2
Feb
Which Estate Agent Should You Fall For?
With romance in the air again this February Adrian Tod of
Hayward Tod takes a loving look at how we could fall head over
heels with…an estate agent.
Spring is round the corner and love is in the air. Yet spare a
thought for poor estate agents. These, often undervalued, creatures
are amongst the least likely to receive a great deal of affection
from their clients on Valentine’s Day - or any other day for
that matter.
But right at the moment, in this dire economic climate, good
estate agents can be a bit like perfect sweethearts. It is always
best to have someone by your side who values you, who will fight
for you, who won’t answer back - too much, who will only hang
around your house when you want them to, and has all your best
interests at heart. Such a person may not make such a bad
partner.
Of course there are good partners and bad partners. Selling
property well rests heavily on the partnership built up between
seller and estate agent. A good agent will lovingly put your
property on a pedestal and then negotiate fiercely to achieve the
best deal for you. On the other hand, a lesser agent may just put
your property on the internet with all their others and then haggle
to find the easiest deal all round.
There is a great difference between the two – often many
thousands of pounds. You could come to love the former but hate the
latter. The trick is finding the right one at the outset.
It’s a bit like finding the best boyfriend or girlfriend.
They may look roughly the same but in practice they all act very
differently.
So if you are searching for the type of estate agent you could
come to love this spring invite a few around to give you some
marketing advice and see how you get on. Then ask yourself which
you would prefer, the flashy one who brags a lot and is cheap or
the one who you feel most comfortable with to act in the most
decent way: the one you can come to depend on.