The first thing to understand about valuations is that any agent can give you a number. The question is whether that number is honest or strategic. Overvaluing a property to win an instruction is one of the oldest tricks in the industry. An agent who tells you your home is worth £50,000 more than the others is not necessarily offering you a better service. They may be telling you what you want to hear.

Ask each agent to show you the comparable sales they have used to arrive at their figure. Comparable sales means properties of similar size, type, condition, and location that have actually sold in the last six months. If an agent cannot show you the evidence, the valuation is an opinion rather than an assessment. If the evidence does not support the number, that is a red flag.

A correctly priced property that generates competitive offers in the first two to three weeks will almost always achieve a better outcome than one launched too high that drifts and eventually reduces. Ask the agent what their average reduction rate is. If a significant proportion of their listings require price reductions, that tells you something about how accurately they are pricing.

An agent's current listings tell you what they take on. Their sold listings tell you what they actually sell. Check Rightmove or Zoopla and look at properties they have listed in the last twelve months. How many have sold and how quickly? How many are still listed, or have been reduced, or have been withdrawn? This is publicly available information and it is more revealing than anything the agent will tell you about themselves.

Pay attention to the quality of their listings. Professional photography is the baseline. An agent presenting properties with dark, blurry, or poorly composed photographs is either cutting costs or does not understand how buyers search. The first impression of your home for the majority of buyers will be the photographs on Rightmove. That matters enormously.

Ask about their buyer database and marketing approach

A good agent does not wait for buyers to find the property on the portal. They have an active database of registered buyers who are looking for homes like yours right now, and they contact those buyers before or at the point of launch. Ask the agent how many registered buyers they currently have in your price range and in your area. Ask how they will market your property before it goes live on Rightmove.

Social media marketing has become a genuine part of the process rather than a peripheral extra. Video tours on Instagram and Facebook reach buyers who have not yet registered with an agent and who may not be actively searching the portals. Ask whether video is included as standard and look at examples of their social media output before you decide.

Communication and progression matter as much as the launch

The most common complaint sellers make about estate agents is not about the valuation or the photography. It is about what happens after the launch: the lack of viewing feedback, the silence when the market is quiet, the feeling of being forgotten once the initial flurry of interest has passed.

Ask the agent specifically how they will keep you informed. How often will you receive an update? Who will you speak to when you call? Will there be a dedicated point of contact or a different person every time? Ask about their sales progression process once an offer is accepted. A sale agreed is not a sale completed. The period between offer and exchange is where transactions fall through, and an agent with a dedicated sales progressor who actively manages that process makes a measurable difference to fall-through rates and completion times.

Estate agent fees in the UK typically run between 0.75% and 2% of the sale price plus VAT. The lowest fee is not the best deal if the agent overvalues to win your instruction, under-delivers on marketing, and takes longer to sell. The highest fee is not automatically justified either.

The question is not what the agent charges but what they deliver for that charge. A professional photography package, a video tour, targeted social media advertising, an active buyer database, and a dedicated sales progressor represent a genuine service. An agent who charges a lower fee but does not provide these things may cost you more in the end through a slower sale, a lower offer, or a transaction that falls through.

Ask exactly what is included in the fee before you sign. Ask what happens if you want to withdraw the instruction. Ask whether the contract is a sole agency agreement and for how long. Read the small print before you commit.

Finally, and this is genuinely important: choose an agent you trust. You are going to be sharing information about your home, your timeline, your financial position, and your personal circumstances with this person over a period of months. You need to feel that they are honest with you, that they will tell you difficult things when they need to, and that they have your best interests at the centre of what they do.

The agent who tells you your home is worth more than it is may feel like a friend at the valuation. Four months later, after two price reductions and a failed sale, that relationship tends to look different. The agent who gives you an honest number, explains their reasoning clearly, and delivers on their promises is worth considerably more.

Courtyard Homes offer a free, no-obligation valuation with honest advice and no pressure. Call 01925 767000 or visit courtyardhomes.co.uk