Selling Your Home: The Importance of Choosing a Solicitor Estate Agent

Selling or buying property is often referred to as one of the most stressful events in life – but it doesn’t have to be.

In this current climate, the expertise, knowledge and all-in-one service that a solicitor estate agent can offer you is crucial.

Now, more than ever, if selling and/or buying, the relationship that can be established with your agent from start to finish could end up saving you (and gaining you) more than you think…

Consider the true cost of selling and reflect on false economies

Your home is by far your biggest asset. When you are making one of your biggest life decisions, it is imperative that you select an agent to act on your behalf to who you can engage with, who cares about your property goals and how to best help you achieve them.

You should consider what is important to you – do you want your agent to be available to talk to you or are you happy being on the conveyor belt with little contact from your agent?

Often, the sale of your property is one of the very few occasions in life where you can maximise your capital tax free. This is the time to engage experienced professionals – it is not the time to find the cheapest agents that may cut critical corners. We also don’t believe that marketing and selling your property has to cost the Earth!

It’s completely understandable that homeowners may be attracted to online estate agents with clever TV marketing offering cheap, upfront Estate Agency fees. Research clearly shows that you won’t necessarily be saving money and it could be a very bad assumption to make! Consideration must be given to your final outcome.

What really matters is how much you are left with once you deduct your legal and estate agency fees from the price that your agent helps you to achieve for your new home. If you choose an agent who is not proactive or doesn't market your home properly then your chanmces of achieving the best price for your property are slim.

Warners markets all of our clients' properties on ESPC (the Edinburgh Solicitors Property Centre), the most important property portal in East Central Scotland, where buyers look first.

Research shows that ESPC agents get their clients 3% more on average for their property sale.

For example, if you are selling a property at £200,000 that’s £6,000 more an ESPC agent could achieve!  They won’t tell you this, but if you use an online Agent to sell your home, your property will not be advertised in the ESPC because your marketing reach is limited.

What's more, at Warners we have consistently achieved higher premiums over Home Report valuation than the ESPC average in each of the last five years so we have  aproven track record of market-beating results.

Top Tips for deciding how to choose the right Solicitor Estate Agent to sell your biggest asset with:

• Choose your Estate Agent wisely, choose one that has an incentive to sell your property and will work hard to obtain the best sales price.
• Do your research and speak to several agents before deciding.
• Ask for examples of recent sales in the area, and what sales prices have been achieved recently. Ask if any have gone to a competitive closing date. Closing dates and good sales prices being achieved is indicative of skilled negotiation experience.
• Check recent reviews and testimonials on trusted (and free) review pages such as Google. If an agent is in favour of paid-for alternative review sites (which can be vetted and deleted), ask yourself why this may be.
• An honest agent will always be happy to put you in direct contact with anyone who has left a recent review.
• Remember – there is no point in saving a few hundred at the start of your sale, if it is going to cost you up to tens of thousands off the sale price.
• Consider carefully whether, if you pay all of your fees to an estate agent up front, if they will be sufficiently incentivised to get the best price for your property.

If you are looking to sell your property or to discuss purchasing your next home or investment property, contact Warners on 0131 662 4747 or by email at property@warnersllp.com