Estate agents: choosing well and staying in charge

How to choose an agent, on evidence

Ask each agent for their last few sales of homes like yours: what they listed at, what they sold for, and how long it took. That gap between asking and sold price is the honest measure of how they value, and time on market is the honest measure of how they sell. A branch that cannot show you this is asking you to buy the pitch.

The most common trap is instructing whoever quotes the highest valuation. An appraisal costs the agent nothing, winning your instruction is worth a lot, and an overpriced listing that sits and then cuts tends to end below where an honest price would have landed. Value the valuation that comes with comparable evidence attached.

• ✓Three recent comparable sales, with asking and sold prices
• ✓Average time from listing to offer for homes like yours
• ✓Who conducts viewings, and when feedback reaches you
• ✓The fee, in writing, and everything it does and does not include
• ✓The tie-in: how long you are bound, and to what exactly

Fees, and what you are buying

Estate agent fees generally run around 1% to 2% of the sale price, usually plus VAT unless the quote says it is included, and they are negotiable, especially where two local branches want the instruction. A cheaper online fixed fee is real money saved, but check what happens to viewings, negotiation and sales progression, because the saving is usually in those three.

The fee buys marketing, viewings, negotiation and chasing the sale through to completion. The last one is the part sellers remember: ask who does sales progression and how often they will update you.

Sole agency, sole selling rights and tie-ins

Three different contracts hide behind similar names. Sole agency means one agent, but you can still find a buyer yourself and pay nothing. Sole selling rights means the agent is paid whoever finds the buyer, including you. Multi-agency means several agents and a higher fee to whichever sells. Read which one is on the page before signing, and ask about anything after it.

The tie-in period is how long you are bound before you can switch agents. Lengths vary widely and they are negotiable before you sign, which is the only time negotiating them works. A long tie-in behind a high valuation is the combination to be slowest to sign.

Viewings and feedback, as a seller

Decide up front who conducts viewings and be consistent, and agree how feedback reaches you and how often. Silence after viewings is the earliest signal a listing needs attention, and an agreed cadence turns that from a worry into a checkable fact.

Agree in writing, before you need it, when you would review the asking price. Deciding the trigger while calm beats deciding it six quiet weeks in.

Offers and negotiation, as a buyer

The agent negotiates for the seller. That is not a fault, it is the job, and it means everything said to you in an offer conversation is said by the seller's side. Decide your number on the evidence and your own budget before the call, and let the walk-away line you wrote earlier do its work.

An offer is stronger for what stands behind it: a decision in principle, a conveyancer already chosen, your position explained. Sellers pick the offer most likely to complete, and a few thousand pounds often matters less than certainty.

Phrases that can create pressure

"Another buyer is very interested." "Offers close Friday." "It won't last at this price." Each may be entirely true, and each also compresses your thinking time. The useful response is the same either way: ask the checkable question (has an offer actually been made? has the price changed since listing?), and measure the answer against decisions you made when nobody was rushing you.

You are also free to use your own mortgage broker and your own conveyancer. In-house referrals earn the branch money, which is fine, and is not a condition of your offer being put forward.