In this blog
- What does "finding a buyer" mean?
- Why does this number matter more than how fast homes sell?
- Why do so many homes not sell?
- How do we get that result?
We're an independent, owner-led agent across Berkshire, Wiltshire and Oxfordshire, and across our branches, 82% of the homes we put on the market find a buyer. Other agents across the area manage 56%. That figure holds across the towns we cover, earned by local teams, never a national average dressed up to look local. Same towns, same buyers, a very different result for you.
It's the one number worth asking any agent for, because it shows whether they can do the job you're hiring them for: getting your home to a buyer. And most would rather you didn't ask.
Nearly everything else about your sale, the price you achieve, how your home is presented, whether it sells at all, comes down to who you hand it to. It's the most important choice in the process, and the one most sellers spend the least time on. So it's worth judging on proof, not a pitch.
What "finding a buyer" really means
When we say a home finds a buyer, we mean a real offer, accepted, a sale agreed. Not a board in the ground, not a warm chat at the valuation. Words like "interested," "under offer" and "sold" can mean very different things, so we're careful to be clear about ours. When we say 82%, we mean a sale agreed, nothing softer.
Why this number matters more than how fast homes sell
When you're choosing an agent, it's tempting to look at how quickly homes are selling in your area. But that figure has a catch: it's worked out only from homes that actually sold. The ones that sat on the market for months and were taken off unsold aren't counted at all.
So "how fast homes sell" only tells you about the homes that made it. It says nothing about how many didn't sell in the first place.
The find-a-buyer rate is different. It counts every home an agent takes on, sold or not, so it tells you the thing you actually want to know: how likely is your home to sell at all? And the answer is sobering. With a typical agent, close to half of homes never find a buyer. With us, it's around four in five.
Why so many homes don't sell
Close to half of homes never finding a buyer sounds unlikely, and most sellers assume it couldn't be them. But it's rarely the home itself. Homes usually fail to sell for one of three avoidable reasons, and every one of them comes down to the agent.
The most common is overpricing at the start. An agent quotes a tempting figure to win the instruction, the home launches too high, and by the time the price is corrected it looks stale, and buyers are wary. The best weeks were spent at the wrong price.
Then there's weak presentation, poor photos and a flat description that get scrolled past in the first few days, when attention is highest. And there's poor follow-up: enquiries not chased, viewings not fed back, offers not nurtured, a chain left to drift until it falls apart. Often the buyer was there all along. They were just allowed to slip away.
None of that is about the market or the house. It's about how the home is priced, presented and handled, which is exactly why the agent you choose makes the difference.
Why we get that result, and it isn't luck
It comes down to three things we've done the same way for years. We price your home honestly, to sell, not to flatter you into instructing us. We present it properly from the first day it goes live, because that's when it gets the most attention. And we stay close to every buyer and hold your chain together until the deal is done, a real local person who knows your sale, not a call centre. A board going up isn't the finish line. Your buyer is.
Before you choose
Choosing an agent is a decision every seller has to make. The only question is whether you make it on a pitch, or on proof. So ask each agent the same question: of the homes you put on the market, how many actually find a buyer? If they can show you, and it's a good number, listen. If they can't, you have your answer.
When you're ready, book a valuation with your local team. We'll give you an honest price, show you the local proof behind our figure, and explain what it means for your home. No fuss, no spin, no pressure.