How to choose an estate agent (and negotiate the fee)

Start with three valuations

Invite three agents who actively sell homes like yours, nearby. Before they arrive, do your own homework: look up what comparable properties on your street actually sold for (sold prices, not asking prices — they routinely differ by 5% or more). You can check any address's sold price history free on movegrid.

Then ask each agent to justify their valuation against sold comparables. A good agent arrives with that evidence unprompted. An agent whose number floats far above the comparables, with vague reasoning, is most likely buying your instruction.

The overvaluation trap

The highest valuation feels like the best news of the week. It is usually the most expensive mistake of the sale. Overpriced homes sit; viewings dry up; after six or eight weeks comes the price-reduction conversation the agent always knew was coming. By then the listing is stale — buyers wonder what's wrong with it — and the eventual sale price is frequently below what honest pricing would have achieved at launch, when the listing had its burst of fresh-to-market attention.

Questions that expose a weak agent

• “What did the last three properties you sold near here go for, against their asking prices?”
• “How long, on average, between your listings going live and agreed sales?”
• “What share of your agreed sales fell through last year?” — chain management is half the job
• “How do you qualify buyers before viewings?” — proof of funds and AIP checks, or anyone with a pulse?
• “Who will actually handle my sale day to day?” — often not the polished valuer in your kitchen

Fees, and how to negotiate them

High-street agents typically charge 1–1.5% + VAT for sole agency, and fees are absolutely negotiable — especially when you have three agents competing. Useful levers:

• Quote the lowest competing fee and invite them to match it
• Propose a tiered fee: a lower base rate, with a bonus rate above an agreed sale price — it aligns their incentive with yours
• Check the tie-in period before signing: 8–12 weeks of sole agency is reasonable; 20+ weeks is handcuffs. And avoid “sole selling rights” wording, which can owe the agent a fee even if you find the buyer yourself
• Online fixed-fee agents (£1,000–£2,000 paid up front, sale or not) can suit straightforward homes in busy markets — but you carry the no-sale risk and often do your own viewings

Then judge them on behaviour

Before instructing, mystery-shop them: enquire about one of their listings as a buyer and see how fast and how well they respond — that's the service your buyers will get. After instructing, expect proper photography, an accurate floorplan, feedback after every viewing and a weekly update without prompting. The contract's notice period is your exit if the service doesn't match the pitch.