Use an Estate Agent or Letting Agent to Market a London Flat

Ruth Phillips

With the growing popularity of do-it-yourself property sales, letting and management it’s worth pointing out the value of having estate agent representation when dealing with your largest assets. Ruth Phillips from Purple Hat Property points out the advantages of appointing a full service agent to represent your interests …….

Estate agents may say that they have unrivalled access to the key Internet portals that private sellers don’t; Rightmove, FindaProperty and Zoopla, (and all their associated sites) only allow estate agents to advertise on their sites. The emergence of “advertise only” estate agent websites – a fixed low fee that gives the vendor or landlord access to the same Internet marketing tools as a High Street estate agent has blown a bit of the estate agent’s raison d’être out of the water. Or has it? The “advertise only” option is exactly that, I offer this as a service if it’s what the client wants – generally it’s not, they want more but just don’t want to pay more. Similarly the online, low, fixed-rate websites are the same estate agents that everyone loves to hate, all that they are offering is an alternative vehicle for marketing the property while building a client base in order to cross sell estate agency products.

It therefore stands to reason that the add-on-products, those that may soon be considered additional estate agency services are part of the estate agent’s service that have the most clout.

I did say that marketing the property is only a small part of the service but it becomes a big part to market it to it’s best potential. It’s not just where, it’s how and I’m not just talking about writing descriptions. There’s photography, media options, good quality floor plans etc

An estate agent worth their salt will be able to value a property by carrying out the correct research, knowing the market conditions and the client’s requirements. The good estate agent will be able to back up their valuation with hard facts not their own requirement for hard cash.

Estate agents dedicate time to take telephone enquiries and deal with email enquiries in an effective manner. An estate agent will know the questions to ask and how, even whether, to take the enquiry to the next stage. If a vendor or landlord is doing it themselves these enquiries are likely to be an interruption to their normal routine or worse still, left on voicemail or unanswered until the time can be found.

Estate agents are negotiators. They are skilled at being able to get the right deal for their client without compromising their position. Private sellers may let emotions affect their decisions. Estate agents will be sensitive to the emotions not affected by them.

Estate agents accompany viewings. An estate agent will know when the buyer wants their input and when they just want to be left alone to take in the surroundings. The estate agent will be able to get and assess honest feedback from the viewing. In addition to this the estate agent provides additional security to your property and it’s inhabitants.

Estate agents will provide their client with regular feedback on all aspects of marketing, viewings and progression of the sale or letting of the property and will liaise between all parties to keep on track of the processes.

Estate agents have a wealth of experience and knowledge to draw upon. Whether on contractual and legal issues with property sales or, if they are qualified letting agents, tenancies; market conditions; local knowledge; sales progression or just some advice on the best way to present the property.

Ruth Phillips

Purple Hat Property Services

Tel: 0208 123 4766

Mobile: 07747 607467

Email: Purple Hat Property