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UK Mortgages & Loans -> Estate Agents

Estate agents are the main route for selling houses within the UK, and they are ideally suited to the types of sellers who would like to sell their property in less than 6 months, have no set timeframe to stick to, who want to keep their own participation down to a bare minimum, have not found a property that they would like to buy yet or they have a property which will instruct a premium.

If the buyers’ property is one of the many similar properties in their area they may have to wait for a period of time for the right house buyer to arise.

A lot will depend on the actual local market. The ex-local authority houses could also be very problematic depending on their construction and location. In a few places there is a high demand from first time buyers and investors. However, the fact is that some properties sell a lot more quickly than other properties. The sellers’ house could be one of these properties - the best news is that the seller is able to influence the time it takes for their house to sell. It would be worth them taking their time in getting their house to look in a very good condition prior to contacting the estate agents.

In order for a property seller to find the best estate agent for them, they should look at the following factors:

If the seller uses one of the more established estate agents, they will actually attract a better type of buyer.

When they are looking at which estate agent to use they should be aware of the fact that some estate agents who have their own website and also use a Multi Listing Service (list their properties for sale with a company who lists in multiple papers etc…) would be the best ones to use. They should also consider the type of service that they would obtain by posing as a buyer; what the estate agents office is like and of course the superiority of their written listings; the estate agents visibility within the local market and the estate agents fee levels as well as their selling strategies.

A lot of estate agents listings will be very generic so it would be widely welcomed for any attempt of making the listings distinctive. The buyer should aim to short-list around 3 agents to value their home. Or they could more realistically suggest the asking price level.

They should also bear in mind that estate agents charges are negotiable. This is especially the case when new instructions are quite short in supply. The estate agents fees generally start at 1% for the high street agents though this may be three times this level or more. Whatever the fee level is that a seller is looking at they will also understandably want to know what the estate agent is going to do to earn their commission.

The short-listed estate agents will need to make an appointment so that they can view the sellers’ property. The property owner should not treat these meetings casually. This would be their ideal opportunity to look at the quality of each estate agent. With the sellers’ aim of obtaining a quick sale strongly in mind, it would be very beneficial if they are fully prepared for these meetings or they could find that their final choice of estate agent may fail to deliver.

The seller could very easily be tempted to pick the estate agent who comes up with the greatest valuation however in no circumstances should this be their only criteria or their automatic choice. This would especially be true when the seller is looking for a quick sale. They should always separate their final choice from the actual valuation amounts.

The estate agent's draft contract must include reference to some of the key features of the agreement. The seller is strongly advised to familiarise themselves with what they should be looking for in the contract. If they would like a quick sale, the key factor to consider would be how long they would like the contract to run for. However, they must take into account factors like the state of the house market and how competitively they have priced their house. A number of things will work together in order to make the quick sale more likely.