What to expect from a good Estate Agent?

[GraceGrape]

DP and I have recently put our house on the market and I'm not sure our EA are doing a great job. I haven't sold a property before and think they're being a bit rubbish, but DP has sold previous properties and says that all Estate Agents are equally useless. I'm hoping some of you might be able to share your experiences of what sort of service I should expect.

We had 4 valuations done and picked one of the two "middle" valuations with the agent who seemed most credible and convincing. We signed up 3 weeks ago and it has taken them until now to get the brochures done and the house listed on rightmove, zoopla etc. To be fair, they have already arranged 6 "blind" viewings , but seem to have brought quite inappropriate buyers (it is a very open plan house, and is being marketed to families but most of the buyers they've brought round have been older people). Also, we haven't been impressed with the rest of the staff. We mainly deal with one person who consistently seems to have the wrong property details in front of him when we speak to him. Of the 6 viewings so far, we have only had feedback on two, and that is when we've asked for it.

Also, the house has now been listed online but they didn't send the photos to us for approval first. The house appears on the listings page with an interior shot, whereas most houses seem to have the exterior of the house as a main photo. Do you think this matters? They also haven't uploaded a floor plan, even though one has been done and put onto the estate agent's own brochures.

I know it hasn't been on the market for long, but I was wondering whether we ought to start considering other options or if this is pretty much standard behaviour. We have a sole agency agreement, but DP insisted on only a 4-week contract so we could change agents if we had to.

Thanks to anyone who can offer advice. Sorry - that was a bit long!

[MyMelody]

Well they don't sound great do they, with regard to the photo, when I see a house with an interior shot as the main photo I worry that it looks terrible from outside so I would ring them and get that changed asap. Chase them up about the floorplan and let them know that you are keen to get on with things, but if they are being this slow now it doesn't fill you with confidence for how they will get on with things once you sell really.

its good that you are only tied in for 4 weeks, see how the next couple of weeks pan out and then start seriously thinking about another agent I reckon.

[Crutchlow35]

Re the viewings and feedback. This is the hardest thing. If you manage to speak to people and get some then great but if you leave messages I can pretty much guarantee not one of the other has called your agent back. There are only so many messages or times you can try to call viewers. We are generally 2 calls. Sometimes we go with 3 but we have a careful line that we cannot cross when getting feedback as you can be seen to be harassing viewers.

The floor plan would bother me. We don't advertise anything here without having absolutely everything in front of us to upload. Get them to do that by close of play today. it takes seconds to do.

Re the internal shot unless you have an horrendous property from the outside it should be an external shot as the first photo.

As for not liking other staff, what have you done about it?

[GraceGrape]

Thanks for your advice. The person who deals with the admin has been out of the office today but I have contacted them about changing the photos. The house is a mid terrace, but not unattractive from the outside so shouldn't put people off. RE feedback, yes I understand it must be difficult to get it from some viewers so I'll just ask the agents to chase them once and if they can't get any, fair enough.

I was going to speak to the branch manager about the member of staff who hasn't been very helpful, but I've been too much of a softie because he does seem like a nice person, just disorganised. I'll try to have a tactful word. Thanks again!

[Sunnyshores]

We've sold quite a few properties, agree that generally they are a pretty useless bunch. But these do seem slow to get the basic things done ie on the net. Def should have an exterior shot first.

Feedback seems to be hit and miss, even if you get it viewers may just be polite rather than say they really hated the bathroom or maybe the viewers werent vetted that well, so you just got tyre kickers who werent looking to move or couldnt afford it, or were really looking for a new build etc. Try and get an idea of who the viewers are so you can judge the reliability of any feedback.

You should be able to get stats of online viewings from rightmove etc, ask them to compare this to average number of viewings, actual viewings to sale etc. Keep an eye on other properties with that agent, or with other agents in your area and make sure your house isnt being left behind.

Basically, if you want a reasonably quick sale, you are going to have to manage the agents. (As well as obviously doing the normal tidying, decluttering...)