How to Choose the Right Estate Agent

You're ready to sell, and you've had three agents through the house in a week. One quotes a price that made you blink, no comparables to back it. The next leads with a glossy folder about their marketing reach. The third offers the lowest commission and leaves. Not one of them has shown you a single home that sold in your street, and you're left at the kitchen table with three business cards and no real way to choose.

What choosing an estate agent comes down to

Choosing an estate agent well means selecting a registered property practitioner who has recent, verifiable sales in your specific suburb, a marketing approach that matches your property and price point, and a track record of achieving prices that reflect accurate valuation rather than inflated promises. The choice of agent directly affects your sale price, your time on market, and the likelihood of a deal reaching transfer. It deserves the same scrutiny you would give any other professional you engage for a significant financial transaction.

Key takeaways

• An agent's commission rate is a poor measure of value, their negotiating strength, marketing reach, and days-on-market record determine your net proceeds far more than a percentage point.
• The most important question to ask any agent isn't what they charge, it's what they've sold in your specific suburb in the past six months, at what prices, and how long those properties took to sell.
• An inflated valuation is a sales tactic, not an accurate assessment, an agent who prices your property above market to win the mandate will recommend a reduction once the listing stalls.
• Sole mandates consistently outperform open mandates because they create a single accountable agent who has every incentive to invest in your campaign.
• After signing, your agent should give you a clear marketing plan with a timeline, rather than going silent while they wait for buyers to find the listing themselves.

What an estate agent is responsible for in your sale

A registered estate agent's responsibilities cover the full transaction from valuation to transfer. This includes preparing a comparative market analysis to inform the asking price, advising on property presentation, managing professional photography, writing and placing the listing across property portals, marketing to their buyer database, qualifying enquiries, managing viewings, negotiating offers on your behalf, assisting through the suspensive condition period, and coordinating with the conveyancer through to Deeds Office registration.

Not every agent delivers on all of this to the same standard. The ones who treat the listing phase as the end of their work, rather than the beginning, tend to produce longer selling times and weaker offers. Knowing what you're entitled to expect helps you hold the right agents accountable and identify the wrong ones before you sign.

The criteria that predict agent performance

Years in the industry, office size, and brand name are poor predictors of how well an agent will perform on your specific property. The criteria that consistently count are:

• Recent suburb sales: An agent who has sold multiple properties in your suburb in the past six months understands your buyer pool, knows what comparable stock has achieved, and has a database of buyers already searching in your area.
• Accurate valuation: An agent who prices your property close to what comparable properties have transferred for, not padded to impress you at the valuation meeting.
• Specific marketing plan: An agent who can tell you exactly what they'll do, on which platforms, on what budget, within what timeframe, before you sign.
• Days on market track record: How long their listings typically take to sell relative to the suburb average tells you whether they're pricing correctly or listing high and grinding down.

Red flags to watch for when choosing an agent

Certain behaviours at the valuation meeting consistently signal an agent who will underperform. The highest valuation in the room is usually the most dangerous: an agent who inflates the asking price to win the mandate will recommend a price reduction within weeks once the listing attracts no serious interest. By that point, the property has accumulated days on market and buyers assume something is wrong with it.

Other warning signs: an agent who can't name a single comparable sale in your suburb from the past 90 days; one who opens the conversation with their commission rate rather than their track record; one who recommends an open mandate over a sole mandate without being able to explain why; and one who doesn't have a specific marketing plan ready before the meeting. These aren't minor oversights, they're predictors.

What the mandate should say before you sign it

The mandate agreement is a legal contract. Before you sign, confirm that it states the agreed asking price, the commission percentage and VAT, the mandate period (typically 90 days for a sole mandate), whether it's a sole or open mandate, and any conditions under which the mandate can be reviewed or cancelled. A mandate that's vague on any of these terms gives you less protection if the relationship goes wrong.

If performance benchmarks can be included, a minimum number of qualified viewings within the first four weeks, for example, they create a measurable standard that benefits both parties. Reputable agents are comfortable including them because they plan to hit them. Be cautious of an agent who resists any form of performance accountability in the mandate terms.

What to expect after you've signed

Once the mandate is signed, your agent should move quickly. Professional photography should be arranged within the first few days. The listing should go live on Property24 and Private Property before the end of the first week. You should receive regular communication: feedback after every viewing, a weekly summary of enquiry volumes and portal statistics, and an honest assessment if the response suggests a pricing conversation is needed.

If more than two weeks pass without a viewing from a qualified buyer, that's a signal, either pricing, marketing, or presentation needs addressing. A good agent raises this with you; they don't wait for you to notice and ask. The agent's job doesn't end when the listing goes live. It begins there.

The agent you appoint and the mandate you sign work together, and our guide to mandates and estate agents sets out the mandate types, commission structures, and agent obligations in full, so you walk into the valuation meeting knowing exactly what to ask.

Closing Reflection

The estate agent you choose shapes every element of your sale, the price you're advised to list at, the quality of marketing your property receives, the skill with which offers are negotiated, and the support you get from first showing to final transfer. Take the valuation meeting seriously, ask specific questions, and look for evidence of recent performance in your suburb rather than general promises. The right agent won't be the one who tells you what you want to hear.

Contact Golden Homes to speak with a registered estate agent who can show you their recent suburb sales, explain their marketing plan for your property, and give you an honest current market assessment.

Sellers evaluating estate agents tend to ask the same questions about commission, mandates, and what to expect. Here are the most useful answers.

Frequently asked questions

How do I know if an estate agent's valuation is accurate?

Ask the agent to show you the comparable sales their valuation is based on, specifically, the actual transfer prices from the Deeds Office for properties similar to yours that have sold in your suburb in the past 90 days. A valuation backed by real transaction data is a reliable starting point, while one that cannot be supported by comparable evidence is an opinion dressed up as a market assessment. If the three agents you have interviewed have given you three very different figures, ask each to justify theirs with specific recent sales, and pay attention to who can and who deflects. The agent who walks you through the comparables, explains how your home differs from each, and adjusts up or down accordingly is demonstrating exactly the skill you are hiring them for. Be especially wary of the highest number if it arrives without evidence, because an inflated valuation is the easiest way to win a mandate and the surest way to a stale listing and a later price cut.

Should I choose the agent who offers the lowest commission?

Not as your primary criterion. Commission is the fee you pay for the sale the agent produces, and the net sale price, what you receive after commission and costs, is what counts. An agent who charges 5% commission but achieves R100,000 below market value has cost you more than an agent who charges 7% and achieves full market value. The right question is not which agent is cheapest, but which agent will produce the best net outcome after their fee. A skilled negotiator with a strong buyer database frequently recovers several times their commission in the final price achieved and the terms secured. Commission negotiation is entirely legitimate, and you should discuss it, but let it follow the performance conversation rather than lead it. Decide first which agent will sell your home best, then talk about the fee. Choosing on price alone is how sellers end up paying a low percentage on a disappointing number, which is the most expensive outcome of all.

How many agents should I interview before choosing one?

Three is the generally recommended number. One interview gives you no comparison to work from. Two creates a binary choice that can be hard to evaluate objectively, because you have nothing to break the tie. Three gives you enough information to identify patterns: which valuations cluster together and which outlier is inflated, whose marketing plan is most specific, and whose suburb knowledge is most evident from the comparables they cite. More than three tends to produce diminishing returns and decision fatigue, and the extra meetings rarely change the conclusion you had already reached. Space the three interviews close together so the market information stays current and the comparisons are fair. Give each agent the same information about your property and the same questions, so you are comparing like with like rather than being swayed by presentation style. Once a clear front-runner emerges from three strong candidates, trust the evidence in front of you and appoint them.

What is the difference between a sole mandate and an open mandate?

A sole mandate gives one agent the exclusive right to market and sell your property for a fixed period, usually around 90 days. An open mandate allows multiple agents to list and show your property at the same time, with commission going to whichever one produces the successful buyer. Sole mandates typically outperform open mandates, because the appointed agent has full accountability and a strong incentive to invest in professional photography, portal advertising, and their own database, knowing they are the only one who can earn from the sale. Under an open mandate that incentive is diluted across every agent holding the listing, so none of them commits fully, and the property can appear on the portals several times at slightly different prices, which unsettles buyers. A sole mandate also gives you a single point of contact and one person to hold responsible. The trade-off is that you are tied to one agent for the period, which is why the choice of that agent is so important, and why the mandate should include a clear review or exit provision.

What can I do if my agent isn't performing after I've signed a mandate?

First, document the specific performance gaps: missed viewings, a lack of feedback, no visible marketing activity, and poor communication. Then request a meeting with the agent and their principal, the franchise or agency owner, to set out your expectations and agree a corrective plan with a specific timeline and measurable actions. Putting it in writing tends to focus attention quickly, because a reputable principal does not want a dissatisfied seller or a damaged reputation. If performance still does not improve and the mandate period is near its end, you can simply let it lapse and relist with a different agent. If you need to exit a sole mandate early, speak to your attorney first, because breaking it before expiry without agreement can expose you to commission liability even if the agent underperformed. In practice, most reputable agencies will release a seller from a mandate where the agent has genuinely failed to deliver, since forcing an unhappy client to stay rarely ends well for either side.