Check track records before picking a real estate agent

By PENNY JACKSON

Timing is important to many people when it comes to selling their homes.

Britons are convinced that flowering daffodils and budding wisteria are worth a few thousand pounds more on their price.

If they have the choice, they wait till the first signs of spring before putting their properties on the market.

Few people would disagree with the need to show a property in its best light, although it might be risky to place much trust in greenery and sunlight. Far better to spend time selecting the right estate agent, because this decision is the most crucial to vendors.

Sophisticated marketing techniques can cover a multitude of omissions and sellers may be attracted by promises of exposure on the internet that have little hope of regular feedback.

Personal service and sound advice are still the factors most likely to leave a seller feeling satisfied that the price achieved is the best possible within a given time.

Personal recommendation seems to carry the most weight, but that should not take precedence over matching a property with a particular firm.

Curtis O'Boyle are estate agents in Maldon, Essex, who won a national award two years ago, just a year after starting. Their success is the result, in the main, of the amount of time spent with clients, says a partner, Nigel Curtis.

"Nothing can compensate for good communications down to the smallest detail, such as sending clients a clipping of every advertisement. Reputation is very important but, even so, some people ask surprisingly little about how their property will be handled."

The experience of Wendy Hughes, a financial adviser from Hertfordshire, is a warning. Her large, new house in the £400,000 to £450,000 price bracket ($1.40 million to $1.58 million) took more than nine months to sell in a market that has seen increasing demand for family homes.

"Our biggest mistake was to appoint an agent for emotional reasons. Knowing someone is not a good enough reason. The agent sold much cheaper houses and had no idea how to market ours. I had to rewrite the particulars and nobody suitable came to see it in a space of five months."

Her second mistake was appointing a small company through a personal recommendation.

"They were desperate to take it on, but sent no buyers."

After several price reductions two larger agents were appointed and only when Ms Hughes threatened to terminate the agreements did one pull out all the stops.

"Within a fortnight we saw half a dozen buyers, one of them with cash. He did buy it in the end, but more of the problems should have been channelled through the agent instead of directly with me.

"You have to be hard-headed in your choice of agent; there is no room for any kind of personal stuff."

A criticism heard often from vendors whose properties sell quickly is that agents have not worked hard enough for their fees. But this fails to take into account the work done behind the scenes. A good agent should not have to start cold when taking on a property.

David Balls, who lives in Surrey, used to have a low opinion of estate agents until he got a call out of the blue.

"I had told the agent six months earlier, before our baby was born, that we would be interested in moving if a particular house came along.

"I thought no more about it until just before Christmas when he rang to say he had two properties that fitted the bill exactly. We said yes to one immediately and then had to decide whether to sell or let our own house.

"By 5 pm the next day, four people had come to view the property and we had two cash offers."

That agency, Bradford & Bingley Gascoigne-Pees, tied up the ends by contacting a client who had just sold his house but was prepared to rent until the right place came along.

"They knew what we didn't like, so when I was told that I must see this house immediately, I did. I walked in and loved it at once," the client said. "I was a cash buyer and we agreed a price provided it was taken off the market at once. There is nothing better than an estate agent who knows the area and listens to what you want."

Alan Gottschalk, from Bradford & Bingley, says a vendor must get an agency to demonstrate they have sold a similar property in the past 12 months, where they found the buyer, how long it took and the price it sold for.

"The track record is crucial because it is the only way someone has of measuring an agent's performance," he says.

"A good agent will assess their existing customer profile and not just know that five people are looking for a house in the region of £100,000, but be able to identify the one person who would be prepared to pay £120,000."

Most people will instruct on the highest valuation and lowest fee, but these two factors are not enough to base a decision on.

Mr Gottschalk says: "Everyone should ask hard questions of an agent. Case history is the best guarantee anyone has."

- INDEPENDENT