How to choose your Estate Agent

With so many estate agents out there - and more appearing all the time with the advent of online agents - it can be difficult to tell them apart.

Michael Nettleton, sales and marketing director here at Nock Deighton, has the following advice...

“The question of what makes you so different to all the other agents out there is one we do get asked from time to time,” he says

“I’m afraid there isn’t a simple answer because there are lots of different factors involved, but it does highlight some interesting issues.

“In essence, estate agents sell their time and expertise - and the property industry has never been very good at explaining how the skills of a good agent can really help people sell their home.

“I suppose a simple answer to what the difference is between estate agents might be that some are just better than others.

“But the important thing to bear in mind is that while there are always cheaper options out there, a good agent can quite easily save you more money than it would ever cost you.

“One such example I witnessed recently involved a client who was happy to accept an offer on their property.

“We advised them that we felt we could get more, but obviously didn’t want to jeopardise the deal. As a result of our skilled negotiating, the difference between the final agreed sale price and the original offer more than covered our fees and left us with a very happy client.

“Another example came from speaking with a gentleman who was very pleased at the savings he had made in agents fees by using the cheapest option possible.

“After looking at his property, I am sure the offer he had accepted was about £18,000 less than the property should have made.

“It’s a generally accepted truism in the industry that the difference between a good agent and a bad one is worth about five per cent to the client.

“If you run the maths, that’s a lot of money to risk on one of your most important assets.”