Questions to ask an estate agent at a valuation

A valuation is the one hour in which an agent has to show their working. Most sellers spend it listening to a number. The better use is to ask how the number was reached, and who will do the work once the board is up.

An agent who is glad to be questioned usually has something behind the answers. One who bristles may be telling you something too. Nothing here is a trap. The questions fall into five groups — the number, the people, the marketing, the contract and the plan — and they work best when you put the same ones to every agent, so the answers can be set side by side afterwards. This is the in-the-room checklist; our wider guide to choosing an agent covers the decision itself.

One small preparation helps both sides: have a list of any work you have done, such as the kitchen, bathroom, extension, rewiring or boiler, with rough dates. It saves time in the room and gives the agent real detail to price against, rather than guessing from what is visible.

The number: what is it based on?

• Which sold homes are you comparing mine with, and why those?
• What did they actually achieve, against what they were listed at?
• What would make you wrong?
• What would you launch at, and how does that differ from your valuation?

Ask for sold prices, not asking prices, on similar homes on or near your street, from the recent past. A good answer names streets and explains the differences: the extra bedroom, the garden, the road noise, the condition. A weak answer is a feeling, or a reference to “what the market is doing” with nothing underneath it. The third question is the most revealing. An agent who can name the two or three things that would move the figure up or down has genuinely thought about your home.

The last question deserves a moment. A valuation is the agent’s view of what your home should achieve; the asking price is the figure you choose, with their advice, to open the marketing. Sometimes the two match. Where they differ, ask the agent to explain why, and what the evidence says about launching at each figure. A guide price should reflect what the agent honestly expects the home to achieve.

The people: who will actually do the work?

• Who values, who negotiates the offers, and who will be on the phone in week six?
• Who shows buyers round, and who chases the solicitors after a sale is agreed?
• How many homes is that person handling at once?
• Who do I ring on a Sunday?

The person across the table is not always the person who handles your sale, which makes this among the most useful questions on the list. At Kings Estates, valuations are director-led, viewings are accompanied by a member of our team, and a director oversees every instruction. Whatever another agent’s answer, you should hear names rather than a department. Ask, too, what happens when the named person is away: a good answer is a colleague’s name, not a shrug.

The marketing: what will buyers see, and who is already looking?

• Who takes the photographs, and what else is included: floorplan, written description, portals, film?
• Can I see your last few listings on streets like mine?
• Which buyers already on your register might suit this house?
• How are buyers qualified, and will I be told of every offer as it arrives?

Buyers decide on a phone screen before they ever see the front door, so judge a recent listing as a buyer would, at a glance on a phone. The last two questions matter more than they look. An honest agent will say so when the answer is “a few” and explain how they would find the rest. And an offer is only as good as the person making it: ask how mortgage position, chain and proof of funds are checked, and whether the agent will tell you plainly when the higher offer is the weaker one.

The contract: what are you agreeing to?

Ask for the agency agreement before you decide, and read it before you need it. An agent must tell you before you sign when you become liable to pay, how much, and any other payments that may fall due. Look in particular at the tie-in, the notice period, any charges outside the headline fee, and what happens if a buyer is found and the sale is then withdrawn. Ask for a single, all-in account of what you would pay. Our guide to choosing an agent explains the terms, and the guide to the cost of selling walks through the rest of the bill.

The plan: what happens if it does not go to plan?

• If there is no offer in the first few weeks, what do we look at first?
• How will you tell me, unprompted, if the price needs to move?
• How often will I hear from you, and in what form?
• What would make you advise me not to sell?

Most listings have a quiet patch. The useful answer is a process, with a date on it, rather than reassurance; we have written about what a stalled listing is really telling you. The final question is the most telling of the lot. A good agent will name real circumstances: a market that has not caught up with your price expectation, a home that needs work before it is worth showing, a property that would make more as a let. An agent who cannot think of one may be more interested in winning the instruction than in advising you.

What to listen for beyond the answers

Did the agent read the room: notice the extension, ask about the boiler, walk the garden? A good agent also asks what you need: your timescale, what you are buying next, whether you are in a chain. If they have not asked, they are pricing a house rather than helping with a move.

How to compare the answers

Take notes in the room; three visits are easy to blur together. Then compare on paper rather than on feeling. The agent who charmed you in the kitchen is not necessarily the one with the stronger evidence.

1. 01Did they show their evidence, and was it genuinely comparable?
2. 02Do you know exactly who will handle your sale?
3. 03Is the fee, and what it covers, clear in writing?
4. 04Were the contract terms explained without being asked?
5. 05Did they ask about you as much as about the house?

Weigh the reasoning behind each figure ahead of the figure itself, and be most cautious of the highest number if it comes without the explanation. If you would like to put these questions to us, the valuation is free and without obligation, and the in-person valuation guide explains what happens when a director visits.