If you’re selling your home on the open market, it’s highly likely that you’ll be using an estate agent helping you as part of the process. Specifically, they act as a middle-person between you, the seller and any potential buyers. They’re important to sellers as they help you set the home price, market it, conduct viewings and manage negotiations. In addition, estate agents ensure that the buyer is serious about buying your property, checking their proof and source of funds for the deposit, as well as their salary to pay for the mortgage (if not buying outright). From initially advertising your property to exchange of contracts and completion, they help to keep the process moving. Therefore an underperforming estate agent can have a big impact on every aspect of your house sale, including negatively impacting the speed, value and smoothness of the sale. All of which could cause you a lot of stress and hassle, and cost you a lot of time and money.
A good estate agent will have a proven track record, a dedicated manager assigned specifically to your property who is proactive and speedy in terms of communication and will market your property properly and on all the best platforms. In other words, they will get the job done and make you feel taken care of throughout the process. If a sale is proving to be difficult, they will communicate this honestly and quickly.
If you’ve been unlucky, you might be using an estate agent that’s not performing to your expectations. Your sale may have taken much longer than expected, received little interest from buyers or you may have found it difficult to get the ‘answers’ about the status of selling your property. Sometimes, the goal of the estate agent is different to yours. While you want to sell your home fast, your agent may be more interested in growing the number of listings than actually making sales, especially if they are paid commission for new business leads instead of transactions. So you might find they’re very active and engaged when trying to secure your listing but, after this, their effort with your property drops off significantly. Have you experienced any of the following signs of an underperforming estate agent:
Switching agents could help you sell faster, especially if you tell your new agent that your previous one was underperforming. This would show them you’re expecting high standards and are ready to sell right away. You’d most likely have to give a notice period of around a couple of weeks to give your current agents one last chance, however they might also just remove listings and stop working on it immediately. If they behave unprofessionally afterwards then you could complain to The Property Ombudsman.
This could spark a sense of competition between agencies and speed up the selling process. This could be sensible if you don’t have an exclusivity clause in the current contract (which might incur a withdrawal fee if you leave too soon due to a minimum ‘tie-in’ period), or a fixed-fee agreement (means you’ll have to pay the agent regardless).
This could be a good option if you have time and want to maximise savings. If you do this make sure to get your own thorough valuation commissioned (subsequently setting a realistic asking price), consider advertising your property for free (some websites offer this), get an EPC (energy performance certificate) and start arranging your own viewings once you’ve carried out minor repairs and taken well presented photographs.
This method removes the role of the estate agent, as the company will buy your home directly, so no need to find a buyer on the open market. As fast property buyers like Vivo buy with their own money and are immediately proceedable, it can be a great way to sell fast, albeit for a slightly lesser price than you would be able to make through the traditional route. The benefits here are that you don’t pay any fees, and can have direct contact with your buyer, rather than having to use middlemen like estate agents. It would make the selling of your house a quick, simple and straight-forward process that can take as little as 7 days. If this is something that appeals to you, feel free to get in touch with us. Here at Vivo Property Buyers, we’re very experienced and highly rated in this field, and we’d love to chat with you about your property. No fuss or hassle with no agents involved for your complete peace of mind.
At Vivo, we understand how difficult these situations with estate agents not performing can be. Vivo was designed with the seller in mind so you don’t have to worry about viewings, and you don’t have to wait for the market to be in a positive trend. We’re always here to answer any questions you might have, and once our formal offer has been accepted, your sale is final with no last-minute surprises.
It’s possible for us to buy your home in just 7 days all while avoiding estate agents’ commissions and solicitors legal fees. Let Vivo take the pressure off selling your home.
If you would like to know more, please call us for free on 0800 773 4922 or fill in our quick contact form.
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Vivo Property Buyers is the trading name for Potrell London Ltd, The Ashridge Business Centre 121 High Street, Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, HP4 2DJ.
