Switching Estate Agents
Marketing a property can be a frustrating venture. Whether you’ve lived in the same house for decades or you move every couple of years, there’s likely to be a point where the whole process of moving feels out of your control, something that we as a species aren’t fond of. Most people rely heavily on the guidance of a local property professional – yes, there are alternative options, the ‘online agent’, or the ‘private sale’ but high-street estate agents still monopolise a highly competitive market.
When initially choosing your agent, there would have been many factors to take into consideration. Unfortunately, a lot of estate agents will focus more heavily on ‘winning the business’ than they will on best servicing their client’s requirements, so it’s common to find people instructing either the highest valuer, or the cheapest available fee. Whilst these features sound great, neither help when it comes to selling an intentionally over-priced property with an agent demotivated by their less than average commission potential at the back end. (I’ve written a separate blog on the ‘Over-Valuing Estate Agent’ that goes into much more depth.) https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/over-valuing-estate-agent-darrell-manchip/
The vast majority of clients I work with simply want to move house – they want to know what their property is worth, and they’re more than happy paying me a pre-agreed fee in return for genuine advice that benefits all involved parties, usually resulting in a couple of five star reviews from the seller and the buyer. I regularly have ‘difficult’ conversations with my clients, because the alternative is to not talk to them at all – an issue that I know many people will be having with their existing agent. If you employ me to market your home, you will get regular, transparent marketing updates designed to help you move. You may not want to hear it, but you won’t be complaining about lack of feedback or advice on how to improve the quality or quantity of viewings booked.
So, when is the best time to switch estate agents and how do you go about it?
The perfect time to switch is when you’re getting no viewings and no feedback. Without either of those, you’re no closer to agreeing a sale and no closer to understanding what you need to do in order to get those enquiries rolling in. Feedback is imperative – you may need to dress your house slightly differently, allow access for viewings at different times or get the lawnmower and sort the garden out! Without feedback, you’re unlikely to know the impact that these small things can have, and it’s my obligation to make you aware of them.
When marketing a property, I insist on professional photography as standard, free of charge to my clients – when trying to stand out, photographs can be the difference between a client viewing or deciding against it; if they don’t view, I don’t have the opportunity to extract an offer. Pristine photographs, an accurate floor plan and detailed particulars are essential.
Social media is one of the most valuable yet unused tool in property marketing – with stand-out particulars, all of our properties are regularly shared on Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram ready for you to share with friends, for them to then share with their friends, exposing your property to the largest possible target audience. If social media isn’t your thing, that’s fine – our established network has a large following ensuring that you won’t miss out on that feature.
It’s important to acknowledge any sole-agency agreements that you’ve signed. It’s the way of the ‘business winner’ to tie you in for as long as possible, so that you can’t go anywhere! However, with the correct methods, it is possible to get those long contracts cancelled out simply by discussing – the last thing a local estate agent wants is a bad relationship with a client, so most will be open to a compromise.
Your current predicament will be unique, but the solutions are usually clearly visible. If you’re currently struggling to sell your home and can’t see how the situation will change in the near future, contact me. If you’re getting no feedback and you’d like to know what can be done to improve your exposure, contact me. A conversation costs nothing, and if you like what you hear, I’d be more than happy to explain the steps we need to take to effectively relaunch your home to the market. 07920423034. darrell@nexaproperties.com