How to Pick an Estate Agent in Cork

How to Pick the Best Estate Agent / Auctioneer in Cork?

What is the difference between and auctioneer and an estate agent? There isn’t any; people use these terms interchangeably. Some people will say “I need to find Cork’s best estate agent” whereas others will say “find me the best auctioneer in Cork” – both parties are looking for the same thing. So what are the things to keep in mind when choosing an estate agency.

Are They Regulated with the Property Services Regulatory Authority?

The Property Services Regulatory Authority regulates all auctioneers / estate agents in Cork and throughout the Republic of Ireland. Whatever agent you choose, make sure that (s)he holds a valid PSRA license. It is an offence for an agent to sell your property without a valid license.

Look for the Homework

All estate agents in Cork will provide a free valuation. This typically entails the auctioneer attending your property, having a peruse around and then giving a ballpark estimate as to what they expect the property might achieve on the open market. This is merely the agent’s professional opinion; in the end, the only opinion that matters is that of the bidders who bid on the property and ultimately value it for you – the property is worth what the highest bidder is willing to pay. However, make sure to ask your auctioneer for a written report. Allowing an estate agent to just have a stab at the guide price based on gut feeling isn’t really good enough. Given the sums involved, you should expect a written report showing all of the recent sales of similar properties in your area and guide prices of properties that you will be competing with once your property goes live. An estate agent that doesn’t provide a written report hasn’t done his/her homework so make sure to insist on this.

Photography

Photography is crucial when selling your property. When people are browsing property on Daft / MyHome, the quality of your photos can be the difference between someone coming out to a viewing and just scrolling past your property. Ensure that your auctioneer uses professional property photographers; if they intend to take a few snaps on their phone, steer clear! For more on preparing your property for its photoshoot, see: https://www.auctioneera.ie/preparing-your-property-to-be-photographed

Protect Your Equity

Most auctioneers in Cork charge in the region of 1.5%+VAT of the final selling price of the property. Suppose you sell your property for €300,000, your estate agency bill will be at least €5535 and may well exceed €6000 when you add in “outlays” – so all of a sudden, your €300,000 has shrunk to just €294,000 – that’s a massive fee. The good news is that these fees are a thing of the past and there are fixed price estate agencies who will provide you with a full estate agency service for a fixed fee that is a fraction of the price charged by the commission based estate agencies in Cork.

Systems, Policies, Procedures

Selling a property is largely an administrative process. A busy estate agency will receive hundreds of emails and phone calls daily. Some are simple queries that can be handled there and then eg are there any offers on a property. Others require a little more work eg an interested party looking to arrange access for their engineer to carry out a survey of the property in advance of purchasing it. All of these queries need prompt, professional attention. Make sure your chosen estate agency has systems in place to ensure that every call and email request is logged and remains open until actioned. An estate agency that gives every query the attention it requires will ensure that interested buyers get the information they need promptly and so offers and sales progress more smoothly.

What is their Reputation?

All the best state agents in Cork know that a reputation takes a lifetime to build and seconds to destroy. Search on Google for the name of the estate agency followed by “reviews.” A reputable, well-run agency will have a steady stream of happy buyers and sellers who have taken the time to go online and leave a review for the agency. Mistakes of course will happen so don’t rule an auctioneer out for one or even two bad reviews, if the overall trend is positive. But an estate agency receiving a steady stream of poor reviews doesn’t inspire confidence. If they have delivered poor service to clients in the past, that is likely what will be delivered to you also.

Do they Advertise on Daft & MyHome?

It seems strange that we should even have to mention this but incredibly there are some agencies that advertise on one and not the other of Daft or MyHome. This is crazy as many buyers don’t visit both sites but rather rely on just one of them. If you are not on both, there are potential buyers who will be unaware that your property is for sale. Ensure the estate agency you choose has accounts with both websites and will put your property on both as standard.

Do they Accept Offers Online?

Buyers are busy at work during the week; often the best time for a buyer to make an offer is in the evening time or at weekends. Alas many estate agents in Cork are closed at the very time the buyer wishes to submit his/her offer. Auctioneera can process offers 24/7/365 on our website so we are open when it suits our buyers. We update all those who have expressed an interest in the property in real time of the new offer and so we often get bidding wars erupting at evenings and weekends ie the value of your property is being bid up right at the time when traditional auctioneers are closed.

Do they Host Viewings at Evenings & Weekends?

Will your auctioneer show your property at evenings and weekends ie the time that vendors want to see it. If not, are you sure you want to give them the listing?

So if you are looking for an auctioneer in Cork that ticks all the boxes, why not fill in the brief form below to arrange your free valuation and we will be delighted to meet you in person!