Selling
Changing agent when a sale has stalled
Switching agents is sometimes the right answer and often a way of avoiding a price decision. The contract decides whether you can do it cheaply.
There is a settled way of talking about changing agent. It is worth asking how much of it survives contact with the detail.
The argument in brief
- Check the tie-in, notice period and post-termination introduction clause first.
- Two agents can both claim a fee for the same buyer.
- Most stalled sales are a price problem rather than an agent problem.
Diagnose before you switch
Count the enquiries, the viewings and the offers separately, because each failure point has a different cause and a different remedy. No enquiries at all points to price or to presentation on the portals, which is a marketing problem rather than an agent problem. Enquiries but no viewings suggests the photographs, the floorplan or the description are misrepresenting the property in one direction or another.
Viewings without offers usually means the property is fine and the price is wrong, or something specific is putting people off at the door. Ask the agent for the written feedback from every viewing, since a consistent comment across strangers is worth more than any opinion.
What the contract permits
Read the tie-in period, the notice period and any clause covering a buyer introduced during the agreement who purchases afterwards. Those post-termination clauses are why two agents sometimes both claim a fee on the same sale, leaving the seller paying twice.
The useful part is this: before instructing anybody new, get a written list from the outgoing agent of every buyer they introduced, and keep it. Give notice exactly as the contract requires, in the format and to the address specified, because informal notice is routinely disputed. Where the wording is unclear or the sums are significant, a short conversation with a solicitor costs far less than a duplicated commission.
Timing the change
A property that has been listed for a long time develops a stale appearance on the portals, and buyers notice the elapsed days. Withdrawing for a period before relisting can reset that presentation, though the transaction history usually remains visible in various places.
For most people, relisting at the same price with new photographs rarely works, because the buyers who rejected it are still in the market and remember it. A change of agent combined with a genuine price adjustment is far more likely to produce a result than either action alone. Seasonality is real in many markets, and relaunching into a quiet period wastes the freshness that a relaunch is supposed to buy.
Choosing the replacement
Judge candidates on what they have actually sold nearby recently, not on the valuation they suggest at the appointment. Ask what proportion of their agreed sales completed, since a firm that agrees many sales and completes few is selling optimism. Ask specifically who conducts viewings and who progresses sales after an offer, because those are the two functions that matter most.
Where it helps most, ask what they would change about the listing, which is the fastest way to learn whether they have looked at the property properly.
Negotiate the tie-in down given your experience, and be explicit that responsiveness is the reason you moved.
The multiple agency option
Instructing two firms on a multiple agency basis increases exposure but usually costs a higher percentage to whichever one succeeds. It can also reduce effort from both, since neither has an assured return on the money and time they invest in marketing. It works best in a market with distinct buyer pools, for example where one firm reaches local buyers and another reaches those relocating.
Track carefully which firm introduced which viewer, and record it in writing, because that record is the evidence in a fee dispute. For most sellers a single motivated agent with a shortened tie-in produces a better outcome than two half-committed ones.
When it is not the agent
If three agents independently suggest a similar price and the property is not moving at that price, the market is answering the question. Access is the other common cause, and a property that can only be viewed at inconvenient times will always underperform its price.
A visible defect, a difficult neighbour situation or an unresolved legal issue will stop offers regardless of who is marketing the property. In those cases the productive move is to fix the underlying issue and then relaunch rather than to rotate through firms. Withdrawing entirely and waiting is a legitimate strategy where you do not have to move, provided you count the cost of continuing to hold the property.
The takeaway
Read the notice and introduction clauses, get the list of introduced buyers in writing, and be honest about whether the problem is the agent or the price.
Pick the one that costs you least, and let the rest wait.
Questions readers ask
Can two agents charge me for the same buyer?
It happens where a post-termination introduction clause applies. Get a written list of introduced buyers from the outgoing agent before instructing anyone else.
Does relisting reset how long a property has been for sale?
Partially and temporarily. New photographs and a new listing help, but the history is often still traceable, and buyers who saw it before still remember it.
