A Guide to Choosing an Estate Agent

Choosing an estate agent is one of those decisions that's easy to make on price alone and much harder to make well. The cheapest fee doesn't always lead to the best outcome, and the most expensive doesn't guarantee it either.

Start with local knowledge. An agent who genuinely knows your street, your school catchments and your local buyer pool will price and market a property more accurately than one working from a spreadsheet of postcodes. Ask how many properties they've actually sold nearby, not just how many they have listed.

Look at how they market. Professional photography and a proper floorplan are the baseline now, not a bonus. If an agent's current listings look average, yours will too. Ask specifically what's included: photography, floorplans, drone shots, social media content, and which portals they list on.

Ask about communication. The single biggest source of stress in a property sale isn't usually the sale itself. It's silence. A good agent gives you regular, honest updates, including when there's nothing new to report, rather than going quiet until there's a problem.

Understand the fee structure properly. No Sale, No Fee sounds appealing, but it's worth understanding exactly what's included and what happens if the sale falls through. A fixed fee can work out cheaper, but only if the agent is genuinely motivated to get the property sold, not just listed.

Finally, trust your instinct from the valuation appointment itself. The person who values your home is very often the person who'll be negotiating on your behalf. If they're straight with you about price and process from the very first conversation, that's usually a good sign of how the rest of the sale will go.