7 questions to ask an estate agent before you sign

Cold open

Here's something most people don't realise until it's already cost them money: an estate agent in the UK typically earns somewhere around 1 to 2% commission on your sale. Which means if they negotiate an extra £10,000 out of a buyer for you — brilliant news for you — but for them, that's maybe £100 to £200 extra, before tax. For a lot more effort, arguing, and awkward phone calls.

That's not an accusation. Most agents genuinely do a good job anyway, because their reputation and their next referral matter more than one extra £100. But it does mean the incentives aren't always as aligned as you'd assume — which is exactly why it helps to understand how the process actually works, before anyone sits down at your kitchen table with a valuation folder.

So today: what's actually worth knowing before you meet an agent, the honest questions to ask, and why being upfront with them tends to protect you better than trying to play it clever. This isn't about hiding things from your agent — and it isn't about hiding things from us either, when you're looking at Springbok. It's about knowing enough that you're never just taking anyone's word for it.

1. Be Upfront About Your Timeline, and Ask How It's Used

First one. And I want to be straightforward about this from the start: this isn't advice to hide your timeline from an agent. It's advice to understand how that information gets used, so you're not caught out by it.

If an agent knows you're relaxed and not remotely in a hurry, that can genuinely change how hard they push, or what price they suggest first. That's not necessarily dishonest of them — it's just how people respond to different levels of urgency. So tell them the truth about your timeline. But ask a direct follow-up: "If I needed this done quickly, would you price it differently, or market it differently? Talk me through why." A good agent has a real answer to that. If the plan or the price seems to shift the moment they learn you're relaxed, that's worth noticing — not because you tricked it out of them, but because you asked a plain question and paid attention to the answer.

2. Do Your Own Homework Before They Give You a Number

This is the big one, and it's the one that catches people out constantly. Before any agent walks through your door, do your own homework first — Rightmove and Zoopla both let you check sold prices nearby, not just asking prices, and the Land Registry has the actual completed sale figures. Look at similar properties, how long they sat on the market, and what they were originally listed at versus what they actually sold for.

Why does this matter so much? Because some agents will build a valuation report to match whatever number wins your business — especially a flattering one, since a number you like is a number that gets you to sign. This is sometimes called "buying the listing": quoting a number just to win your instruction, with the plan to talk the price back down a few months later once you're locked in.

So let them give their figure first, and then ask them to walk you through it — a good agent should be able to explain exactly which comparable sales they used, regardless of whether their number matches your research or not. If it's wildly higher than anything you found, don't get carried away — ask specifically which properties they're comparing yours to, because sometimes those comparables are in a different area entirely with a genuinely different market.

3. See More Than One Agent

Always speak to more than one agent — realistically, three is a sensible number. This isn't about secrecy or playing agents off against each other; it's simply that comparing three gives you a far better sense of what's normal than seeing one and assuming that's just how it works everywhere.

When an agent knows you're genuinely comparing options, they tend to bring a sharper, more detailed presentation — proper comparable evidence, a clear marketing plan, rather than just telling you what they think you want to hear. You don't need to make a thing of it either way. Just let them know honestly that you're speaking with a few people, and you'll follow up once you've compared everyone.

4. Understand the Tie-In Before You Sign — Us Included

This one's very UK-specific, so listen carefully if you're not familiar with the terms. Estate agent contracts usually fall into a few types: sole agency, sole selling rights, and multi-agency.

Sole selling rights is the strictest — you'll owe the agent commission even if you find the buyer yourself, with zero involvement from them. Sole agency is more common and more reasonable — you can't use another agent during the period, but you can sell privately without owing them a fee. Multi-agency lets you instruct several agents at once, usually at a higher commission rate to reflect the competition.

Whichever you choose, agents will often propose a tie-in period of 12 to 16 weeks, sometimes longer. You don't have to accept that. A reasonable tie-in is closer to 6 to 12 weeks — long enough for them to actually market the property properly, short enough that if they're not delivering, you're not stuck for months. You're the homeowner. You set what's reasonable, not them.

And to be properly consistent about this, since we've just told you to question a tie-in: our Fixed Price™ route has its own agreement too, because you're being matched with a real, vetted buyer, and that takes a bit of structure on both sides. We're not going to pretend that's somehow different just because it's us. Ask us the same questions you'd ask an agent — how long, what happens if it's not working, what you're actually committing to — and expect a straight answer. Our Cash Sale and Fast Cash routes don't involve anything like this at all, since we're simply buying directly.

5. Don't Ask "Is It a Good Time to Sell?"

This one genuinely winds me up, on behalf of sellers everywhere. If you ask an agent whether it's a good time to sell, they will say yes. Every single time. Prices are up, buyers are desperate, "let's get the board up this week" — it costs them nothing to say and it might land them an instruction.

The question that actually matters is whether it's the right time for you — given your circumstances, your onward plans, your finances — and a genuinely good agent won't answer that properly until they understand your full situation. If they answer instantly without asking you anything about your circumstances first, that's worth noticing.

6. Get Every Promise in Writing

It's completely fine to click with an agent in the first five minutes — that's not naive, that's just being human, and plenty of good agents are also genuinely likeable people. The point isn't to distrust your own instincts. It's to make sure whatever they promise you ends up written into the agreement, not left as a nice conversation at your kitchen table.

Make sure they walk you through the entire marketing plan — professional photography, floorplans, which portals they'll list on, how viewings and feedback are handled. And critically: if they promise something — professional photos, a certain number of viewings arranged, a review after a set number of weeks — make sure it's actually written into the agreement. A verbal promise that isn't in the contract isn't a promise you can hold them to later.

This applies even if it's the same agent who sold you the house originally, or someone you already trust. That relationship is genuinely valuable — but a great buying agent isn't automatically a great selling agent, and it's still worth comparing them against at least one other option rather than skipping the process out of loyalty.

7. Know Your Own Number, Before Anyone Else Does

Last one, and it's less about what you tell your agent, and more about what you tell yourself first. Before you're anywhere near a real negotiation, work out the number that actually makes sense for you — what you genuinely need to walk away with, given what you owe and where you're moving to. Not a wish-list number. A real one.

Here's why that matters more than being guarded about it: if you know your number, you're not vulnerable to being talked below it, because you already know what's actually acceptable to you and what isn't. You don't need to hide it to be protected by it — you need to actually know it. Once you're deep into genuine negotiation with a real buyer, and you trust your agent, being open with them about your number is often exactly the right move, because a good agent can't fight for a figure they don't know you need.

What actually puts sellers at risk isn't their agent knowing their number. It's the seller not having worked it out for themselves in the first place, and getting talked into something at the kitchen table that doesn't sit right a week later.

The one thing you should always tell them

Quick but important flip side to all of this: there's one category of information you should never hold back, and that's defects. Damp, subsidence, boundary disputes, anything materially wrong with the property. Under UK rules, sellers are required to disclose material information, and not doing so — even by accident — can lead to a legal claim from a buyer down the line, sometimes well after completion.

Being informed about your price and your timeline is smart. Hiding a genuine problem with the house is a completely different thing, and it can land you in real legal trouble.

Wrapping it up

So that's seven things worth knowing, and one thing to never hide — and none of this was ever about playing games with your agent, or with us. It's about walking in informed enough that nobody can talk you into something that doesn't actually work for you.

And as you've probably noticed, quite a few of the questions we've just gone through get simpler if you go direct instead of through an agent — there's less to ask about, because there's less structure to hide anything inside. That's not a coincidence, and I won't pretend it is: it's genuinely one of the reasons some sellers choose us over the open market.

But to be properly fair about it — none of that makes the agent route wrong. If getting the absolute maximum price matters more to you than time, certainty, or avoiding this whole process, the open market, done carefully with everything we've just covered, is still the right call for you. This was never about talking you out of using an agent. It's about making sure that if you do, you're going in with your eyes open — and that if you come to us instead, you can hold us to exactly the same standard.

Close

Whichever way you go — genuinely, go in informed, and go in honest. Quick bit of housekeeping on us, since we've mentioned ourselves a fair bit today: we're Springbok Properties, regulated by The Property Ombudsman, our Cash Sale and Fast Cash routes use our own funds directly, and over 19,000 UK homeowners have sold with us since 2012 — worth checking that yourself rather than taking my word for it. If this was useful, there's a free, no-obligation offer on our website if you want to see what any of the three routes would actually look like for your property, no pressure either way.

And if you want to know exactly what happens when you disclose a defect and how to protect yourself properly, that's a full video of its own — right here.