An Estate Agent’s role is to take the property you wish to sell and present it to the market – your prospective buyers. It goes without saying that the more exposure you get to that market, the more likely you are to find a buyer. This makes your choice of Estate Agent very important.

The property selling market in most areas of the UK is managed by Estate Agents, although in Scotland, much of the sales activity is undertaken by Solicitors and Solicitors Property Centres. Regardless of who is selling your house, the same criteria must be met by carrying out research in the marketplace.

It has often been said that the first thing that any sales person needs to sell to a prospective client, is themselves and in the property selling market that applies equally to the property owner and any prospective buyer. If you don’t like or trust the sales person, the chances of you doing business with that individual are much less than with someone you are confident and comfortable with and feel you can trust. So do your homework, get to know your sales agent.

First of all, check the agent’s website or shop window to see what market sector they operate in. An Estate Agent who sells mostly large country houses, for instance, is less likely to sell a one or two bedroom city centre flat or a two up, two down suburban semi, or vice versa, for that matter. Two things are worth considering here, firstly, the Agent’s database of prospective home buyers will undoubtedly reflect the type and price range of the properties they predominantly sell. Secondly, most Estate Agents charge a percentage fee based on the property value.  Therefore, an agent may be less inclined to spend time and energy on a smaller property which would earn them a lesser fee.

It is worth logging on to property sales sites such as Rightmove or OnTheMarket, and search for properties similar to yours in the local area. By doing this, you will see which Estate Agents names pop up most frequently advertising property like yours. This also gives you an opportunity to see how well these agents showcase the properties they are selling. Are their photo galleries impressive, do they offer virtual tours, how well do they describe the properties, are floor plans shown. Do they give information regarding access to schools and other local amenities? What is it that they do that catches your eye? Can you download and print out a schedule or brochure of the property to allow you to study it later.

Look on these and similar sites for Estate Agents in your area; do they use these internet sites to maximise exposure of properties they sell? This is important, if they are to showcase your property to prospective buyers who don’t live in your part of the country; buyers who may be looking to move away from an urban area to a more rural location because of changes in working practices which allow them to work from home.

Ask friends, family or workmates for recommendations. It is likely that some of these will know someone who has used a local Estate Agent and would be able to pass on a personal recommendation. Check internet sites for feedback from other sellers as to how that Agent performed. Don’t just take one point of view, look for a trend or pattern to the feedback you get from everyone, then make a judgement.

Estate Agents generally charge fees to sell a property, based on the selling price they achieve. That can vary, in many cases, between .75% and 3% and will depend on the Agent’s fee scale. In the case of larger houses, the value of the property may have an influence with Agents considering a lower percentage on a property valued at say, £500,000 or above.

A fee of 1.5% on a property sold for £350,000 would mean paying the Agent £5,250.

That is not an insubstantial sum of money, for both parties to consider and should be a real incentive for an Estate Agent to sell a property. If that is not the case, maybe you need to look at another Agent. It should also beg the question, what am I getting for my money? Does the fee include advertising, is there an additional charge for photography. If the Agent uses premium listings on property websites or premium advertisements in newspapers or magazines, is that charged as an extra. Does the fee include VAT?  20% of £5,250 is £1,050, which could prove to be an unpleasant surprise if unexpectedly added to the final bill.

The use of online Estate Agents has increased over the last few years and they offer a different package to traditional High Street Agents. The fees they charge are lower but are often paid upfront as opposed to the “no sale, no fee” approach from the High Street and tend to fluctuate depending on the services, such as sales negotiation, viewings etc. they are asked to provide.

It is sometimes tempting to go with the Estate Agent who gives your property the highest valuation, but that is not always the best criteria to use when making that final decision. If an Agent suggests a higher selling price than any others, ask what they have based at that valuation on. They should be able to give you a sensible answer. Never tell one Agent what valuation others have given, they don’t need to know that. Bear in mind that at this stage, they are trying to sell their services to you.

The choice of Estate Agents available to home sellers is wide, listen to what each Agent has to say, ask questions, write a list of questions if you prefer, then deliberate.

Don’t be talked into making a quick, on-the-spot decision. Talk to all the Estate Agents you have earmarked and make a decision in your own time, based on which Agent you feel most comfortable with. As we said at the beginning, your choice of Estate Agent is very important.

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