The Lilacs, Wokingham, RG41

Shall we talk about the elephant in the room? The reputation of agents as fast talking, sleazy sales people in shiny suits. In terms of notoriety we're right up there with politicians and car sales. The problem is some agents really do deserve that stereotype. A lot of staff rely heavily on getting a commission for every home they take on as part of their salary, and that kind of pressure to take on as many homes as possible can lead to over-valuing of homes to get the owners to sign up with them. When the property gets little interest the price is dropped to its actual value and you have homeowners who no longer trust their agent.

Mix in more staff who are under pressure to take on a potential buyer's property and you get these kind of stories from buyers:

"We were told there were a lot of offers and the agent could really push our offer if they were also handling our sale. The vendor would be more likely to accept our offer in that scenario."

The problem is that's rarely true. The seller is going to take the best offer, or the buyer in the best position. So then you have a buyer who didn't get the house they wanted, selling with an agent they didn't choose.

So how do we work in Wokingham?

We value homes at genuine prices. Anyone in the office would challenge a ridiculous price because they don't want to be the one taking the phone call from an angry seller who hasn't had any viewings. We're currently a team of 7 so nobody is hiding behind a call centre. Also my staff aren't relying on commission for taking on properties. I'm only interested in selling them.

We don't phone you so many times that you sign up just because you've been badgered into it.

That's not being enthusiastic, that's the business equivalent of stalking! You want all the information about us and our competitors so you can make an informed decision about who is right for you. You know what, we might not be the best option for you. Selling your home is a very personal thing and you want to make a connection with the people who will be doing that. Make sure you know who will be your contact during the sale, because for some agencies it's very unlikely to be the person you met. Ask to have a chat with the people you will be dealing with.

We design the marketing for your home at every stage because buyers need your home's story not just a few photos and a floorplan. We use lifestyle photography, talk about the best bits of your home from your perspective in the text and we employ a designer to make your unique brochure. This is no cookie-cutter production, every one of brochures is different. Would your house look great at twilight? We'll send our photographer back to get that shot because you want to stand out when buyers are endlessly scrolling through Rightmove and Zoopla.

We take on a realistic number of properties to sell.

I'm not interested in selling 50 properties at a time. We're a small team and I want us to have the time to sell each one properly. We can't do that if we're allocating a few minutes a day to each one. I like that our customers know each of us by name and I'm not looking to change that.

So what else aren't we doing?

Sending endless flyers through your door saying we have disappointed buyers waiting for a property in your area... Those pieces of cardboard that go straight in the recycling. We will have buyers who have lost out on a property and want one in the same area, but strangely enough it doesn't happen every week as those flyers would suggest. If we want to reach specific homeowners I tend to write letters and not those 2 line ones asking if you'd like a free valuation...

So what about the 5 buyers they already have lined up to view if you just sign that agency agreement today?

Some of them will be genuine, but some of them are likely to be serial viewers. Lots of people like to look around houses even if they're not planning to buy. Have a few of them on your books that you can invite over to take a look and you have a happy vendor, at least for the first week when the property looks popular. Except they waste everyone's time. You don't want to be tidying up for someone that has no intention of buying your home. I don't want to be sending my staff on a wild goose chase. I'm certainly not saying every agency does this but it does go on.

Or how about the list of buyers that are only registered with that one agent?

Now this one was true in the past. Before we had Rightmove to set our own alerts and help us to lose hours of time endlessly scrolling there was the database, or possibly a rolodex if you remember those! Buyers had to walk from one agent to another and register their interest in a certain type of property in a particular area. Property details would then be posted to them. If you didn't want to spend your Saturday walking from one agent to the next you might pick the biggest agent in town, or possibly as many as you could stomach before you got bored. Except we don't live in the 1990's anymore.

Yes buyers still register with us. They want us to phone them and let them know when a property is coming to market so they can be the first through the door. However they also set alerts on Rightmove and Zoopla, so even if they haven't registered with every agent in town they'll still see every property that matches their criteria. I can count on one hand the number of buyers who have registered with us and said they were going to solely rely on a phone call because they were too busy to search themselves.

So if buyer lists aren't really a thing any more then surely I should just pick the cheapest agent I hear you say?

So let's talk about another thing people hate about estate agents, the prices they charge.

I think estate agents have done a very poor job of explaining what they do when you want to sell your home. I think a lot of people think they do the following for them:

Talk about a price, take some photos, show a few people around and then put offers forward until one is accepted.

You'd be forgiven for thinking a few thousand pounds is poor value for such a service. So what do we do?

Market research - valuing a property needs to be based on a lot of factors. What has sold recently in the area, what's the condition of the property, has the location changed in value due to recent developments? Properties are rarely uniform and we sell a lot of unique homes so valuing them can be based on a lot of factors. We'll also monitor the price per sq ft/m in different areas as it's a good sanity check for values and for larger homes often our first thought.

Photography - we take the time to ensure your property is looking at it's best to stand out from the crowd. We won't be in and out in 10 minutes and we might be asking you to remove photos (that fascinate buyers but mean they're not looking at your property...), move a few things around so the room's purpose is clearly defined or maybe just keep the cat out of every shot!

Floorplan and EPC (Energy Performance Certificate) - more external contractors are needed to draw these up for us.

Marketing approval - we'll go back and forth with our sellers to make sure they're happy with everything. The photos and the text have to be just right. We're always happy to work to your timescale but selling your biggest investment needs to done right, not done quickly.

Online marketing - We put our properties on Rightmove, Zoopla and our own website. We'll also add online bonuses such as featured properties and premium listings to help them stand out. We include those too. We'll put sneak peeks of properties up on Facebook. Not all the details but a shot of part of the garden or an angle on the kitchen. Buyers love to feel they're getting a scoop on the market and we can have some eager viewers lined up for the first week.

Enquiries - If a buyer phones to book a viewing we don't just let you know when they're coming. We want to know if they have a property to sell, is it on the market, have they had an offer yet, have they got their mortgage approved? We also want to ensure they don't have any requirements that will rule out your property. It's no good showing your house with an east facing garden if they'll only buy one that faces south. Buyers often skim online listings and none of us want unnecessary viewings.

Viewings - We'll put together a cheat sheet all about your home. Some of the more factual elements like whether a loft is boarded, or how old the boiler is. We'll also ensure anyone conducting the viewings knows the history of your home. Why that spot in the kitchen is great for your morning coffee because of the early sunlight. The fantastic dog walking routes in the area that you've grown to love. How your kids made a den in that space under the stairs when they were younger and how those bi-fold doors bring the outside in for entertaining. Viewings are also when we get to learn more about the buyers. What are their preferred timescales, is this "the one" and even if they make a low first offer will they be pushed to the price you want?

Updates - you want to know what's happening behind the scenes. How many enquiries are we getting? How do the click rates on Rightmove look? What feedback are we getting from viewings? Communication is everything and we won't go silent on you if there's no news.

Offers - this is where negotiation skills are vital. We don't just put forward a price to you, we want to give you the background too. Have they sold their property? What's their timescale? Are their finances in place? What price do we think they will pay? Our first step might be to try to improve that offer right from the start. If you've told us you won't consider offers below a certain point then our first push back might be "I know that offer is going to be too low for the vendor, would you like to consider what improved offer you'd like me to put forward?"

Once we've completed the negotiations and you've accepted an offer? That's where the work really begins...

Sales progression - that's a small term for a very broad subject! There's the start of proceedings where we conduct anti money-laundering checks, gather solicitors details and send a memorandum of sale to all parties so they can get started. We also check the entire chain speaking to all the agents involved so we know exactly who is selling what. At some point there will be a problem somewhere in the chain and we need to speak to the right agent to get that resolved as fast as possible. Chains can fall apart simply due to bad communication slowing things down, meaning someone gets tired of the delays and pulls out.

We spend hours on the phone each day chasing solicitors, other agents and updating our buyers and sellers. Solicitors will often pause work on a sale because they are missing some paperwork. If they're busy they may ask once but they won't be pushing for what they need. They'll rely on the agents to chase their buyer or seller for what they need. So a missing Fensa certificate for new windows could stop proceedings for weeks unless the agents involved know exactly the point the sale has progressed to.

This has to be the step that is most under-valued by sellers because we've done such a poor job of explaining it. You might be aware that we've spoken to your solicitor but we probably didn't mention that 3 houses down the chain there's an issue with some documentation. The agent selling that house hasn't kept on top of it and we've got involved to get keep things moving. It happens all the time and there's always a sigh of relief in the office if we know there are good agents in the chain!

Handing over keys - now this is the fun part. Watching excited buyers collecting their keys and starting a new stage in their life. It's also the point that you get to move on with the plans you've told us all about. Homes aren't just where you eat and sleep. They're where you raise your family, make plans, make memories, celebrate and then invest the money you've made to take your next step.

So are our prices sounding rather more realistic now? (Ours are 1.5% + vat by the way) The number of external contractors involved and the hours each sale takes probably isn't what you imagined. UK estate agents are also some of the cheapest in the world. The average in the USA and Australia is 5-6%.

So how are online agents doing it for so little? By cutting out most of that list you've just read. Let me give you an example because it might be for you, as I said we're not the best fit for everyone.

Let's say you have a house, in a popular school catchment that's in good condition. Houses in your area usually sell fairly quickly and you've got the time to be involved in the sale. So you sign up with an online agent and pay the upfront fee. They take the photos, put them online and off you go. You conduct the viewings, because you didn't want to pay the additional fee, and offers can be viewed online. As long as they've valued the property for its best price you could save money.

Some are even offering a money back guarantee of your upfront fee if the house doesn't sell, but I have noticed some terms and conditions saying you'd have to accept any offer within 10% of the asking price for that.

Where this doesn't work so well is if the house hasn't been valued correctly and you could have got more for it. Or the offer hasn't been negotiated and they would have raised it. Or the sales progression isn't done properly and your chain falls apart. I have to be honest, my heart sinks if I see an online agent in our chain. It's nothing against the people working for them, I just think they don't have enough people to manage their workload so we ending up picking up the slack.

So did I answer all your questions and bust a few myths about estate agency?

As I hope you can tell I'm not one to dodge a question and I'd be happy to answer any more you might have. Give me a call on 01189 772 772, email wokingham@northwooduk.com or catch up with me via our Facebook page.

Denise