of course, this is where you can expect an estate to carry much of that burden.
Estate agents are experts in the buying and selling of property, and they know all of the tricks of the trade to get the very best out of the situation for you. Whether you are looking to sell a family home or want advice on cash buyers for houses, you need to make sure that you are dealing with the best. Here are some pro tips for choosing the best estate agent.
Do Your Homework
You wouldn’t go into a shoe shop and buy the first pair that you laid your eyes on without looking at the rest and that same principle needs to be applied to estate agents as well. Do some online research about all of the agents that operate in your local area to see which has the best reviews and which seem to be able to get the best prices for a property sale. If you want to sell a house fast, then you should also check on the average length of time that an agent’s properties are up for sale.
Seek Valuations
The next best thing to do when looking to sell family home is to take the time to seek valuations from a few different agents. Do this without letting them know that you are ‘shopping around’ and you will find that they can sometimes differ greatly in their suggestions. Make sure, however, that you align these valuations with the agents’ selling success rate, because they need to do a lot more than simply slapping a high valuation on a property if they want to attract cash buyers for houses.
Go the Traditional Route
The main choice these days is whether to go with a traditional agent or to choose one of the many online firms that are appearing. The general consensus at this time is that you might be better off with a traditional company because they have offices that you can visit should you ever encounter a problem with the process. This is always much easier than shooting emails back and forth and not always getting a timely response.
However, do not totally write off the digital route. There are now apps that provide very useful information. They review estate agencies and also rank them according to various criteria including the number of sales made and the average price of properties sold. Such information will help you narrow down your local agents to a shortlist you can then contact to enable a final decision.
Meet In Person
This leads on to the next tip which is that it is always more beneficial to arrange a face to face meeting with a prospective agent. These people are effectively going to be responsible for taking care of one of the biggest financial decisions and commitments of your life, so you want to be as sure as you can be that they are professional, trustworthy, and that you have a good and honest connection with them.
Communication
It is absolutely essential that you choose an estate agent who is happy for you to contact them whenever you need to. The anxiety of sealing the deal on a property whether you are buying or selling can be a lot for some, and they need the reassurance and professional advice of an estate agent to help them through. If you are in a toss-up between two different agents, always go for the one who stresses most adamantly that you will be able to contact them at any time of the day.
Multiple Listings
You might want to consider listing with more than one agent so you’ll need to check if your chosen agent demands exclusive rights over your property. Some will demand that theirs will be the only board that can display their for sale sign on your house. Also with this, find out what avenues your agency will use to advertise your property. Do they list it online as well as in local free papers?
Even with these tips there is no guarantee you’ll pick a great agency who will sell family home for a great price in a short time. Allow them time to do the deed but also have an idea in mind as to when there comes a breakpoint when you need to consider changing agencies.
