Looking to enjoy 'a fine homance'?

As we head towards Valentine’s Day, KATHERINE SINGLETON of Dudley Singleton & Daughter in Pangbourne offers some timely estate agent matchmaking advice

HARD as it might be to believe good estate agents can be perfect sweethearts.

It is always best to have someone by your side who values you, who will fight for you, who won’t argue (much), who will only hang around your house when you want them to, and always has your best interests at heart.

Such a person may not make such a bad partner.

Of course there are good partners and bad partners. Selling property well rests heavily on the partnership built up between seller and estate agent.

A good agent will lovingly put you and your property on a pedestal and then expertly and fiercely negotiate to achieve the best deal for you.

On the other hand, a lesser agent may just put your property on the internet with all their others and then haggle to find the easiest deal — easiest for them.

There’s nothing good about a selfish Valentine and there’s a great difference between the two — often many thousands of pounds in the final price you achieve.

You could come to love the former but hate the latter. The trick is finding the right Valentine agent at the outset.

It’s a bit like finding the best boyfriend or girlfriend. They may look roughly the same at first but over time they all act very differently.

So if you are searching for the type of estate agent you could come to love this spring, go on a few dates — invite a few round to give you some marketing advice and see how you get on.

Then ask yourself which you would prefer — the cheap flashy one who brags a lot or the one with whom you feel most comfortable, the one with a background of stable and successful relationships — the one you would most like to introduce to your parents.