How many weeks would you give an estate agent to sell your house?

I am looking to sell my house and have spoken to a few estate agents. They would all like to try and sell the house on an 'exclusive' basis, which in principle I am fine with. If I just go with one, they are more likely to put effort into it to get it sold.

My question is though, how long should I give them to sell before I think about switching to another one. We need to sell the house as quickly as possible!

Any thoughts - greatly appreciated!

To be honest, in the current market, I would try and go joint-agency. Yes, they would prefer that you went sole! But most agents would rather compete with others and therefore receive a higher fee if they sell it, than not have it on their books at all.

I'm not entirely sure that they will put less effort in if you go joint - if anything, they would put more effort in because they know they have to compete. Competition is important between estate agents - each one wants to be the biggest and best in the area. It would be very unusual for them to think "Oh well, we'll let them have this one, we've got enough on our books anyway!"

What I would do though is if you want to start out with one agent, make sure that you are free to go elsewhere. Make sure you aren't obligated to, e.g., 3 months with one agency.

I would suggest starting with one agent (not necessarily the one that values your place the highest - but the one who doesn't seem to be giving you the gift of the gab) - then give it 4 weeks.

It all very much depends on your location and type of property as to how many viewings you should expect. If it helps, we put our 2 bedroom ground floor apartment in Surrey on the market last September. They all thought it would sell straight away. We went with 3 agents to start with. Sole fee for all agents was about 1%. Joint fee was only 1.25%, so we went for it.

In my experience, it's better to have a few agents on the case. You'll get more people through your door. We were so glad we went joint when the agency we initially thought were the best turned out to be the worst. They hardly made any effort after the first two weeks. One agency continued to get us viewings month after month. We still hadn't sold by Christmas, so we got Foxtons involved too! Their fees were hefty, but they got people through the door! Finally, we accepted an offer just after Christmas through one of the other agents and eventually completed last month.

As others have said - not to be pessimistic - have months in mind, not weeks. Estate agents make you feel like you have the most desirable property in the area. Don't set yourself up for a fall. Work out a contingency plan - i.e. 'What will happen if we still haven't sold in 6 months?' A good plan in the current climate is to consider renting after you complete. It's much less risky and messy than trying to combine buying and selling. It's heartbreaking when you find your dream home; only to lose it because your buyer pulls out. If you considered renting for a little while, you'd have much more flexibility, be in a much better buying position, and would save money every month because like-for-like, renting is usually cheaper than a mortgage. It's taken about 7 months to sell our house - from putting it on the market to completion. We had an offer on the first day - his buyer pulled out; so he pulled out. We had other situations like this along the way. There were low offers, accepted offers and all kinds of hiccups. But be patient, don't get your hopes up too much, and hang in there!

If you haven't had any offers at all after 6 weeks, consider getting a home stager (or honest friend) to look at your home.

So in conclusion, I would definitely go joint-agency if you can. If not, I would tell the agent you choose that you will give them 1 month to get an offer made - after that point, you may consider going joint-agency. This should make them want to push your home before other agents get their hands on it. Oh and if they agree but state a joint-agency fee of anything more than 1.5%, laugh in their face!!! (Unless you live in London, in which case, 3% would be about right)

Good luck!

xx Emmie

Weeks? First of all, this may take longer than weeks. Typical marketing times run in the 2 to 3 months. Longer in some really soft markets. If you are lucky, and your home is dead-on perfect, you could sell in weeks. But get your mind wrapped around the idea of months instead of weeks.

Its not how long your give them its what is written in the contract you need to read the contract before you sign it letting a agent sell your home, but depending in what area you live in and also how expensive your home is, is all factors to take into consideration when factoring in a time frame, the more expensive and the more foreclosures in your neighborhood will affect how long it will take to sell your home. I would say any wheres from 6 months to a year with the current market.

The answer depends on how willing you are to price aggressively.

Letâ€™s say that in your neighborhood, the last three recent sales of similar homes, both in condition and size, were around $150,000.

If you tell your agent to list your home at $175,000, you should plan on several months at minimum, for the simple fact that you are overpriced. It will take longer to find a buyer willing to pay that or you will have to do several price drops until you get to the right level.

In this same scenario, if youâ€™re willing to list at $135,000 (10% below market), I say give them 2 months max. If youâ€™re priced below market and canâ€™t sell fast, thereâ€™s something wrong.

Good luck on it being sold in weeks, you need to think more in months. Depending on your area a lot of homes are on the market for several months before they sell. be ready to wait at least 5 to 6 months.

they will probably want a contract for 3 or 6 months - go with the shortest you can and if you feel they are making a good effort, renew it = avg home is now taking 10 months to sell - It's definitely a buyers market

sorry u are in for rude awakening.
in many area Months is the norm.
u want to find an agent who has moved the most units in ur price range this yr.
hope fully u are going to be renting in next palce. if not , time is now to get 2nd jobs.

In this market, AT LEAST 90 days.

in this current market up to 52wks....if you need to sell fast send it to auction...check out www.propertysnake.co.uk....the days of selling property quick on the open market are gone for now....best of luck

DO NOT list on an EXCLUSIVE basis.

Why?

Your home will not go into the MLS system

Exclusive means they will NOT cooperate with another agent.

Why would they not want to do that?

GREED!

They want the entire 6% commission.

If you do list on an exclusive basis forget about weeks and start thinking months since the probability that the listing agent will find a buyer on their own is slim to none.

Go talk to other agents who don't talk such nonsense of Exclusive basis.

Weeks...honey you have HIGH HOPES! My house is listed well below market value and has been on the market for well over 6 months.
Unless you have the "perfect" home at the right price...it could be awhile..its pretty much a buyers market right now.

You will probably find the agent ties you into a period anyway, probably 12-16 weeks but it could be longer - check the contract.

You'll know in the first 3or4 weeks if the house is priced right in the the current market... No interest or viewings and it's overpriced... not a worry unless you want a quick sale.

Watch for withdrawal fees in your contract. Some agent charge a fee if you take your property off the market and go with another agent.

The market is tough at the moment, many estate agents have too many unsold properties on their books to spend the time required on each property.... my advice - pick a small independent... but not after having at least 3 valuations...

2-3 months is the best time. at least you can find a good buyer too.

It's you who sells your house, not the estate agent. They just find you buyers. If one keeps getting viewings stay with them, if not i wouldn't give them more than 2 or 3 months.

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