New Estate Agents emerge to the market on a weekly basis. Existing agents are constantly thinking or been told they must get on board with change with such things as technology.

Most new Agents to the market launch their product based on price and attractive commission levels making existing agents think about what they can do to compete.

However, one thing the new agents don’t consider and the first thing to suffer when existing estate agents try and compete on commission levels is communication. In my opinion this is the business suicide and the companies who adopt this strategy will soon get found out.

The most important part of the sales process is communication so if you are looking to employ an estate agent to sell your property it is imperative you use an agent who respects how important communication is. Its as simple as this communication can be the difference between a good and a bad estate agent.

The facts don’t lie, look at The Property Ombudsman’s reports over previous years and you will see the importance of communication as this is the topic which has generated the most complaints against sales agents.

The emergence of the online estate agency has seen companies utilising technology allowing them to save huge amounts of money on staff and wages by introducing tools such as an app. These savings have allowed them to enter the market with packages as little as £99 to sell a property. However, these will generally not offer any form of service levels and support from the respective company. If it does it will generally be sub-standard only causing stress and frustration for vendors.

The reason why online agents have entered the market is because they have seen the success of companies like Amazon which is mainly reliant on systems. But what they are forgetting is their system is selling a house, the biggest asset you will ever own whereas Amazon is selling garden furniture.

There is no way a system and the vendor can sell a property without the need of support in the form of human beings with experience in the industry to refer to, especially when things get complicated with solicitors etc. Before the introduction of the online estate agents moving house was classed as the most stressful thing you will experience and I believe the reason for this was bad communication, it has only got worse not better.

So why do I think its communication which makes moving home so stressful? its simple. You employ an estate agent to sell your property, 95% of them are open from 9am – 5pm Monday – Friday and a Saturday morning if your lucky. You employ a solicitor when you find a buyer for your property, they are open 9am – 5pm Monday – Friday and no, you’re not lucky enough for them to work on a Saturday morning. You yourself work full-time Monday – Friday 9am – 6pm and Saturday 9am – 12 Noon. You want to speak to your agent and solicitor, and you are unable to use your phone at work, you try calling on your lunch, but the agent and solicitor are also on theirs. They return your call, but you are back at work. It takes two days before you catch up with them and that’s where the stress comes in. Now take an online estate agent who has no support facility to speak to a human being, imagine the stress that relationship will create. This is why it is so important to use an estate agent that understands the value of good communication. They are there, ones who open from 8am – 9pm 7 days a week, like FastMove. Use an agent who operates long hours every day of the week and you will see how easier and enjoyable the whole process becomes.