Over the past six months, savvy homebuyers in Kent have saved, on average, £4,100 off the original asking price – that’s according to the latest data from EstateAgent4Me.co.uk
EstateAgent4Me.co.uk looked at the top six performing agents in Kent and compared their asking prices with the final sale price – and found that on average they achieved 98.5% of the asking price. Against the backdrop of average house prices of £270,000 in Kent this means that homebuyers, on average, saved £4,100 by negotiating.
Clearly not all estate agents are the same and as you might expect their performance varies over time. We looked back six months and picked out some of the highlights. Bairstow Eves (Strood) were selling homes for around 110% of the initial asking price. With EstateAgent4Me.co.uk, you can also see that Martins Estates (Ashford) were averaging just nine days to agree a sale, and at one point Mother Goose Estate Agency, (Tunbridge Wells) were consistently selling sells 100% of the properties listed on its books.
EstateAgent4Me.co.uk is a free tool from consumer group, the HomeOwners Alliance. The tool allows sellers to find local agents and ranks them according to:
– how likely they are to sell your home – based on the percentage of properties that the agent has sold, compared to the total number of properties listed with that agent
– the speed at which they are likely to sell it – based on the average time it takes for a property to go from estate agent instruction to Sold Subject to Contract
– how close they get to asking price – based on what percentage of the asking price is achieved on average
– how much they charge
The data is pulled on a daily basis from over 18,000 estate agents across thousands of different websites to provide accurate comparison information.
Paula Higgins, CEO of HomeOwners Alliance said: “Buyers should feel confident about negotiating. There is lots of advice on our website about how to do this successfully. If you are selling, clearly you should do your homework and choose your Estate Agent carefully. Decide what you think is important to you; for example to sell quickly or to get the most for your property. Our EstateAgent4Me tool can help you make those decisions based on hard data.
“Sadly, one of the main reasons homeowners get in touch with us is because they get into problems with their estate agent. This tool will get homeowners asking the right questions from the start, along with our free guide on How to Appoint and Work with your Estate Agent. Estate agents are a critical part of the homeselling process, so we’re pleased to showcase the best – and in a way that allows people selling a home in Kent to properly research agents outside of office hours and from the comfort of their own sofa.”