Ask Your Agent Questions That Really Matter…

When it comes to selling a Wirral property there are a whole variety of estate agents to choose from, so asking the right questions is vital.

Most people want to know about the fee or how long it will take to sell, however even though they are important factors, I think these are the WRONG and only questions to ask…

Recently we spoke to a prospective client who rang me as I was recommended to him by a friend who recently sold with us. He wanted to know more about how Liam Gretton could help him sell a property successfully.

He was in a very tough position as the agent he was currently working with had dealt with him for several years and was currently marketing his property however wasn’t getting much interest.

One of the first things he said was ‘Agent X has agreed to sell my house for 0.5%, can you match or beat that?’

My reply was ‘what is their sale agreed to completion percentage?’… he didn’t know!

I went on to explain that given his situation, it is beneficial to identify that as although the cheap fee looks attractive, and assuming they did find a buyer, who was willing to pay the right price rather than the first buyer that came along, what would the cost be to him if the sale was to fall through 4 or 6 weeks down the line? Both in terms of money and wasted time and stress.

Can you imagine, he would have potentially gone house hunting across the Wirral, found a property he loved, had his offer accepted, instructed surveys and solicitors and then his buyer pulls out and its all wasted, he is back to square one.

The next thing he said was ‘but my current agent is advertising the property on rightmove.co.uk’.

I said ‘is that your marketing strategy’ and ‘how are they dealing with the enquiries that come in?’ again, he didn’t know!

I explained that so much has to happen between a property being ‘advertised on rightmove’ to reaching a point of Sale Agreed, here’s a brief list

• The property has to be advertised in a way as to achieve maximum interest (it’s not a case of just sticking it on the internet and hoping a buyer comes along)

• Assuming the marketing is to a standard that actually generates serious enquiries, those enquiries need to be dealt with, and quickly. Bear in mind I’ve heard the likes of ‘if they are serious they will call’ so agent X never used to deal with email enquiries. So you need to ask ‘what is your process when you receive an enquiry?’ Does it get dealt with within 10 minutes, 1 hour, 1 day, 2 days?

• If an emailed enquiry comes in, how quickly is it being dealt with (because its likely that any potential buyer would have enquired about a load more properties too), is the agent simply emailing back or are they ringing them straight away (while the property is fresh in their head). If no answer, do they continue to chase the buyer? or just ‘wait for them to come back’

• Once they have made contact with the buyer, are they being urged to view the property or just being sent the full particulars?

• Viewings then need to go ahead. Is the agent accompanying all the viewings like they should be or is the vendor showing them around? How and how quickly are they being followed up for their feedback?

• An offer needs to be placed, negotiated and accepted… What is the agents marketing price to sale agreed price percentage?..  If it’s impressive, they will know. Ask to see some ‘recent’ examples.

All too often people are tempted by cheap fees which always surprises because I was always taught… Pay cheap, Pay twice and considering that the cheap estate agent will be handling their most valuable possession and asset.

It really is true, you get what you pay for. If an estate agent is unable to negotiate a fair price for his/her services then how is he/she going to negotiate you the highest price for your house when it isn’t even their money they are playing with.

So please, when you are searching for an estate agent to represent you, make sure you ask them the right questions or better still, test them…

Enquire about some properties they have for sale and see how efficient they are throughout the process.