How to choose the best estate agent

Choosing an estate agent is critical to your move – but how do you separate the good agents from the bad? Here's how to find the best estate agent near you.

Angela Kerr Director, Editor

Shopping around to find the best estate agent to sell your house is critical. The right agent will sell your home quickly and for the best price, while adding value to the process to earn their fee. Here’s a list of things to consider when working out how to choose the best estate agent.

Remember: the agent works for you

When you sell a property, it’s worth keeping in mind that the estate agent works for you. So your experience of choosing an estate agent should feel positive. If when speaking to agents it doesn’t feel this way, speak to another firm. High street estate agents usually charge a fee based on a percentage of the price your home sells for, which means if they don’t sell your property, they don’t get paid. So it’s in everyone’s interests to get off to a good start.

How do I find the best estate agent near me?

The best place to start in trying to find the best estate agent near you is with the following 3 steps:

• Look at For Sale signs erected near you. This should give you a good idea of the more popular local estate agents and which ones sell houses like yours.
• Ask family, friends and neighbours – it’s always good to have a personal recommendation.
• Use our Best Estate Agent Finder tool below to help you find and compare a list of local estate agents in your area. It will list which agents operate near you, which ones have the biggest local market share, the fees they charge and their success rate at selling houses like yours so you can find the best estate agent.

How to choose an estate agent

Once you have a list of possible agents you’ll want to whittle it down further to a shortlist of at least three. You can then invite them round to give you a valuation and discuss how they work. In drawing up a shortlist you should:

• Compare local estate agents based on the facts like how quickly they sell property and how close they come to achieving the asking price to find the best one. Our free, impartial Best Estate Agent Finder tool helps you find the best estate agents in your area and compare their performance. It lists all the essential information you’ll need.
• Make sure the estate agent has experience of selling property like yours by checking in their shop window, on their website or the property portals like Rightmove.
• Get a feel for the firm. Look at the properties that the agent sells on Zoopla and Rightmove. Are the pictures well taken and the descriptions clear and relevant? Have they got a lot of properties on their books? Do they price them right or are lots of them marked “reduced”?
• Don’t feel pressured to hire the estate agent you bought your house from. But if you were impressed by how they sold your house to you, add them to your shortlist.

Meet at least three estate agents

To find the best estate agent for you, invite the shortlisted firms to your home individually to discuss their offer and conduct a valuation. If you have used our Best Estate Agent Finder tool to draw up your shortlist, you can contact them directly via that.

This meeting is a good opportunity for you to ask the estate agent some further questions to help find the best estate agent to sell your home. You might want to ask:

• When did they last sell a home like yours and did it achieve asking price?
• What is their reasoning behind the value they’re proposing to market your property at? They should be able to demonstrate they know the local market and have done their research. See our guide What price should I sell my house for?
• Are they members of an accredited independent ombudsman service? They must be either a member of the Property Ombudsman or the Property Redress Scheme
• What would they do if your property was not selling as quickly or at the price you expected?
• Check the estate agent will accompany potential buyers when you are out, or all the time if you want them to take the lead. If there is a particular agent you like, ask if it will be them personally on viewings.
• Find out about their standard terms & conditions, particularly their standard commission rate and typical tie in period.

Find and compare local estate agents with our free tool: compare fees, success rate, speed of sale and track-record achieving asking price

Video: 6 top tips to find the best estate agent

See our video with our top tips to find the best estate agent for you.

Beware of estate agent valuations

When it comes to how to find the best estate agent, it’s important to be a bit wary of the valuation you get. Estate agents know that one of the main reasons people pick them is the valuation they give. They take two general approaches:

• Some estate agents give deliberately optimistic valuations, to win your business and make you think you can get a higher price with them, only to reduce the price a few weeks later following a lack of viewings.
• Other estate agents insist they are giving a realistic price, and tell you not to be fooled by falsely high valuations

You will need to try to establish the best price that meets your objectives. The agent should come armed with evidence of local sold prices to support their valuation.

Check how often the agent achieves their recommended asking price using our free Best Estate Agent Finder tool which shows agent performance using actual sales data.

It can also be helpful to use something like our free instant home valuation tool or checking sold prices on Land Registry for a rough guide to what your home should be worth.

It’s always advisable to take the advice from the estate agent, but ultimately it’s you and not the agent who decides what price to put the property on at.

How much do estate agents cost?

When you are trying to find the best estate agent you’ll want to factor in fees. Overwhelmingly, estate agents charge a percentage fee, which can be anywhere between 0.9%-3.6% (inc VAT) of the agreed selling price for your home depending on the type of contract you opt for with your estate agent – and how well you negotiate. See How many estate agents should I use?

Average estate agent fees in 2023 are typically 1.42% including VAT. So on a £275,000 house this would mean estate agent fees of around £3,900.

However when you want to find the best estate agent you should negotiate with them on the fee and aim to get a fee that is 1.2% incl VAT on the agreed sale price for a sole agency contract. For higher value properties – such as over £500,000 – agents are often prepared to accept even lower fees, and perhaps go below 1.2%.

Fees should be advertised inclusive of VAT. But check with your estate agent. You may be able to get your shortlisted agents to compete on cost, but make sure you understand all about estate agents fees before you make a decision. And, if cost is a big consideration, see our guide on the cheapest way to sell a house.

But when you want to find the best estate agent don’t go on fee alone. Top performing agents that achieve the asking price can be well worth their commission fee. For example, if a property is listed for £300,000 and the agent achieves this asking price and the commission is 1.42%, you will pay commission of approximately £4,250. But, if another agent charges a lower fee than this or even no fee at all and achieves 98% of the asking price, this has cost you £6000 in a lower achieved sale price (in this instance, you are at least £1750 worse off with the cheaper agent).

What makes a good estate agent?

In trying to choose the best estate agent it helps to think about what makes a good estate agent. Some important factors are:

Being enthusiastic about your property: You’ll find the best estate agents will be positive about the prospect of selling your home. You’ll get this insight as soon as you invite them for a valuation meeting.

Being proactive: You’ll want to be confident the estate agent will be proactive in marketing and chasing up viewings and offers, calling them to tell them about your property. And while it’s a good sign if an estate agency is busy you’ll want to be sure they have enough time to focus on selling your house.

A good track record: If you want to find the best estate agent, look at the data. Compare local estate agents based on the facts: how quickly they sell property, how close they come to achieving the asking price and how successful they are.

Our free, impartial Best Estate Agent Finder tool helps you find the best estate agents in your area.

Property marketing strategy

When you want to choose the best estate agent, it’s important to establish how they plan to market your property. You need to understand what their plans are, and be comfortable with their approach. You should ask them:

• Which portals are they are using? You want your home listed on the big property portals namely Zoopla, Rightmove and OnTheMarket.
• Will they use premium listings on Rightmove or any other features (e.g. virtual video tours) to showcase your home? And will this come at an additional charge to you?
• Will they advertise your property in local newspapers? Which ones? If you are selling a more expensive property, will it feature in any national newspapers or magazines?
• Will your property feature in their window? For how long?

Choosing sole or multiple estate agents

You’ll also have to decide how many estate agents you should use. Home sellers usually select just one estate agent. This can be simpler to manage and is usually cheaper as agents will charge more for multiple agency arrangements. Using one estate agent also avoids the risk of the seller paying double commission (see below).

Traps in estate agent contracts

When you hire an estate agent, you will be bound by their terms and conditions, so it’s important to understand what to watch out for with estate agents’ contracts. Some of the biggest things to be careful of include:

• Will you have to pay extra for marketing and other costs, such as taking professional photos and putting up For Sale boards? These basics should be included in the commission fee
• Do they insist on “sole selling rights”? If so, it means that even if you find a buyer yourself, you still have to pay the agent their fee. If you do give away sole selling rights to an agent, it must only be for a very limited period.
• Are you paying commission when they sell the property, or if they find a “ready, willing and able purchaser”? The latter would mean you still have to pay the agent a fee even if the sale falls through because you have had to pull out – such as if you lost your job. You should only use an agent who expects a fee as a result of exchange of contracts.
• Does the agreement have a time limit? This allows you to change agent if you are not happy. A normal period is 12 weeks, but can be as little as four. Agents might not like it, but try to get a no-penalties notice period of two weeks.

Find the best estate agent: What about online estate agents?

Online estate agents can be much cheaper than conventional high street estate agents. But usually you’ll usually pay this cheaper fixed fee up-front rather than on a no sale no fee basis. And they vary in terms of what packages and prices they offer. Fees for online estate agents can be less than £100 and while Strike will sell your home for free.

Use our estate agent fee calculator to see how commission compares with fixed fees from online estate agents. Online agents often have online tools to track viewings, viewing feedback and offers.  Most online agents charge extra for accompanied viewings.

Should I change estate agents?

Are you feeling like you’re estate agent hasn’t been performing as you’d hoped? For example have viewings dried up or do you find it hard to get hold of them? Then you may wish to change estate agents.

But before you do it’s vital that you check the terms and conditions you signed up to because you may still be in your exclusivity period. If so, there’s not much you can do immediately but you can plan for when it comes to an end. If you do switch estate agents you’ll also want to make sure you’re not left paying two sets of commission. Find out how this could happen and how to avoid it in our guide on switching estate agents.

Choosing the best estate agent to sell your house

In summary:

• If you want to choose the best estate agent, make sure you shop around for the best performing estate agent near you. To find the best estate agent, compare local estate agent success rate, speed of sale and track record on asking price using our free Best Estate Agent Finder tool.
• Make sure you get along with your estate agent, and that you trust them. They will be the first point of contact for any potential buyers, so you need to make sure that they will represent you and your property well – see what you should expect from your estate agent in our guide what does an estate agent do
• Check the estate agent fee and try to negotiate on the fee so that you find the best estate agent at the best price.
• Remember to read the contract carefully and check your sole agency tie in period and required notice period. If you don’t understand something, ask. If you are not happy in any way do not sign the contract.

Frequently Asked Questions