Secret to Instructing a Great Estate Agent

What is the secret to instructing a great estate agent? Is it making sure they help you set the right guide price for your home? Or do you want to feel like you’re getting a good deal over the fees they charge? Or would a professional sales pitch make the difference when choosing between agents? According to property expert Alex Goldstein, NONE of these should be top of your list when finding an agent. To discover the one thing you SHOULD be doing, listen to this short clip.

Secret to Instructing a Great Estate Agent

Full transcript below:

This month we’re talking about the secret to instructing a great estate agent. Now when it comes to this our most important asset, our home, I regularly have conversations with home owners who are getting themselves in an absolute spin and we will say look it is any wonder. From their perspective estate agents all look the same, are going to say the same and they claim to do the same for their beloved home. Many believe that there are just three main criteria to choose from when they’re looking to instruct an agent, however all of these have got major flaws. Let me explain. So firstly, guide price now rightly or wrongly this subject alone seems to consistently come on top of everyone’s lists. Lenders understandably feel flattered when an estate agent exudes confidence in selling their home and especially when a guide price is quoted towards the upper end of the range. Now listen, agents of course know this and may quote enthusiastic figures just to get your instruction. At the end of the day anyone can quote a high guide price, so you have to look beyond this to get the right agent. The second criteria is fees, now estate agents are sales people, if you agree on a commission structure that’s sensible for both sides, the agents going to remain proactive right up until the point of exchange. However, many vendors feel that if they nail that agent right down on commission then they’ve made a saving, in actual fact they’ve instantly dis-incentivised that agent and it’s unlikely now they’re going to push for a top figure so these also need to be put to one side. The third benchmark lies in how professional the agent was in their pitch. They’re on the most part well dressed, they’ve got bunds of enthusiasm and obviously they’ve got confidence in selling your home. Of course, they love your property, which salesperson sat in your home is going to tell you otherwise so again, this point needs to be treated with caution. So, if it’s not about high guide prices, low fees and a professional pitch what do you really need to look at when picking the right agent? The answer of course lies with their front of house team. These are the people sat in the estate agent office who meet and greet potential buyers walking into the branch, deal with phone enquiries, website requests, know the properties, sell them effectively and have a intrinsic knowledge of the buyer database. The valuer sat in your living room, he’s going to handle a element of those but it’s their team back at the office who’s going to engage with all the buyers and the sellers whilst they’re out. And most importantly, they are going to push your property from being under offer to exchange. So, my advice is before you go and instruct an agent, go and mystery shop them as a perspective purchaser, see how engaging, knowledgeable and proactive the front of house team are. Find a team that is exceptional and suddenly you’re going to find that the estate agents guide price, fees and presentation take on a whole new meaning.