Questions to consider asking an estate agent when selling your property
You might be thinking about using an estate agent to find a buyer for your house or flat in Blackheath Royal Standard, and there can be some benefits to this approach. They will be responsible for undertaking the vast majority of the hard work of selling your home, including advertising it and hosting viewings, and that can be a relief for many property owners.
However, you will have to pay commission usually based on your home’s sale value, which will cut into your proceeds from the sale. And there are no deadlines when selling this way, so you might be waiting months or even a year to get a serious offer.
If you are thinking about using an estate agent, spend some time searching company names online in advance. This will alert you quickly to any potentially negative news articles or bad customer reviews that people have left for specific estate agents that could be a red flag.
It’s also highly recommended to make some calls to various companies to ask them some basic questions about their plans for selling your home. We have provided some suggested queries below, along with information about what to listen out for in answers you’ll receive, to help you determine whether selling this way is the best idea for your personal situation.
An obvious but vital question, you should ask this of every estate agent you speak to. Some will give you an inflated sale price in an attempt to get your business, even if they truly know that you will only get a buyer at a lower value. By asking everyone this question you will be able to compare and contrast quotes to get a better idea of your home’s real likely asking price.
As outlined above, you can expect to pay commission often based on a percentage of your house or flat’s final sale price to an estate agent. These fees are to cover the costs of the work that that company did in advertising your home and finding a buyer for it, and you should budget accordingly to account for deducting this commission from the sale profit.
Some estate agents only know how to sell a very limited range of properties, such as conventional houses and flats. If you have a more unique home, such as one located in a flood zone, you might struggle to receive any offers from buyers if the estate agent has no experience with selling such properties, as they might not know how to market your home to buyers.