When selling your most prized asset, you have a lot of options as to how you go about doing it; from DIY, to fully handled A to B by an expert; and everything in between.
Each style of sale has it’s own place in the market, so I feel.
The difficulty (and honestly this drives me insane seeing it) is that a lot of the agents are claiming X and delivering Y. It’s probably true that most are doing this to some extent. It is a sales business after all.
Look at healthy breakfast bars. Labelled up, look great, will keep you energised until lunch with only 3 calories and zero fat…… but rather miss out the part letting you know it’s 30% refined sugar! Pretty big killer on the health claim that one.
I think you’re better off deciding upfront what service you’re after. You know you can find an agent to deliver it as there are loads out there. The tough part is ensuring you get what you want and it’s at the price you want to pay. If you want cheap, the options are enormous. If you want the best, the option is one. And it’s not cheap (or is it?)
Investment (time, money) x skill = Result.
Estate agency is confusing because the outcome is dictated after the event and is very hard to know if it was good or bad. But you can’t cheat the formula. An agent will often try and take you away from the formula (expressing skill and effort through results) and you end up choosing based on hope and a promise. You hope they work as hard and with as much skill as they promise. See the blog on questions to ask an estate agent on valuation and they will certainly help.
Mr Green can’t sell a property for a £700 upfront fee. You can find someone that can. We invest very near to that (or more than if the property value is higher) in a property sale to get it on the market in the way we want. It leaves us zero scope for doing anything else. In order to do this, we’d have to reduce our initial investment a lot and then invest nothing else at all in the sale just to break even. Would we be able to deliver the same results as what we currently do? Absolutely not.
With an expert you’re going to pay for the security of knowing you’ll get the best price, in the best time-frame and with the least stress.
With the cheapest agent you’re going to pay a lower fee with the hope you still get the best price, in the best time-frame and with the least stress.
The worst case scenario is going to an expensive agent and getting a cheap agent service.
“There’s a reason you don’t go to McDonalds for an anniversary dinner. You wouldn’t even consider it.”
