SPONSORED EDITORIAL

Are you looking to sell your home and pondering whether to go through a local high street estate agent or an online agent? Here’s some food for thought.

Selling your home can be a daunting prospect especially if you’re also looking for another property to buy at the same time.

One of the ways to get your property to sell for the best possible price is to maximise your marketing exposure and that includes pushing properties on well-known sites like Rightmove and Zoopla.

But what kind of estate agent should you be turning to? Virtual or actual?

If you’re looking to avoid doing most of the legwork yourself, then having a traditional estate agent is the way to go when taking important factors into consideration such as marketing the property, getting viewing feedback, negotiating the best price and managing the sale through to a successful completion.

When wanting to sell a property, one of the first things the seller will home in on is the commission fee. But all that glitters is not gold, especially in today’s demanding property market.

Online agents may offer cheaper commission fees than estate agents on the high street but there are a number of things to be wary of.

“When looking to buy or sell a home, it can be the biggest decision you’re ever going to make,” noted David Lench, who is Group Managing Director of Wards.

“So will you not want to talk to someone about it? Despite what digital onliners may say, it is very difficult to talk to anyone when going through them.

Cheaper fees are not always the best option

“A lot of people will see the commission fees for online estate agents as being lower - say around £1,000 - and think it is the obvious choice, especially when comparing that figure to a high street estate agent that could charge around £3,000 or more. But there are lot of things that they may not be aware of.”

“We do much more marketing through our vast network of offices together with contacting our data bank of potential buyers to encourage them to view. This is not something onliners do.

“Even though traditional agents are more expensive, they use marketing to reach a much larger marketplace in order to create more viewings to achieve the highest price possible.”

He adds: “Estate agents like the ones at Wards will do their very best to get the very highest offers. So even though they may paying more in commission fees, the clients will end up with more money in their pocket.

“Working the client base is a major difference between us and onliners and this is one of the ways in which we can generate additional viewers and buyers.”

Another reason why agents at Wards are highly motivated to sell a property is because they’ll earn no commission without doing do so.

That is not the case with some onliners, the majority of whom are based on upfront fees or deferred fees that are still paid regardless of the result.

There are other things to take into consideration too.

Face-to-face contact and the back-up of a dedicated person is not something that you can get with online estate agents and that is paramount when dealing with what is probably the most important transaction you’d ever make.

A local estate agent will have first-hand knowledge of the local area and will be on top of the ground work, such as using professional photography and the after sale process which includes getting the legal paperwork sorted in a timely and orderly manner.

“When you’re buying a property or you’ve found the home you want, you will need someone to hold your hand through that process of getting it through using the right solicitor and getting the mortgage sorted out,” continued David.

“Getting the right mortgage is crucial to the whole transaction as placing it with the wrong lender can cause significant delays.”

“How can all that be done online? It’s much more difficult.”

“For me, dealing with people as opposed to invisible estate agents is always the way because of the challenges that may occur during the transaction.”

“Online agents may claim that they provide after sale service but in reality they don’t. Estate agents like Wards are there to ensure that all the after sale paperwork and legal work is done properly.

Overcoming the challenges along the way

“In our experience, we have found that they can actually delay the sales transaction and the whole thing can actually be a nightmare. Often, when we’re involved in a chain that includes online properties, there are delays because their sales are not managed so tightly.”

In what is a challenging UK housing market, having somebody with experience in buying and selling properties is crucial.

Entrusting your property in the hands of an online estate agent through your laptop or phone creates a lot of risks and will most likely result in your property being sold for less money.

“A property will sell even though the market is tough,” continued David.

“This makes it all the more important to select your estate agent properly. We’ve already seen a couple of high-profile online estate agencies go into administration. This is because the market is so tough and it stands to reason that they would struggle.

“But that’s not to say that a property won’t sell simply because the marketplace is difficult. All it means is that more marketing will be needed and estate agents will need to work even harder to get a property sold at the right price.”

Wards re-emerges stronger than ever after re-branding

Wards recently underwent a rigorous re-branding after entering a partnership with FINALLY - a strategic, creative and marketing team based in Canterbury.

The company aims to provide a premium service where sellers are kept up-to-date.

Contact the local branches and the phones are answered from 8am to 8pm, seven days a week and via the Wards online portal (click here) which updates customers on the ongoing developments.

“Having a friendly voice at the end of the phone should be very reassuring for the clients who will have someone there for them to help get the transaction through.

“This has never been more the case than in the present market where, inevitably, the agent will be working harder to find the seller a buyer.”

Not only do Wards advertise on Rightmove and Zoopla but they are also one of few agents that advertise with On The Market.

Wards have an exclusive agreement with Homewise that sell lifetime leases to the over 60’s which further increases exposure of their properties on the main property portals through being listed twice.

The company’s new slogan is ‘Helping you move forwards’ derived from what they describe as a desire to be helpful during every step of the buying, selling or letting process.

For more information about Wards, visit their official website by clicking here.