How to Take a Property Onto the Market as an Estate Agent

Getting a homeowner to say yes to selling their property with you is a brilliant feeling. But don't celebrate for too long. Until you've actually started the process of taking that property onto the market, there's still work to do.

One of the biggest mistakes estate agents can make at this stage is unnecessarily delaying the next step.

Imagine you've just completed an excellent market appraisal. The homeowner likes your approach, agrees with your valuation and tells you they want you to sell their home. You shake hands, thank them and arrange to return in a week's time to complete everything.

What's wrong with that?

Potentially nothing. But you've also created a week's worth of opportunity for something to change.

Another estate agent could get involved. The homeowner could have second thoughts. A competitor might offer a lower fee. Something could happen that turns what appeared to be a guaranteed instruction into a lost opportunity.

That's why, when taking a property onto the market, you should try to complete as much of the process as reasonably possible while you have the opportunity.

If you can get your agency agreement signed, do it. If you can gather some of the property information, get started. If appropriate, you might even be able to measure for a floorplan or begin preparing the marketing.

The more progress you've made, the more committed everyone becomes to moving forward.

This is particularly useful when a homeowner wants to delay launching the property because they're completing some decorating or carrying out minor improvements.

Rather than disappearing for three weeks and hoping they still want to use you when the work is finished, ask what you can complete in the meantime.

You might be able to deal with paperwork, collect information about the property, prepare the description and complete other parts of the take-on process that won't be affected by the work.

Then, when the decorating is finished, you aren't starting from scratch. Perhaps all that's left is taking the final photographs before launching the property.

It's faster for the seller, more efficient for your agency and gives the instruction momentum.

There is another important side to taking a property onto the market, though, and it's not quite as exciting as photography, marketing and launching a fantastic new listing.

Compliance.

Estate agents operating in the UK have various legal and regulatory responsibilities, including requirements relating to areas such as anti-money laundering. Those requirements can change, so this isn't an area where you should rely on an old checklist, a book or a blog article forever.

Make sure you understand the current requirements applying to your agency and seek specialist compliance advice when you're unsure.

At a basic level, however, there are two extremely important things an estate agent needs to establish when dealing with a seller.

Is this person actually who they say they are?

And do they have the authority to sell this property?

It sounds incredibly obvious, but both matter.

Confirming someone's identity will normally involve appropriate identification and verification checks for the relevant owners. You also need to establish the seller's relationship with the property and their authority to sell it.

Living somewhere isn't the same as owning it.

A utility bill might help demonstrate someone's connection with an address, for example, but paying the electricity bill doesn't automatically give someone the legal right to put the property on the market.

Once the appropriate information has been collected, storing it securely is equally important.

Your CRM or other appropriate secure system should become the central home for the records you need to retain. Sensitive client information shouldn't be sitting indefinitely in someone's camera roll, inbox or on pieces of paper scattered around an office.

If you've captured documents on a device as part of an approved process, make sure they're transferred and handled in accordance with your agency's data protection and compliance procedures.

Good record-keeping may feel boring right up until the moment you need those records.

The same principle applies to your estate agency agreement.

Your terms and conditions aren't simply another piece of paperwork to get through before taking photographs. They establish the relationship between the seller and your agency. They should make clear what has been agreed, including important matters such as your fee and the terms under which you're being instructed.

Get the appropriate agreement signed as early as you reasonably can and make sure all relevant legal owners are properly dealt with.

This is another area where technology has made life much easier for estate agents. Electronic signing systems can allow agreements to be sent to multiple owners even when they aren't physically in the same place.

Whether you're working digitally or still using paper agreements, the important thing is having a reliable record of what was agreed and ensuring it is securely stored.

Then we come to one of the most useful parts of the entire property take-on process: gathering detailed information about the home.

The more you know about a property before viewings begin, the better equipped you'll be to sell it.

Buyers are remarkably consistent with the questions they ask. They want to know about the boiler, loft, parking, boundaries, alterations, running costs and numerous other details that can influence their decision.

If your answer to every second question is, "I'm not sure, I'll have to find out," it doesn't exactly create an image of an estate agent who knows the property inside out.

Collecting detailed property information from the seller before marketing begins allows you to answer far more questions confidently and accurately.

It also creates an important written record.

Imagine a problem is discovered later in the transaction. Perhaps a survey identifies something significant and the seller claims they told you about it when you originally listed the property.

Do you have a record of that disclosure?

If everything was handled through casual conversations and nobody documented what was said, you could find yourself in a very uncomfortable situation.

A properly completed seller property information process can help establish what information was provided to you and when. That doesn't remove every potential problem, nor does it replace your legal obligations, but good documentation can make an enormous difference when questions arise later.

It can also encourage sellers to think carefully about information that may be relevant to potential buyers.

The result is a better-informed estate agent, a better experience for prospective buyers and a more professional sales process from the beginning.

Taking a property onto the market therefore isn't simply about arriving with a camera, taking some photographs and uploading them to a property portal.

It's the point where the promises you made during the market appraisal turn into a professional process.

Get as much done as reasonably possible while the seller is engaged. Secure the instruction properly. Complete the appropriate checks. Collect the information you need. Store your records securely and prepare the property so that when it finally launches, your team knows exactly what it's selling.

The exciting part might be seeing that new property appear online.

But it's the work you do before pressing publish that creates the foundations for a smoother sale.

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