20 September 2021

What to look for in an Estate Agent when selling your home.. our guide is here to help!

Buying or selling a property can be a daunting task, and how your experience goes depends to a large degree on the estate agent you choose.

Choosing an appropriate estate agent when selling your home is important for a number of reasons; it will determine how much you’re offered, how smoothly the process goes, and how many nights you’ll spend awake worrying over the time it takes for the sale to be carried out.

Below, we take a look at some important things to look for in an estate agent when selling your home.

1. Compile a list

There will be several estate agents operating in your area, so gathering all their details together is a good first step.

From there, you can do some simple initial research – see if you like the look of the team and if the kinds of properties they’re currently selling are similar to yours. Have they presented their properties in a good way, and do they offer the exact service you’re looking for?

Through this initial search, you’ll probably have whittled down the list down to just a few agents, and have some top contenders to go through in more detail.

2. Meet them

You’re going to be interacting a lot with your agent over the next months or maybe even years, so you need to know that you get along.

There’s nothing like meeting someone face to face to get a good feel of whether you trust them, whether they’re friendly, whether they’re helpful. If you don’t trust them, then nothing else really matters, they’re not suitable.

3. Property valuation

Get several valuations of your property, asking each agent to explain how they’ve come to the figure they have. You’ll be able to get a good idea of how professionally diligent they are through this, and how thorough they are in their estimation.

Agents with more experience selling similar properties will likely be able to give a better estimate than less experienced agents, and be better equipped to market and sell your specific property type.

4. Ask them how they’ll sell it

Ideally, you want an agent with a lot of prospective buyers they can contact and show your property to. A good estate agent is someone with connections, as a result of being good at their job and being a people person.

See what ideas they have for photographing and styling it, and if they can show you similar properties they’ve successfully sold in the past. If they illustrate that they can sell your house, and have a good track record of getting close to the asking price, these are good signs.

5. Fees

If they look like a suitable candidate, go through their fees with them, and have some other agents’ fees to compare them with. You want an agent who’s open, and isn’t trying to hide anything from you; hidden fees might not be significant in terms of the overall cost, but they’ll sow the seeds of a breakdown of trust.

Paying a little more than the competition for a truly excellent agent will end up making you money in the long run!

Looking to buy a new build home from the outset? Our team at Muir Homes will be happy to walk you through the process and provide further information on choosing your dream home.

Take a look at our range of new build homes or get in touch for a detailed breakdown regarding the current availability of our properties across Scotland.