Selling through an estate agent can work if you’re careful
Estate agents can be a suitable option for selling your house or flat, and they certainly have a few advantages that have made them one of the most popular ways to sell homes.
To start with, estate agents tend to be experts about the local property market that they’re selling in. They know how much homes similar to yours are selling for, and what you might reasonably be able to achieve for a sale price. And if you sell through a local estate agent they could find it easier to help find potential buyers to view your property.
Another perk is that estate agents will take care of all the marketing of your home. They’ll create a listing for it not only in their office but also online and in local newspapers, giving you a very large potential audience of buyers who might see the listing.
And estate agents will also take care of the time-consuming process of holding viewings for your property. This is when buyers will come to see your place in-person and be given a tour by the estate agent, who can speak knowledgeably about the building. Many homeowners consider the fact that someone else will do the viewings to be a huge benefit.
But some estate agents are known to use some sneaky tricks
If you’re interested in selling your home, estate agents want your business because they will get to charge you fees for handling the sale in the event it’s successful.
And unfortunately many less-reputable estate agents are known to use certain sneaky tricks to get homeowners to sell through them so be sure to check that any estate agent being considered is a member of a recognised professional body such as the National Association of Estate Agents. If you’re set on selling to an estate agent rather than through auction or to a property buying company, you should know how to go about spotting these tricks so that you can identify them when they’re happening and stop them.
Overpricing the estimated value of your home – An estate agent could tell you a vastly higher estimated price for selling your home than one they truly believe you’ll be able to get. They do this to entice you to sell through them, thinking you’ll make much more money. But this is a trick because all they’re doing is using that high value to get your business, and you will find the estate agent ultimately looks to list your home at a much lower price. One way to counter this trick is to have an idea of your home’s value before you meet the estate agent. A quick way to do that is to use an online property valuation tool, but only use these prices as a general guideline. They’re not always accurate and are sometimes based on outdated information. You should also consider how best to price your property right to ensure you successfully find a buyer.
Asking you to pay for more advertising – Some unscrupulous estate agents will try to get you to buy more advertising for your property if it has been on the market for some time. And they do this because they want to charge you a fee for taking care of securing this additional advertising, even if it might be unnecessary – for example it could simply be a quiet time in the local property market. If you are asked to pay more fees for extra advertising it’s often recommended that you end your partnership with the estate agent and look elsewhere to sell.
Taking on your property even if they don’t specialise in selling that type of home – Many estate agents are specialists in selling certain properties, whether that’s large listed homes, tenanted flats, or other types of buildings. Because some estate agents might want to procure as much business as possible they might try to get you to sell through them even if your property is not a good fit for their business. And the end result will be that your home is left without strong representation at the estate agency. To avoid this happening and spot this ahead of time, research your local estate agents in advance and find out whether they typically sell the type of home for which you’re trying to find a buyer.
Frequently asked queries about tricks that estate agents sometimes use
There are several queries we get about estate agents and sneaky tricks they might use, and after many years in the business of buying properties we’ve heard these three frequently:
Yes. One option is selling through an auctioneer, although they might set the initial bid for your house at a low level in order to generate interest from bidders – and you might end up losing out on valuable profit if it sells at that price. Or you could sell quickly to a property buying company who’ll buy your house for cash without charging any fees.
You can search the website of The Property Ombudsman which sets the rules and regulations for estate agents. It keeps a list of members who must abide by those standards, so if your estate agent is not listed as a member of TPO you should be wary of doing business with them.
You should spend some time doing research on local estate agents before you contact them, because this will give you an idea of the types of properties that they sell. Some untrustworthy estate agents take on all shapes and sizes of homes even if their speciality is selling just one type of property, simply because they want more business.
