Not the estate agent who names the highest figure. Not the agent with the most signs. The agent who sells your type of home to your type of buyer. How to find them, and which questions to ask.
The short answer. Choose an estate agent based on what they have sold in your neighbourhood and in your price range, not on the figure they name at your kitchen table. Ask about three recently sold homes similar to yours. Ask what the asking price was and what they actually sold for. Ask how long they were on the market.
Anyone who cannot answer those questions readily does not sell homes like yours often enough to be good at it.
There is one peculiarity about choosing an estate agent that skews the whole process: the agent who wants the assignment and the agent who will sell your home best are not necessarily the same. In fact, they behave in exactly opposite ways at the kitchen table.
The first names a high figure. That is nice to hear. The second names a realistic figure and explains why. That is less nice to hear. Guess who gets the assignment more often.
We are estate agents in Helmond and Eindhoven ourselves, so we are one of the agencies you can choose from. That is precisely why we set out here what to look out for, including the things estate agents would rather not mention. Hold us to exactly the same standard.
Most comparison sites rank estate agents side by side on fees and on the number of homes sold. Neither says much. Below is what does count, in order of importance.
An estate agent who has sold fifty apartments in the city centre knows little about a detached house in Stiphout. The buyer is different, the story is different, the network is different. Ask about three comparable homes, not the total.
The estate agent who names the lowest figure is not automatically the best. The agent who can explain how they arrived at that figure is. Dig deeper: which comparable properties, which adjustments, what range.
At larger agencies the director comes for the initial meeting and an assistant does the viewings. That need not be a problem, but you should know. Ask who will actually be standing in your home when a buyer comes in.
A buyer who calls on a Saturday afternoon and gets no answer will not call again. This sounds trivial, and it is not.
Look at the homes they currently have on Funda. Are the photos good? Are the descriptions accurate? Are floor plans included? That is exactly what your home will get.
You will be working with this person for months, in a period that is often more stressful than expected. If you do not trust someone at the first meeting, you will not trust them later when something important is at stake.
Deliberately at the bottom. Saving a thousand euros on the commission while leaving ten thousand on the table in the negotiation is no saving. Fees only count once everything else is equal.
Take this list with you to the meeting. Not to be difficult, but because the answers tell you more than the entire sales pitch.
| The question | What to look out for |
|---|---|
| 1. Which three homes like mine have you sold in this neighbourhood in the past year? | Does the answer come readily? Or do they have to search? Then your home is not routine for them |
| 2. What was the asking price and what did they sell for? | Consistently selling below the asking price means pricing too high. Consistently selling far above it can also mean pricing too low |
| 3. How long were they on the market? | The most honest figure there is. Ask about the time on the market for those homes, not the agency average |
| 4. Which comparable properties do you base your valuation on? | A concrete answer with addresses. No concrete answer means no substantiation |
| 5. Who does the viewings? | If that is someone other than the person in front of you: ask whether you can speak to them |
| 6. What exactly is included in the commission and what comes on top? | Photography, floor plans, measurement report, start-up costs, withdrawal costs. On paper, not verbally |
| 7. What happens if I have no offer after eight weeks? | A good estate agent has a plan for this. A mediocre one says it will all be fine |
We advised a seller in Rijpelberg to put these questions to three agencies. Agency one answered them all within ten minutes, with addresses. Agency two said it would all be fine. Agency three named a figure €25,000 higher than the other two and did not go into the questions any further.
It is no coincidence which agency ended up selling the home quickly.
Guide prices for this region in 2026. They vary by agency and by property, but the order of magnitude is right.
| Model | Costs | How it works | When it suits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Commission | 1 to 1.5% excl. VAT | Percentage of the sale price, only if sold | The usual model. Interests are aligned: the agent earns more if you get more |
| Fixed fee | €2,500 to €5,000 | Amount agreed in advance, regardless of the sale price | Sometimes advantageous for expensive homes. Drawback: no incentive to get more out of it |
| Online estate agent | €500 to €1,500 | You do the viewings yourself, they handle Funda and the paperwork | Only if you are a good negotiator and know the market |
| No cure no pay | Often a higher commission | Only pay if sold | Sounds attractive. Already the standard with commission. Watch out for hidden costs |
For a €400,000 home you therefore pay roughly €4,000 to €6,000 in commission excluding VAT, so about €4,800 to €7,300 including VAT. On top of that come the energy label and usually a measurement report.
What you need to watch out for are the items that are not included. Start-up costs. Withdrawal costs if you stop. Advertising costs. Photography. Ask for one all-inclusive amount, and ask for it on paper.
Estate agent A charges 1.2%, agent B charges 1.5%. On €400,000 that is a €1,200 difference. If agent B sells your home for €408,000 and agent A for €400,000, then B is €6,800 better off for you, net. The difference between good and mediocre negotiating is almost always bigger than the difference in commission.
Three models that do different things. None of the three is always the best, and that is exactly why there is no one-size-fits-all advice.
Cheap; you do the viewings and the negotiating yourself. Works if your home sells itself in a tight market and you are in a strong position yourself. Does not work when things get tense, and that is exactly when you need someone.
For the self-reliant sellerBrand recognition, lots of signs, plenty of staff. Drawback: your home is one of a hundred. The director comes for the initial meeting, an employee does the rest. Your urgency is not their urgency.
For standard homesKnows the neighbourhood, knows the buyers, has fewer homes and therefore more attention per home. Drawback: smaller network, less visibility. Advantage: when you call, they pick up.
For most sellersThe misconception about large agencies: people think brand recognition brings in buyers. That was true when the newspaper was the channel. Now everyone searches on Funda, and there all estate agents are the same size. What remains is attention, and at a small agency that is by definition greater.
The misconception about online estate agents: people think they are saving the commission (courtage). That holds true until the moment there are two interested buyers and you have to decide for yourself how to handle it. That one decision costs or earns you more than the entire commission.
We are the last people who can be objective about this, so we have set it out here as neutrally as possible. Selling your home yourself is possible. It happens. Sometimes it goes well.
| Selling yourself | Through an estate agent | |
|---|---|---|
| Costs | Around €500 (Funda via an intermediary) | €4,000 to €7,000 |
| Time | A lot. Expect 40 to 60 hours | Limited |
| Setting the asking price | Your own estimate | Backed up with comparable sales |
| Negotiating | You, about your own home, with emotion | Someone without emotion |
| Legal risk | Entirely with you | Largely covered |
| With several interested buyers | You decide the process yourself | Routine |
| Risk of hidden defects | You fill in the questionnaire on your own | Someone checks it with you |
When selling yourself can be sensible: you are selling to someone you already know, your child for example, or the neighbour who has wanted it for years. Then there is no market and no negotiation, only paperwork. In that case, bring in a notary and save the commission.
When it is unwise: when you have to go to the open market. Not because you cannot do it, but because you do not know what you do not know. The asking price, the process with multiple bidders, the clauses in the purchase agreement (koopovereenkomst) and the questionnaire are each moments where a mistake costs more than the commission.
Someone sells their home themselves, gets the asking price within a week and is happy. Rightly so, they think. But getting the asking price within a week almost always means the asking price was too low. They will never know what was possible, and that is exactly the problem: you cannot see what you are missing out on.
Two different roles with opposing interests. They must not be the same person in the same transaction, and where that does happen, you need to be careful.
| Selling agent | Buying agent | |
|---|---|---|
| Works for | The seller | The buyer |
| Goal | Highest price, best terms | Lowest price, best terms |
| Costs | 1 to 1.5% of the sale price | €2,500 to €5,000, often a fixed fee |
| Who pays | The seller | The buyer |
| Negotiates | Upwards | Downwards |
Where it goes wrong: at a viewing, the selling agent stands beside you. They are friendly, they tell you about the neighbourhood, they seem helpful. And they are. Just not for you. They work for the seller, and their fee rises with the price you pay.
That is not a criticism, that is their job. The problem is that buyers forget this because the conversation is pleasant.
Short answer: yes, but not in the way the trade associations suggest.
The three associations offer roughly the same: a code of conduct, a complaints procedure, a disciplinary board and compulsory continuing training. This means an affiliated estate agent can be held accountable for their actions. If something goes wrong, there is somewhere to turn. With an agent who is not affiliated, you have to rely on the ordinary courts, and that is a considerably longer and more expensive route.
What it is not: a guarantee that someone is good at their job. Membership says something about the framework around them, not about the person who will be selling your home. The seven questions above tell you more about that than any logo.
NVM is by far the largest and has its own transaction data from sales by its members. That is a real advantage in a valuation: it works with actual sale prices rather than estimates. VBO and VastgoedPRO use other sources that are useful, but less detailed.
With a standard home in a neighbourhood with plenty of comparable properties, you will notice little of this. With a home that is harder to compare, you will notice it.
Always ask whether the agency is affiliated with a trade association. An agency without a code of conduct and without a complaints procedure above it leaves you with nowhere to turn if something goes wrong. Ask us this too, because the same rule applies to every agency you sit down with.
None of these signs on its own means someone is not trustworthy. Two or more together do.
The most important sign is at the top. An estate agent who comes in €25,000 above the rest without backing it up is not doing so because they see something the others miss. They do it because it works. You sign, and eight weeks later the conversation about lowering the price begins. Only by then you are no longer a client who can walk away, but someone with a home that has been on the market for two months.
What you sign is called the service agreement (opdracht tot dienstverlening). Read it. Here are four points that should be in it and that you need to know beforehand.
| Point | What to look out for |
|---|---|
| Term | Often six months. Ask for three with an extension, or for the right to cancel |
| Exclusivity | Usually exclusive. That is reasonable, but it means you are tied in if things are not moving |
| Withdrawal fees | Some agencies charge hundreds of euros if you stop. Ask about it before you sign |
| Commission if you find a buyer yourself | If you find a buyer yourself, do you still pay? This is often included |
Switching estate agents during the sale is possible, but it usually costs money and it always costs time. Your home comes off Funda and goes back on, which seems to reset the clock. Seems, because buyers who have already looked will simply recognise it.
If you want to switch, do it early or not at all. Switching after ten weeks does not solve the problem of those ten weeks.
Expect a commission of 1 to 1.5% excluding VAT. On a home worth €400,000, that is €4,000 to €6,000 excluding VAT, so around €4,800 to €7,300 including VAT. Always ask what is included and what comes on top: start-up costs, photography, a measurement report and withdrawal fees are not always included.
No. A high figure at the kitchen table is often a sales pitch, not advice. You only notice the difference after eight weeks without an offer, and by then it has become your problem. Always ask which comparable properties the figure is based on.
Membership of NVM, VBO or VastgoedPRO means there is a code of conduct, a disciplinary board and a complaints procedure. If something goes wrong, there is somewhere to turn. That is real value, but it is no guarantee that someone is good at their job. NVM also has its own transaction data, which helps with a valuation. So always ask about it.
Yes. Sensible if you are selling to someone you already know, because then there is no market and no negotiation. Unwise if you have to go to the open market: the asking price, the process with multiple bidders and the purchase agreement are moments where a mistake costs more than the commission.
The selling agent works for the seller and wants the highest price. The buying agent works for the buyer and wants the lowest. At a viewing, the selling agent stands beside you, friendly and helpful, but they do not work for you.
Usually, yes, but check the service agreement for its term and withdrawal fees. Switching costs time and your home goes back on Funda. Do it early or not at all: switching after ten weeks does not solve the problem of those ten weeks.
Only if you are a good negotiator and know the market. You save the commission, but you do the viewings and the negotiating yourself. As soon as there are two interested buyers, that one decision costs or earns more than the entire saving.
Three is enough. More gives you no extra information, only more meetings. Ask all three the same seven questions. The differences in the answers tell you more than the differences in the figures.
We do not need to tell you anything flattering at your kitchen table. What we do instead: after twenty years and hundreds of sales in this region, we know exactly how your type of home is sold to your type of buyer, and that is exactly what we will do for you.
It costs you nothing and commits you to nothing. And if the answer is that you are better off selling yourself, we will tell you that too.
Request a free valuation or arrange a no-obligation introductory meeting. We will give you an honest account of what your home is worth and what it will take to sell it.
Your language. We speak English, German and French. Write to us in Polish by WhatsApp and we reply in Polish.
No surprises in the contract. The purchase agreement is in Dutch and comes with an English translation, so you understand every clause.
Selling from abroad. We guide the whole sale remotely and arrange the paperwork with the notary.
