With the age of internet estate agency upon us more and more home-owners believe there is less of a need for the old fashioned kind.

Strutt & Parker explores the role of a good agent and the realities and myths surrounding what an agent brings to the table when selling your home.

Michael Fiddes, head of agency at Strutt & Parker, says. “What you are paying for when you employ an estate agent is firstly that firm’s expertise and experience in assessing the right guide price at which to pitch your home, and then controlling the sale from start to finish. Secondly, you are paying for the access to the market through their data base and marketing abilities – something that we have been building up over many years”.

A good agent will know the best way to market your home to achieve the maximum price. A home owner might ask three or four agents for appraisals of the property’s value, and although the temptation may be to opt for the highest, this isn’t always the best route to take. If you offer the house for sale at too high a price then the property might stick on the market for months and then be tarnished with the – “there must be something wrong with it“ brush.

The biggest factor in achieving a good sale is to pitch the asking price at the right level; in a strong market the seller might well see offers above that price, but the starting point has to be in the right place. The best person to do that is a knowledgeable agent who knows the area.

Fiddes continues: “Your agent will invariably have marketed homes like yours in the past and of course each home will only have been bought by one person. So if 25 people viewed a property then there are still 24 out there who are looking for a house or apartment of that style in that price range. That’s a very valuable pool of potential purchasers.”

Different estate agents cover not just different geographical areas but also different sectors of the market. When someone is looking for a home in the middle and upper parts of the market they know that an agent such as Strutt & Parker is most likely to have the kind of property they are looking for.

Fiddes concludes: “A good estate agent will play a very important part in managing the sales process. There is no substitute for using a trained negotiator. Agents know the value of patience and not losing sight of the objective. It is always, always in your agent’s interest to get the very best price for your home.”