Should you use an estate agent?

by John Fitzsimons on 01 March 2010  |  2 comments
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When the time comes to sell your property, should you rely on an estate agent or do it yourself?

Today's debate is on the best way to sell your home - should you hand the process over to an experienced estate agent, or should you cut out their fees and do it yourself?

We asked Peter Bolton King, of the National Association of Estate Agents, and Sarah Beeny, TV property expert and the brains behind 'sell it yourself' site Tepilo, to tell us what they think.

Peter Bolton King, National Association of Estate Agents

Use an estate agent

Web technology has obviously increased the ability of consumers across all sectors to trade with each other on auction sites, but I do not feel that this poses any significant challenge to estate agents. Regulated, experienced agents offer their knowledge of the market, the complexities of the house-buying process and the reassurance of an intermediary bound by a strict code of practice and rules of conduct.  

An estate agent’s experience is critical in a number of areas. Achieving the right pricing level takes years of expertise, and we have seen DIY vendors who have sold themselves short due to a lack of awareness of the local market. This knowledge is critical in terms of comparable market prices but also awareness of other influencers such as infrastructure plans for the area.

Even assuming that the pricing level is pitched correctly, selling and negotiating does not come naturally to everyone. Members of the National Association of Estate Agents undergo continuous professional training and development in both these fields. Furthermore, there is the security concern of inviting strangers into your home. The Internet does not allow the proper vetting of an applicant but a good agent knows their clients well and can match them to a particular property and its vendor.

Buying a house is, on the whole, the most significant purchase that most consumers will ever make, both in an emotional and monetary sense. An anonymous contact met on a web portal with no frame of reference can never offer the same reassurance as an established, regulated branch of estate agents during the process of negotiating a house sale.

Finding a buyer is only the first stage of the house-buying process. The progress of a property transaction is a convoluted and time intensive process; expert knowledge is required to navigate the pitfalls of a chain of buyers and sellers. Good agents have the experience and contacts to ensure that the process can be moved along, especially in a situation complicated by issues such as short lease.     

Where I do feel that the Internet offers a benefit is its ability to market properties more efficiently through web portals and the NAEA has developed its own site PropertyLive.co.uk for regulated agents. Our intention is to offer an alternative to the number of property portals that have sprung up that are run by developers and businessmen that have no experience of estate agency or the property market.

The internet also allows consumers to share information, to discuss the house selling and buying process. This has the benefit of highlighting best practice in the industry, thereby raising standards and making the process more transparent, something that we have lobbied for extensively over issues such as Home Information Packs and Stamp Duty. 

But, ultimately, I do not think that auction sites or classified ads can ever replicate the knowledge and skill levels of our profession that are invaluable to consumers during the buying and selling process. 

Sarah Beeny, Tepilo

Do it yourself!

One of the arguments estate agents often make is that they provide better security than selling your home on your own. They seem to think that homeowners wouldn’t have any idea about how to deal with security, as they would be leaving themselves open to potential burglars or thieves who might take photographs of things like credit card statements that are lying around.

That’s just nonsense really – homeowners are far more likely to be alert on protecting their home than an estate agent would be. Estate agents can arrange viewings for people that have just come in off the street, without checking ID or anything like that. At least if you sell your home online through a site like Tepilo, the potential buyer has to provide an email address which is traceable.

I’m also not convinced by the idea that estate agents are any better at working out pricing. I defy any of them to say they don’t value a property the same way we would – by looking at how much local, similar properties sold for recently, and adjusting according to whether the newspapers say prices have gone up or down since then. That’s how the estate agent does it, and how the mortgage valuer does it.

In fairness, if the estate agent has worked in the area for a long time (and has a long memory) then they will be able to make a slightly more educated guess, but it is a guess after all. Just because an estate agent says a property is worth a certain amount doesn’t mean that it actually is. A property, as with anything, is worth whatever somebody is willing to pay for it.

It’s not difficult to sell your home online either. The whole point of sites like ours is to make life easier – the internet is great at sorting the wheat from the chaff quickly, and if sites don’t do that they disappear. There was a need for a simple site where you could upload the details of your home, and which will hold your hand throughout the sales process. It’s just as easy to put it up there as to get an estate agent involved.

Sellers will also get help in sorting out the photographs of their property for the site, and things like that.

There will always be room for estate agents, to help those people that simply cannot be bothered with the hassle of doing it themselves. It’s no different to travel agents or mortgage brokers. However, the internet has really empowered those of us who want to take control and do it ourselves.

So who's right, Peter or Sarah? Tell us what you think in the comment box below!