Search
4th November 2024
The Best Estate Agents Speak Plain English
If you have ever sold, bought, rented or let a property you might think estate agents speak a language only they understand!
Admittedly things used to be a lot worse when anything written by an agent featured words and phrases such as 'pleased to bring to market', 'notwithstanding' and 'forthwith'. Thankfully these have largely fallen out of fashion.
However, it's easy to feel that jargon and industry terms are sometimes used to pull the wool over your eyes and that's not good when you're trying to choose an estate agent you can trust.
Plain speaking
At Maslen we speak to our clients as we would do to anyone
else, using clear, honest terms and phrases that you don't need to use a
specialist property dictionary in order to understand.
It goes beyond that though. Plain speaking means telling the
truth, whether that's something you might want to hear or not. If a
neighbouring house has recently sold for a certain amount of money, you may be
unhappy to hear an experienced professional valuation that gives you a lower
price.
This is where some estate agents are sadly still economical
with the truth. Your neighbour may have had extensive work done, a more modern
kitchen, an extra bedroom as a loft conversion, or any number of other factors
that affect the market value.
One way that plain speaking really matters is when you're
finding out how much your home is worth, and it's a good start to having a
working relationship with an estate agent that really is built on trust.
Recommendations and reviews
Every business has to advertise itself to get more clients.
The trouble is that some estate agents are more interested in doing this than
they are in marketing your home for sale!
This can often apply to big chain brand names, whose
successful offices elsewhere in the country effectively subsidise their less
effective local cousins.
That's where a truly local, experienced agent who knows your
area inside out comes out on top.
Having a recommendation from family or friends is worth its
weight in gold for most things, and when it comes to property it really can be
the most reliable way to find the right person to do the job you need.
Today online reviews can work in this way as well. It's
important though to look at how recent the reviews are and exactly what
strengths they highlight. For instance, if you want to rent out your investment
property an agent whose great reviews are all about sales might not be the best
choice.
A good attitude
An agent that talks down to you is as bad, if not worse,
than one who tries to confuse you using property industry buzzword bingo. Even
worse than either of these is someone who tries to apply pressure in any way,
telling you that you need to make a quick decision for one reason or another.
When you are selling your home it's your choice, your
timetable.
In day to day life we all tend to work out quite quickly
whether someone is trustworthy and that often comes down to the way they speak
to us. A good agent will of course have a local reputation that speaks for
itself in many ways, along with the facts and figures that make their case for
them too - all clearly stated in plain English!
If you'd like to find out why so many people choose us to sell their home in Brighton and Hove call us on 01273 677 001, email [email protected] or pop into our central office on Lewes Road to talk face to face.