The tricks estate agents use to sell your home in a slow market
The Telegraph (Esther Shaw)
Published 12 September 2026 12:00pm BST
In this sluggish buyers’ market, estate agents are being forced to think a little more creatively about how they attract attention, generate viewings and ultimately get deals over the line.
Sellers in some parts of the UK are taking 60 days or longer to find a buyer, according to research from property portal Zoopla, during which time their property can quickly start looking stale and unappealing.
With the few serious buyers out there spoilt for choice, and making the most of a powerful negotiating position, agents are finding they are having to change tactics.
To find out what they are, we spoke to a host of estate agents from across the country (both on and off the record) to hear their “trade secrets” – and what you can learn from them.
Finding the right price
When there’s a lot of competition, pricing low – or at least appearing to price low – is a key way to catch the attention of price-conscious buyers.
“We often use ‘guide prices’ or ‘offers in excess of’ price qualifiers, positioned slightly lower than the perceived market value,” said Brad Stanton, co-founder and director of Essex-based estate agency Stanton Hockett. This is with an aim to “lure in lots of early interest – and to make a property seem very good value. We will then push all of the buyers up to pay more than price by creating urgency and stimulating competition”.
Opting for a lower price can also make your property more visible on searches, according to Veronica Frankish, chief executive of online agent Yopa. “We play around with asking-price brackets. Buyers tend to search portals using round-number limits, so pricing a home at £500,000 – rather than just above it – can put it in front of an entirely different pool of people. Sometimes a relatively small adjustment materially increases the number of searches in which a property appears.”
While many sellers will be tempted to opt for the agent that claims they can sell their property for the highest price, it’s worth keeping these tactics in mind. A quicker successful sale can end up being far more valuable than a drawn-out period with few viewings, when that optimistic asking price eventually has to be reduced anyway.
Mind your language
Price isn’t all that matters. Descriptions do, too. Where fixer-uppers were once sought-after by property flippers, today’s market isn’t so suited to this business model.
“Language has become much more important,” said Ms Frankish. “Buyers are increasingly conscious of the cost and hassle of doing work, so descriptions such as ‘renovation opportunity’ or ‘scope to put your own stamp on it’ can sometimes do more harm than good. If a property is genuinely ready to live in, we will emphasise that instead.”
Agents can change this up at any time, guided by how much interest your property’s listing has.
“As an estate agent, you have access to the number of ‘eyes’ looking at a property online via the portals. You can use this to gauge reaction to price and presentation, how this compares with similar properties available – and whether some adjustment is necessary,” said Jeremy Leaf, north London estate agent and former Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors residential chairman.
So, even if you’re convinced your old family home would be best suited to another young family, it could pay to remain open-minded if your agent suggests it would do better as, say, an investment for a landlord instead.
The three types of home seller – and how to negotiate with each - Read more
Let AI do the tidying
Despite your best efforts to de-clutter, unsightly items can still make their way into property photos. But estate agents can take care of this.
“We use AI to help polish our photographs and to tidy up properties, to ensure the place looks immaculate when people are browsing on the online portals,” said Mr Stanton.
Bear this in mind when you’re getting ready for viewings, and try to keep the place as tidy as the listing photos.
Some agents will go one further, using CGI to maximise the impact of their listing photos.
“We spend a lot of time using every tool in the estate agent toolkit to help make the photos look striking – so as to maximise buyer enquiries. Of course, we’d get a slap on the wrist if we obliterated a cement factory or deleted a motorway, but we do all we legitimately can to make the property look sexy, shiny and good value,” said Sam Gibson, head of residential sales for north of England estate agency Galbraith.
“We might, for example, ask AI to conjure up an image for a Georgian-style farmhouse we’re selling, where the existing plastic frames are replaced with traditional timber sash windows. A CGI image is simply about showing a potential buyer what they might be able to do with the property.”
Viewing tactics
Once a potential buyer has been suitably enticed by a listing to actually come and view the property, an estate agent’s work really begins.
First things first: the best bits: “Agents absolutely think about the order in which they show you around a property. If there’s a fantastic kitchen, garden or view, you want the buyer to experience that early, before you get the compromised third bedroom or the slightly awkward bathroom,” said one agent, who wished to remain anonymous.
“The aim is to get the buyer emotionally invested first. Once someone has fallen for the kitchen, or can already imagine their children playing in the garden, they’re far more likely to weigh up the compromises with their heart, rather than their head.”
Potential buyers might want to be aware that this is also an opportunity for an agent to establish your budget – without you even realising.
“You can work out somebody’s real ceiling without ever asking them directly what their maximum budget is,” explained our anonymous agent. “Ask what else they’ve viewed, what they offered on another property, whether they lost out on anything recently, how much work they were prepared to do elsewhere – and what their mortgage position looks like.
“Piece those answers together and you usually have a pretty good idea of where the limit sits.”
The next step is creating a sense of competition. “We’ll deliberately try to bunch viewings together where we can. If three buyers arrive within an hour of each other, nobody has to be told there is competition because they can see it for themselves,” says Marc von Grundherr, director of London-based firm Benham and Reeves.
“That can change the psychology of a viewing completely and often produces a much quicker decision than a buyer wandering around an empty property with no sense of urgency.”
Five steps to sell your home in a very crowded market - Read more
Stopping a sale going stale
In a tricky market, even the best tactics can mean a property still hangs around longer than any seller, or agent, would like. The key is knowing when, and how, to freshen things up.
“Another trade secret is knowing when to effectively relaunch a home. If something has been sitting around for weeks, simply knocking £10,000 off – and leaving the same photographs and description in place – can make it look stale,” said Mr von Grundherr.
“Sometimes you are better off changing the imagery, rewriting the advert, adjusting the price position, and presenting it back to the market as a fresh proposition.”
It can also be worth timing an initial listing, or a refresh, for certain times of the year. “I recommend listing in August or January when competition is lower. Fewer properties on the market means more visibility; you don’t want to be one of 10 homes competing for five buyers,” said Amy Reynolds, head of sales at Richmond estate agency Antony Roberts.
Seven home-staging tips to help your property sell faster - Read more
The art of negotiation
The final step in getting an acceptable offer from a buyer lies in an agent’s talent for negotiation – something buyers should prepare themselves for.
According to our anonymous agent, often less is more: “Silence is one of the oldest tricks in negotiation. A buyer makes an offer and inexperienced agents can be tempted to immediately fill the gap by saying: ‘I think the seller might take X.’
“A good negotiator will often just stay quiet. People are surprisingly uncomfortable with silence, and quite often the buyer starts improving or qualifying their own offer without being asked