Which estate agent?

Heffc

My husband and I recently had our house valued by three estate agents - Sherry Fitz, DNG and Savills who all operate in our area. They all valued the house in and around the same figure, which we're happy with but I'm looking for any advise anyone can give on how we choose between them - should we choose solely on the prices they charge or is there something else we should give consideration to?

At a personal level we liked the Sherry guy the most but they are more expensive both on commission and marketing. DNG were the cheapest on everything, but they turned up 15 minutes late to the appointment which we didn't think was very professional.

Is it fair to say they'll all just do the same job so we should choose on price alone?

thanks in advance for any help

Gers_punto

In the process of buying a house and searched high and low for various criteria searches on most EA sites.. found with DNG that a lot of the properties where long gone. When we met for a viewing the agent was incredibly laid back gave us very little info seemed too laid back, for my style any way.

Sherry fitz was spot on very professional knew everything about the surrounding areas and really tried to make the sale.

I know you are looking to sell just giving you tge other side of the page

dori_dormer

I know when looking 5 years ago sherry fitz always had the higher asking prices and always had to reduce them after a few months after no sale.

I'd ask them how many sales they've had in the past year, how many were similar properties to your own, how soon a sale was agreed and how close to asking they got. Now they might lie but google can be your friend here and you might get an idea online.

Also if its in a high demand area do they have a contact list of people who are looking for a property like your own that they could have viewings almost straight away without going on daft etc?

We got 2 evaluations earlier this year and it turned out one of them hadn't sold an apartment in 2 years! He really should have told me apartments weren't their thing!

Also look in their window and see if every pic is a different property. Some places double up pics to make it look like they have a lot on their books.

Have a friend call enquiring about viewing another property and see how long it takes them to call back / arrange a viewing

Doop

dori_dormer wrote: »

Have a friend call enquiring about viewing another property and see how long it takes them to call back / arrange a viewing

Do this!

Marchbride

Doop wrote: »

Do this!

Good luck with that if sherry or dng! I'm buying and will not bother with a house if its with sherry fitz, they're rude, arrogant and are very slow to get back to you. DNG I found the manager rude when I viewed two houses which we were very interested in, he didn't take the time after we stood in a queue for his attention to discuss terms of sale etc he replied "I'm sorry I can't wait I've to get to another viewing".. Needless to say we haven't viewed another house from DNG! Haven't any experience with savills so can't comment but best of luck with the decision and sale

Santa Cruz

Marchbride wrote: »

Good luck with that if sherry or dng! I'm buying and will not bother with a house if its with sherry fitz, they're rude, arrogant and are very slow to get back to you. DNG I found the manager rude when I viewed two houses which we were very interested in, he didn't take the time after we stood in a queue for his attention to discuss terms of sale etc he replied "I'm sorry I can't wait I've to get to another viewing".. Needless to say we haven't viewed another house from DNG! Haven't any experience with savills so can't comment but best of luck with the decision and sale

Well Marchbride it didn't take them too long to return to their arrogance and ignorance. I can only agree 100% with you. As a cash buyer, ready and willing to purchase I got fed up making phone calls to Sherry Fitz and not getting a reply.

HankSchrader

In the process of looking myself and found Sherry Fitz very pushy when there was a property I was interested in. I'll always make up my own mind but I'd be more inclined to deal with someone who I get good vibes off - go with your gut!!

Cathmandooo

Marchbride wrote: »

Good luck with that if sherry or dng! I'm buying and will not bother with a house if its with sherry fitz, they're rude, arrogant and are very slow to get back to you. DNG I found the manager rude when I viewed two houses which we were very interested in, he didn't take the time after we stood in a queue for his attention to discuss terms of sale etc he replied "I'm sorry I can't wait I've to get to another viewing".. Needless to say we haven't viewed another house from DNG! Haven't any experience with savills so can't comment but best of luck with the decision and sale

Is that not just shooting yourself in the foot? I can completely understand that if you're selling your house you wouldn't use those agencies based on your experience but you'd avoid a house purely because they're selling it? The only one losing out there is you imo, DNG and Sherry Fitz won't notice or give a monkeys if you avoid them, it won't affect them in the slightest.

As for the op, I agree with what others have said, go with your gut, go with what you hear from trusted people. If you have any friends or family who have sold recently ask them who they used! Word of mouth tends to be a good indicator.

BeatNikDub

If the EA needs to get to the next appointment though or they will be late then is is pretty logical that they can't hang around? I wouldn't take that personally.
I am sure if you passed on your details or called the office they could help you again, just not at that time if under time pressure.

Idbatterim

what area of Dublin is the house in?

cookiecakes

We bought with Sherry Fitz and the agent we dealt with was an absolute nightmare. Never returned calls but was very quick about ringing us if our solicitor wasn't fast enough for his liking. Took ages to get answers to simple questions and trying to arrange a viewing was a nightmare. Plus it took forever to get their set of keys back once we'd actually bought the house and we had to get on to them to remove the ad from my home months after we'd bought. However, if you were selling your house, it might be a very different situation cos we found him pushy and rude but he got the job done for the vendor. Wouldn't use them in a million years to sell my own house though due to our experience with that agent though.