It is a fair question and one worth answering honestly. Using a letting agent costs money, and if you are weighing up whether the fee is justified, you deserve a straight answer rather than the obvious one from someone who has a financial interest in the outcome.

Choosing an estate agent is one of those decisions that is hard to evaluate properly until you are already in the middle of the process. You can read reviews, ask for recommendations, and sit through valuations, but you only really find out what working with someone is like once your home is on the market and the weeks start ticking by.

Most sellers have a clear picture of what they want from the moment their home goes on the market: good photos, on Rightmove, viewings booked. What is less clear is what should be happening in the weeks that follow, and what a genuinely good agent looks like once the initial excitement of launch has settled down.

Over the past 25 years, the average UK home has increased in value from £77,950 to £270,259. That is a gain of £192,309. Broken down, that works out at roughly £140 per week, created simply by owning a home.