Will the right estate agent sell my house quicker?

When choosing an estate agent to sell your house, you should select the one that you believe will give you the best chance of achieving a sale within the timeframe you need, at the price you want to attain. These two factors, time and price, work against each other to some extent; although they are not inversely correlated, they are certainly at odds with each other. If the price is too high, then the property will not sell unless you wait and hope that all prices increase. This is uncertain, and property prices can sometimes decrease. 

 

The key, then, is to get the price right when you enter the market. Be realistic and never greedy. Get three market appraisals and discuss these with the agent to see how much work they have put into their appraisal before coming out. You might be surprised to learn that some agents don't do their research and rely on winning your instruction with either an attractive fee or a nice smile. A good agent will be able to provide evidence of other similar or at least comparable property sales and listings from the recent past, thereby supporting their figures. 

 

The answer to the question, therefore, is that a poor agent will sell your property slower. They will price it incorrectly for the market and waste precious time. Rightmove research shows that overpriced properties ultimately sell for less than they would if priced correctly from the beginning. This is because once a property has been on the market for several months, buyers expect that the price is higher than what anyone else is willing to pay. In fact, the best time to attract a buyer is within the first seven days of listing. Rightmove states that if you receive no inquiries within the first seven days, then the price is almost certainly wrong.