Buying and selling a home can be a nerve-wrecking business, and the trickiest and most fraught moments can often occur after purchasers have decided that they really rather like your house – as both parties try to come to an agreement on price. This is where your estate agent’s talents really come into play, as the agent embarks on the delicate process of negotiation. This is when things can go very wrong, and of course it’s the agent’s job to ensure that’s not the case and that the deal concludes smoothly and happily.

So, is it really that dark an art? Or is it something that any of us could do?

The estate agent’s obligation is of course to the client, and the imperative is to achieve the best price for the property on behalf of that client. That said, it isn’t done by any means; estate agents are very tightly controlled by both a number of Acts of parliament and their professional code.

In addition, as James Lawrie of property specialists Strutt & Parker points out, a good agent has their own reputation to safeguard; ‘One of the most important aspects of any sale is that the vendors go away happy at the end of the day – but that the purchaser is happy too. There is rarely any benefit in aggressive negotiations; the best policy is always to tread gently ‘Everyone has an ego, needless to say, estate agents included - but a good agent must never, ever let his or her ego intrude into the negotiations. An estate agent must be a supreme diplomat, filtering and editing what each side has said about the other, and taking their own personal preferences out of the equation completely.’

On occasion a purchaser may want to negotiate with the vendor, but James points out that the majority of clients, in his experience, should not do so; ‘They have come to me because they want my professional expertise in this area, and shouldn’t need to become involved in the nitty gritty of the deal.’

The key word is ‘professional’; most people realise that handling such negotiations is a specialist ability and experience is of the greatest importance. Even people who might be involved in buying and selling in other areas can find that undertaking a property transaction can be very different from selling office furniture, say. Selling someone’s home isn’t a straight forward operation. People have an emotional attachment to their homes and purchasers have a dream.

It’s common for people to use ‘extras’ such as curtains and carpets, and maybe portable garden features, as bargaining tools. Strutt & Parker will tend to leave these elements out of the sales particulars so that they can be put into the negotiations later if the vendor so wishes and if the buyer is interested in acquiring them. However, in reality even carpets and curtains have little value.

There is more to it all than just the overall price though. As James says, ‘When an agent is acting on behalf of a client it isn’t just obtaining the best price that matters. There’s more to the deal than that and for most vendors factors such as the timing of both exchanging contracts and completion are important too.

‘A good agent will research a prospective purchaser and ensure that he or she can actually proceed. That means being certain that sufficient funds are available to complete the purchase and that they are in a position to do so and are not locked into a property chain on their sale, for example.

’It is possible to speak to a buyer and talk in round terms about both the sale price and the sort of figure which they are thinking of offering. By the way, it’s also worth adding that a buyer has to be careful not to come in with too low an initial offer. That can easily destroy the vendor’s confidence in them, and they might well be far less likely to listen to anything they might say subsequently.’

James makes the point that Strutt & Parker like to conduct viewings themselves, which allows them to establish working relationships with the viewers, and – gently and informally – learn more about them and their situation. As he says, ‘It’s very important that we meet would-be buyers, and know who we are dealing with. When an offer has been received and it comes to fine negotiations there really is no substitute for having met, face to face, and being on first name terms.’

Like any other commodity, a house is worth what someone is prepared to pay but of course if there is more than one person seriously interested the bidding can get competitive. In that happy situation your agent takes on a slightly different role, and it’s their job to gently ease the offers up until all but one interested party drops out and you’re left with a final price. This also requires diplomacy as there’s going to be at least one unhappy under-bidder.

‘Being an estate agent is a specialised profession ’, James adds, ‘But after a few years in the job most of us could branch out and establish a second career working for the United Nations!’