Today there’s a bewildering choice of estate agency services with which to sell your property. There are offline agents as well as online agents (the pros and cons of which we won’t delve into here) and estate agents which are a hybrid of both.

All this means that it’s more complicated than ever to find the best estate agent to sell your property

So how should you go about finding, and choosing, the very best estate agent?

At the end of the day it’s not as complicated as it might seem. Here’s a suggested method which I think you might find useful:

* First, search online to find all the estate agents who sell property in your area, whether online or offline.

Because this is what the person who eventually buys your house will do.

* Now go to the main property portals, like Zoopla, Rightmove and On The Market and search for agents who sell property in your area.

Because this is very likely what your buyer will do.

* Now go to those estate agents’ websites. Do they have similar properties for sale, in a similar price range, to the one you are going to be selling?

Because this is more or less what your buyer will do. And if that agent doesn’t have the kind of properties they are looking for, in their price range, chances are they won’t go any further with that agent.

* Now make a few simple checks. Are the agent’s listings thorough and well prepared. In other words, if you were looking to buy these properties, would you be tempted to view any of them?

Because, again, this is what the buyer will do.

* Next call or call in to discuss your proposed house sale. Does that agent seem knowledgeable? Do they seem interested? Do they seem like the sort of business you’d actually want to do business with, or not?

Because that’s what your buyer will probably be doing too.

* Finally once you’ve decided to sell drop your chosen agent an email. Or call them, and ask them to call you back.

Because this is exactly what your buyer will do. And if they don’t reply, chances are the buyer won’t ever call them back again. And so that buyer will never be in a position to buy your house.

In simple terms the best way to find the best estate agent to sell your house is to find the agent who offers the best service to the buyer, not necessarily the seller.