When it comes to selling a house, most people elect to use one of their local estate agents. Whilst on face value, agents all seem the same though, this is very much not the case. As with any other area of business, some are better than others.
What makes one estate agent better that the next is not always their experience or knowledge of the market and market conditions. These are important too of course but, far more important is the way they conduct a viewing of a property to potential buyers.
We have all been on the receiving end of the different selling techniques, and all know what is most likely to get us to part with our hard earned cash. All of these different techniques can and are used by UK estate agents, so it is good to know what one they are likely to employ – ideally before they are handed the instruction.
The first technique is the soft sell. This essentially leaves the buyer to their own devices; allowing a house to showcase itself and garner its own interest. Often used in landmark properties, this can work extremely well.
Another technique preferred by many agents is the reverse sell, where defects of the property are pointed out and recommendations made as to how they can be improved. This is ideal for the majority of houses, where buyers are looking at where they can add value.
The final technique which, on face value, is considered bad practice, is the hard sell. An aggressive technique, it involves mentioning existing offers, the level of interest and so forth. Whilst this can be off putting it can work, but some sellers may feel uncomfortable with it.
In all honesty, the best estate agents will use a mixture of all these techniques depending on who they are showing round a property and other factors. To understand who are the best for you, at Meet My Agent we get to the truth of how agents operate, through the opinions our customers leave.