Do You Know Who Your Estate Agent Really Is?

Date Published 18 May 2026

We're always being warned about scams these days - online, on the phone, even face to face at your own door. It seems there's always a danger of someone being something other than they appear to be.

When it involves a professional person that you're engaging to do a job for you, it really is important to know they're exactly who they say they are. It's especially true when it involves your finances and goes much further than risking falling for a conman or being caught up in some kind of fraud.

Whenever your money is involved it's essential to be confident that the person or firm you are dealing with are all above board. Adding your home or other property to the mix only makes doing your 'due diligence' properly even more fundamental.

Name on the board

It's a natural thing to feel a little bit cheated and embarrassed if you accept something on face value and then later find out things aren't quite what they seem.

For instance, many people prefer to use a smaller independent estate agent to sell their home rather than a big chain. There can be many reasons for this, including dealing with the same people throughout your sales path or avoiding tick box culture and the 'one size fits all' approach many big businesses force on their clients.

Being treated as an individual by real people who are experienced local experts really does make a difference when you are selling property.

So how would you feel if you found out that your agent was in fact part of a big chain and simply used branding to make themselves look like something else?

Changing faces

In a busy property market like ours there will of course be quite a few estate agents operating in the area. Often their different coloured 'for sale' boards become a familiar part of the local 'street furniture' over the years.

Choosing the right one to help you sell your home can be confusing. For instance, do you want to go with a large, well known national chain or a smaller, more locally focused team of experienced experts?

To make thing even harder sometimes it's hard to tell the difference, as some estate agencies that are owned by large 'acquisitions' companies present themselves as being something quite different.

What is that difference?

An agency that is simply a brand name of a huge national parent company will have 'ways of doing things' imposed from above. Often this corporate tick-box culture has more to do with making things easy for them than it does for you!

It's a world away from an independent, owner-led local business whose interests always align with your own - to sell your property at the best price, to the best potential buyer, in the best time frame possible.

Of course there are many other advantages that an agency like ours offers too - a stable team that means you always get to speak to the same people, plus of course having the benefits that a truly locally based team of experts bring to the table too.

Find out more, we're here for you however you'd like to get in touch - call me personally on 01903 501105, email us or pop into the office at 325-329 Goring Road, Goring by Sea BN12 4NX for a chat in person.