How proactive should your agent be?
It’s a huge decision when you choose an estate agent to sell your home. You are placing your trust in them to get the best price they can and market all the best features to the right people. Whatever fee you pay, at Capital Estate Agents we believe you have a right to expect your agent to be proactive and operate with your best interests at heart.
As a minimum we would expect a weekly catch up summarising what they have been doing and how effective it has been, with recommendations for any changes in approach.
Your agent should be tracking the market weekly and checking what properties are on the market that are similar to yours and at what price, whether sales have gone through for properties comparable to yours and at what price. They are then able to provide informed advice on whether your price needs to be reduced or the pricing strategy amended e.g. using a band or an ‘offers over’ or even sealed bids if you have had lots of interest. Some agents will avoid taking sealed bids because of the extra work involved, even if it could be beneficial to the vendor to the tune of thousands of pounds, even tens of thousands. Ensure your agent knows the local market and is monitoring your competition.
A good agent will do more than market your properties on a wide range of property portals (the main ones being Rightmove, Zoopla, Prime Location & On The Market). They will also do property matching and should have circulated your property details to all buyers registered on their internal database whose requirements fit the criteria. At Capital, we even send the details to those whose criteria ‘almost fit’. Many buyers have flex in the budget they provide or are moveable on the other requirements stated when they see the right property for them. And we would call those who we think might be potentially suited to discuss your property and highlight the features that might encourage them to view.
One aspect of selling homes that goes on behind the scenes at a good agency is client matching. So, as mentioned above, the agent sends your property details automatically to anyone registered on their database whose criteria match your property. This is just step 1. What a great agent will do over and above this is also call the other sellers who are currently using them who could in fact be buyers for your home, thus completing the circle within the one agent’s control. If one of the other vendors loves your house, it is a stronger imperative for them to find a buyer and agree terms. It smooths the conveyancing process by having both parts of the chain in-house as your agent can chase the solicitor with transparency over both sides of the sale.
Several High Street giants have failed to exploit the power of social media for selling property. Social media provides access to a wide-reaching audience. A proportion of that audience won’t realise they are looking to move until they are tempted by seeing the perfect property! Estate agents absolutely should be using social media to promote property sales, particularly sharing different property photos that are out on the portals and circulating property videos (more on that below). Using social media effectively has set Capital apart from the High Street operators and you should expect your agent to promote your property online as well as keep you updated on the effectiveness of their social media campaigns (number of posts, reach and engagement).
One of the key tools in selling homes now is the property video, the ‘virtual tour’ which allows buyers to view your home at a day/time convenient to them and better still, to visualise themselves in it. It is particularly vital to have a professional virtual tour should we have another lockdown. There are many different standards of video. Some agents create a ‘video’ from scrolling photos which buyers can already see on the property particulars. Others allow junior members of staff to create a wobbly video tour on their phone as they walk around the property, clunkily displaying the rooms and often accidentally featuring lingering shots of the loo! An exceptional agent provides professional standard property videos which can sell your home before anyone even steps through the door.
If you’re not happy with any aspect of the service provided by your current agent, please contact Capital Estate Agents to discuss an alternative: info@capitalestateagents.com / 0208 313 0010