Who Is the Best Estate Agent in Oswestry? It Depends on How You Measure It.
Best estate agent in Oswestry?
Who is the best estate agent in Oswestry?
It is a question we hear regularly.
“Who is the best estate agent in Oswestry?”
Or perhaps:
“Which is the best estate agent in North Shropshire?”
The obvious answer is to look at who has the most properties on the market, who has sold the most homes, or who appears to be the biggest agent locally.
But is that really enough?
We don’t think it is.
In fact, the number of properties an estate agent has on Rightmove tells you remarkably little about how good that agent actually is at selling your home.
A large stock list can certainly demonstrate that an agent is busy. But busy does not necessarily mean effective.
The more important question is:
What does that agent actually achieve for its clients?
And that requires looking much deeper than the number of properties sitting in a window or appearing on Rightmove.
Don’t choose an estate agent on volume alone
Stock levels are an interesting metric.
If an agent has 100 properties available for sale while another has 50, it is tempting to assume the first agent must be better.
But there is a problem.
How many of those properties have actually sold?
And of those that have sold:
- What percentage of the asking price did they achieve?
- How long did they take to sell?
- How many sales fell through?
- How many price reductions were required?
- How many viewings did they generate?
- How proactive was the agent?
- Who actually conducted the viewings?
- How was the buyer qualified?
- How well was the sale progressed once an offer was accepted?
These are far more meaningful questions.
Because ultimately, putting a property on the market is not the same as selling it.
What percentage of the asking price does the agent achieve?
This is one of the questions we believe every seller should ask.
On average, what percentage of the asking price do you achieve on the homes you sell?
It is a much more revealing metric than simply asking how many properties an agent has listed.
For example, an agent might attract a large number of instructions by over-valuing properties.
The property goes to market at £600,000.
The seller is delighted.
The agent wins the instruction.
Then the reality of the market kicks in.
Six months later the property is reduced to £550,000 before eventually selling for £535,000.
The agent can still say:
“We sold it.”
But the more important question is:
How did they sell it?
A good estate agent should be able to demonstrate a strategy for achieving the best possible result, rather than simply securing the instruction.
What is the agent’s fall-through rate?
Another metric that is often overlooked is fall-through rate.
An accepted offer is not the same as a completed sale.
Anyone who has bought or sold a property will know that there can be a considerable amount of work between accepting an offer and handing over the keys.
Chains can collapse.
Mortgages can fail.
Surveys can uncover problems.
Buyers can change their minds.
Solicitors can become frustrated.
Communication can break down.
This is where the quality of your estate agent really matters.
Ask:
“What is your fall-through rate?”
And, perhaps more importantly:
“What do you do to reduce the likelihood of a sale falling through?”
A strong agent doesn’t simply celebrate when an offer is accepted.
That is when another part of the job begins.
What is the estate agent’s selling strategy?
This might be the most important question of all.
“What is your strategy for selling my home?”
If the answer is:
“We’ll put it on Rightmove and see what happens.”
That should concern you.
We call this the “list and hope” strategy.
List the property.
Put it on Rightmove.
Wait for the phone to ring.
Arrange the occasional viewing.
Then, if nothing happens, reduce the price.
There is much more to effective estate agency than that.
A genuinely good agent should be able to explain how they intend to position, launch, market and sell your property.
That strategy might include:
- Correct pricing and positioning
- Professional photography
- Video marketing
- Social media campaigns
- Database marketing
- Proactive buyer matching
- Pre-launch activity
- Buyer qualification
- Follow-up after viewings
- Feedback analysis
- Pricing reviews
- Negotiation strategy
- Sales progression
- Regular communication with you throughout the process
Rightmove is a marketing platform. It is not a selling strategy.
Who is actually conducting your viewings?
This is another question worth asking.
Who will actually be showing buyers around my home?
Will it be the experienced valuer who knows the property inside out?
Or will it be whoever happens to be available that afternoon?
There is a significant difference.
A viewing isn’t simply about opening a front door.
It is an opportunity to understand the buyer, identify their motivations, answer questions, overcome objections and ultimately help them visualise themselves owning the property.
The person conducting your viewing matters.
What are the reviews actually saying?
Reviews are useful.
But don’t just look at the star rating.
Read them.
Look for patterns.
Do clients repeatedly mention:
- Communication?
- Professionalism?
- Negotiation?
- Knowledge?
- Marketing?
- Responsiveness?
- Sales progression?
- Attention to detail?
- Results?
And don’t just look at reviews from buyers.
Look at what sellers say.
Because the experience of selling a home is very different from simply buying one.
Mystery shop the estate agent
There is another simple exercise we would recommend to anyone selling a property in Oswestry or North Shropshire.
Mystery shop the agents.
Before instructing an estate agent, contact them as though you were a prospective buyer.
See how you are treated.
How quickly do they respond?
Do they answer your questions?
Do they know their properties?
Do they sound interested?
Are they professional?
Do they follow up?
How does the experience make you feel?
Because if an agent doesn’t treat you particularly well when they are trying to win your business, ask yourself a simple question:
What makes you think the service will suddenly improve once you’ve signed the contract?
So, who is the best estate agent in Oswestry?
Perhaps the better question isn’t:
“Who is the biggest?”
Or even:
“Who has sold the most?”
Instead, ask:
Who achieves the strongest results for their clients?
Who achieves the highest percentage of asking price?
Who has a low fall-through rate?
Who has a genuine selling strategy?
Who invests properly in marketing?
Who conducts viewings professionally?
Who negotiates effectively?
Who progresses sales properly?
Who communicates?
Who has consistently excellent client feedback?
And, perhaps most importantly, who do you actually trust?
Quality matters more than quantity
There is nothing wrong with looking at an agent’s stock levels or sales numbers.
They are useful indicators.
But they should be part of the picture, not the entire picture.
A smaller, highly focused estate agency may achieve considerably more for its clients than a much larger operation.
Equally, a large agent may have an excellent proposition.
The point is to look beyond the headline number.
Take a deep dive into the quality behind it.
Because estate agency isn’t simply about how many properties you have on Rightmove.
It is about what happens to those properties once they are there.
Choose your estate agent wisely
Selling your home is one of the biggest financial decisions most people will make.
So don’t choose an estate agent simply because they have the biggest board presence.
Don’t choose them because they have the most properties.
Don’t choose them because they gave you the highest valuation.
And don’t choose them simply because they are the cheapest.
Ask better questions.
Look at the evidence.
Compare the metrics.
Read the reviews.
Mystery shop the agents.
Understand their strategy.
And consider what happens after the property is listed, not just what happens before you sign the contract.
Because ultimately:
A good estate agent and a cheap estate agent are not necessarily the same agent.
And when you are selling a £400,000, £600,000 or £1 million home, the difference between an average agent and an exceptional one can be worth considerably more than the difference in their fee.
Choose wisely.
Because the cheapest route to market isn’t always the cheapest way to sell your home.
www.danieljamesresidential.com
