How do I choose an estate agent to sell my home? - Part 7 Traditional Vs Online
Part 7 of Things to Consider when choosing an agent to sell your home
Times have moved on since I last wrote about Traditional Vs Online Estate Agents and the truth now is that both sides have incorporated various aspects of each others methods of operating.
All traditional agents advertise their properties for sale on the internet and have become somewhat of a 'hybrid'.
Online agencies have also moved on from their origins and offer more of the traditional agents services.
A better way to describe things now is 'personal vs automated'. This is because many internet based providers now offer a personal service and a lot of traditional agents have now introduced more 'automation'.
The question now is 'are you a people person'?
How do you want to be communicated with by your agent and your buyer?
Some online agencies operate by listing your property and providing both seller and buyer with a message service whereby they are both put in direct communication with each other.
If you are happy doing your own viewings and agreeing your selling price directly with the buyer. If you are happy re-negotiating directly with your buyer should a problem occur with Searches and Surveys. If you are available to hand over your keys yourself when the transaction completes. Then, online may be for you.
If you want someone else to carry out your viewings, accompany mortgage lenders valuers, possibly surveyors and any trades people to issue quotes, deal with any offers, re-negotiate when any problems occur and manage the sale through to completion, then traditional may be the way to go for you.
Trying to decide which is best for you really comes down to personal opinion.
Do you want a local person with excellent knowledge of the area to handle your sale and who can give advice to potential buyers on schools and amenities? Some of the online agencies do now employ local people.
You also need to consider how important having a High Street Office is? Not only for you selling but what about buyers? Not everyone is internet savvy and some like assistance with forms and the knowledge that they can just ‘pop’ into with any queries if they are local. Do you feel that your buyer will be local or from out of the area? What age bracket do you think your buyer's will fall into?
Are you happy carrying out your own viewings or paying extra for an online agent to carry them out? Again, this comes down to what services are offered by both online and traditional agents.
Do you want to write your own property description (are you Consumer Protection Regulation savvy?) What kind of description does your home deserve? Check the individual agents for how their wording reads.
You also have to take into consideration the marketing of your property and the what, where and how the property is advertised and the spread of awareness raised by the traditional agent. This is because they do not solely rely on the internet to sell their properties. They have their mailing lists, shop windows, newspapers and magazines and their social media sites too.
Considering all of our points for consideration, generally speaking, the conversation basically comes down to fees, which as we have already discussed should not be the main driver on your choice of agent.
What the online agents are good at doing is being upfront with what is and what is not included in their fee and their additional services and their cost.
Do you want to pay your fees up front so that they are out of the way or wait until your sale completes? If you pay up front and don’t sell then you have lost that money. Some traditional agents however, offer this as well as online agents.
You also have to take into consideration the marketing of your property and the what, where and how the property is advertised and the spread of awareness raised by the traditional agent.
Also consider the marketing price of your property. If you have a 'high end' property with a 'high end' price then buyers will generally expect that they will find your property with a 'high end' agent. Consider the likes of Savills and Knight Frank and the types of properties they sell. As someone once said to me ' you wouldn't expect to find a Lamborghini at a car boot sale'. And, someone else said, 'if you see a decent property with a cheap agent, it makes you think that any maintenance they have carried out on the property will have been done on the cheap too.'
If you are thinking about what is the best value for money, consider this.
The bottom line equation is this: Your house eventual selling price minus your selling fee = £X
If an increased spend on your selling fee brings about a higher selling price, then which was the better fee?