When should you switch estate agent?

Should You Switch Estate Agents?

What happens when your house has been on the market a while and hasn’t sold. Do you stick with your current agent or do you look for something new.

You might think, well of course we are going to recommend you switch agent, and that we are going to recommend that you switch to Preston Baker.

Well that’s not true.

If you don’t want to maximise the value of your property then stick with your current agent or choose someone else. If selling your property isn’t an immediate priority and you’re happy to sell your home over a longer period, choose a different agent. If you are willing to field your own viewings and you want to keep your costs as low as possible choose another agent.

How to Switch Estate Agent

The easiest way to switch estate agent is to pick up the phone and discuss your problems directly with a new agent. It may be the problems surrounding your property sale are not agent related, but in our experience this is the exception not the rule. Most problems are caused by misguided valuations and the agent failing to generate and capitalise on initial interest in your property.

Generating Interest

Interest in your property is highest in the ten days after it is first launched to market. After this initial ten days interest drops off dramatically, and it becomes increasingly difficult to sell.

Think about your own viewing habits when looking for properties. The first time you search you look at everything on the market in your target location and price bracket. After that initial search you assume you have seen everything and you only look for properties on the market in the last week. That’s why there is such a drop off after ten days.

Houses Lose £600 in Value for Every Week Unsold

Our own research shows us for every week your house is on the market it drops £600 in value.

Why is this you might ask. It’s to do with competition from prospective buyers. In an environment where a prospective buyer sees other people interested in your property they take that as a subconscious signal that your property must be good. This leads to higher offers. The opposite of this applies too. If they see a property on the market for a long time, they already have the preconception that something is wrong with it and will make lower offers.

If your agent hasn’t got multiple viewings in that first ten day period then you have completely missed out on the best opportunity to find a buyer. The only way a standard estate agent can replicate that interest is to reduce the asking price by at least 3%. It has to be at least 3% as this will trigger the property portals to feature your property more heavily.

What Drives Property Interest

There are four things that drive interest in a property

1. Price
2. Marketing
3. Location
4. Presentation

You have control over three of these. You cannot change your property’s location, but this can be a factor in generating interest. If your property falls within a desirable neighbourhood, or within a particular schools catchment area this can increase interest. If this is the case and your agent isn’t capitalising on this through their marketing message, then they are missing an opportunity.

With regards to presentation we have a wealth of guides and information available to help you showcase your property to maximum effect.

Marketing Your Property Well

Price and Marketing will be most heavily influenced by your agent. If you get the asking price wrong this can wipe out any interest in your property altogether. Your property needs to be priced to sell, and realistic. Setting a realistic asking price will mean more people view the property. The more people that view the more likely you are to get an offer. The more offers you get the more likely you are to get two or more buyers bidding against each other and that is where you generate above asking price offers. If you price too high no one is interested and there is no competition, which is why going for the agent that values your property the highest isn’t always the best course of action.

With regards to marketing, there is a world of difference between different agents. If you go for an online agent it may be the add your property to rightmove and their own site, and that’s it. Your fee might be cheaper, but you don’t get a lot for it. Also the fee is paid up front, so where is the incentive for them to sell your property after that?

A traditional bricks and mortar estate agent may not be up to date with the latest online marketing strategies. Most people do their property searching online. Footfall into a branch gets less each year. Relying on having a high street presence isn't’ enough.

Are You Tied into a Sole Agency Agreement?

You may be thinking that you’ve signed a sole agency fee and therefore you cannot switch away from your sole agent. That’s not true. You can switch agents, but if your property sells you may have two agents fees to pay. However, you only pay a sole agency fee once the property sells. That doesn't stop you from instructing another agent and letting them get all the necessary photos and marketing in place and ready. Always check your small print. We are more than happy to review your agency agreement and advise on the best course of action.

What I would stress is that doing the same thing isn’t going to get you a different result. Unless your agent is coming at you with new strategies to sell your property, it will stay on the market unsold passed the sole agency agreement tie in period and beyond.

I would also point out that cost and value are two very different things. If you pay a low cost you are going to get a lower quality of service. That’s how these things work, you cannot provide the level of service and dedicated staff we do and charge the same as purple bricks for instance.

We Get You More Money For Your Property

The difference is, we put more money in your back pocket. The extra staff we have, the proactive calling, the advertising campaigns we run; all increase engagement and competition for your property.

To sell your house for the highest amount in the shortest time, requires as much interest as possible to be generated in your property. Our trademarked Property Launch is a specialised open house event that does just that.

We don’t operate on a bog standard service, where we stick a property on rightmove or zoopla and wait for enquiries to come in.

Here are just some of the strategies we use when marketing your property. These strategies change every single month, as the market changes just as frequently.

• Advertise on Rightmove
• Advertise on Zoopla
• Advertise on On The Market
• Advertise on our own website
• Premium listings on the above portals
• Professional photography
• Professionally shot video tour
• Descriptions that sell the benefits of your property
• Colour coded floor plans
• Four to six page glossy brochure
• Facebook and Instagram advertising targeted to your key demographic and area
• Google Adwords Campaigns showcasing your property
• Email campaigns to a list of over 20,000 buyers
• Dedicated outbound calling team to drum up interest in your property BEFORE IT LAUNCHES TO MARKET
• Availability for buyers to contact us and book viewings up until 10pm every single day
• We handle all your viewings
• Property Launch for every property. This is an Open House event designed to increase competition at the busiest time for your property being on the market. Plus with one launch event you only need to tidy the house once.
• Follow up calls to every viewer to find out what they liked and didn’t like. That feedback informs decisions on where to go next should an initial offer not come in
• Houses sold through Property Launch typically sell 48 days quicker and for £7.5k more.
• Regular communication to you to show you what we are doing and what the impact is.
• Dedicated Customer Care team to guide you once you have accepted an offer on the property
• We operate on a no sale no fee basis. If we don’t sell you owe us nothing.

The list goes on and on

If you want an agent that goes above and beyond to get you the best price for your property then choose us. You won’t be disappointed. We have a 4.7/5 star rating on trustpilot for a reason.

If you’re not interested in maximising the value of your property and getting more money in your back pocket then choose someone else.

WE GET MORE - BECAUSE WE DO MORE.