Selling Your Property - Estate Agents

Sellers are responsible for paying estate agents fees, so it is in their interest to find a buyer for your property. A property sitting on their books for a long time represents fees not paid to them, whilst you will be sat in your property wanting to move. For this reason, it is very important that they value your property appropriately, market it well and advise you of the reasons why a property may not be selling quickly.

Do your research well when choosing an estate agent. Friends and family should be happy to pass on their knowledge of good or bad experiences with agents. Walk around the area and note who is marketing other properties. Then ask several agents to give you a valuation. Do not automatically opt for the agent who gives the highest valuation - particularly if it is a lot higher than other valuations. Have a look at other similarly priced properties in the area and work out whether yours should achieve a higher price.

The largest professional body of estate agents is the National Association of Estate Agents. Members of this body are likely to have trained and will subscribe to their Code of Practice. The code is self-regulatory and designed to ensure good practice. There is an established complaints procedure if you have a major problem. Some estate agents will also belong to the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), which will mean that they have undergone extensive professional training. Some may be members of the Ombudsman for Estate Agents (OEA) scheme, which guarantees a path of redress in the event of a problem.

Make sure that you have discussed terms before committing to one agent as these will be different for each agency. If you take on one agency, the fee they charge you will be less than if you take on joint or multiple agencies. The fee is a percentage of the purchase price, usually between 2 and 3% plus VAT. Make sure that you know what will be included in the price.

If you have appointed your agent as a sole agent, you are contractually bound to not appoint any other agent. You should not agree to them having sole selling rights - you may find a buyer without the agency, in which case you do not want to have to pay the agent a commission.

Appointing joint agencies will increase the number of outlets for your property details. This will result in paying a larger fee as both agencies will want a commission on the sale.

Instructing multiple agencies puts each agency in competition, with the agency who negotiate a successful sale keeping the commission. This could result in an agency not wanting to pay costs for marketing your property when they could end up with nothing.

Once you have made your decision you will be asked to sign a contract. Do not sign the agent’s contract until you have fully read and understood the terms and conditions. It is important that you understand the duration of the contract, so that if you want to change agents you do so without breaking the contract. If your property remains unsold at the end of the term - which is usually three months - then you have the right to appoint a different agency, or opt for a joint agency agreement. Make sure that the fee is only payable on completion of the sale. Some contracts can be to find a buyer who is ‘ready, willing and able’ which means that even if the sale does not complete, you would have to pay the fee.

Once you have appointed the estate agent, they will compile the property details. This will involve taking measurements and photographs of your property. Once these have been printed, you will be asked to check them. You should make sure that nothing is mentioned in the details that you are taking with you - for instance the kitchen details can not mention a cooker which you intend to remove. All the information in the details must be accurate. Make sure that you have pointed out all the things about your property that attracted you to it originally, as well as any refurbishments that you have made. For instance it the carpets or the bathroom suite are all new, if you have underfloor heating or fruit trees in the garden. All these points can be worked into the details to give your property an edge.

The agent will then market your property. This could be through their mailing list, the local or maybe national press, the internet and physically giving your property details to anybody with an interest. The agent will decide the most appropriate forms of marketing to use in order to reach the correct market for your property and will be happy to discuss this with you when they value your home. Make sure that you are happy with the amount and scope of marketing that will be done. If not, shop around for a different agent.

You should have one person in the agency dealing with your property and they will be your point of contact for the sale process. If your property takes longer to sell than you thought then they should be able to advise you about what could make the property more desirable. Whatever advice they give, take it on board - if you are not happy then you can always switch agents, but they are the people with the experience of your local market and if the market is slow then there may not be anything you or they can do.

More Selling Your Property topics below:

• Estate Agents - what can you expect from an estate agent?
• Private Sales - avoiding expensive estate agents fees
• Viewings - what you should say, what you should answer and what you should ask.
• Offers - how can you tell when an offer is the highest you will get?
• Surveys - as a seller, what can you expect from the survey?
• Legal - what is involved with conveyancing for sellers?
• Financial - what can you expect to be paying for when you sell your property?
• Selling Pack's - how the government proposes to speed up the property buying process
• Moving - what you should organise in order to have as easy a move as possible.

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