Estate agent fees

[Goochie]

I think this has been asked before ut the search facility is broken so I have to ask again...........

What is the going rate for estate agent fees these days? We have a property to sell at around £115k and one local independant agent wanted 1.25% whilst the other (Bairstow eves) wanted a flat fee of £3k!

Both of them advertise on all the big online sites, both have big shop fronts in the same town.

[Muzzer]

We're paying 1.5%

Most agents round our way asked a flat fee of £2k.

[sjj84]

I had four agents come round to value mine (140k) and three quoted 1.5% and one at 1.4%. I ended up knocking the last down to 1.25%. Still haven't sold it though, maybe cheapest isn't best.

[mattman]

never paid more than 1% in each of our 5 moves - if they want the business, they will come

[Murph7355]

Sub 1.5% for sole agent is feasible enough.

It's key that you get a good vibe from the agent though IMO.

- decent assessment of value with proper rationale.
- prove to you that they've sold similar properties recently.
- not full of the usual bull st that agents are full of.

Oh, and two of my own little caveats

- NOT Foxtons
- NOT Barnard Marcus

Spend some time talking to the individuals who'll be on your property.

Once you've decided who's exhibiting the least muppetry, you can then negotiate rates. But as mentioned above, cheapest is not necessarily best.

[Martyn-123]

Have a agent come round to give a free valuation and then wait for another house in your street to have a "Ford Sale" board with a local agent and then get your own made up with your mobile numner for about a tenner from a local printing co and wait for the passing trade.

I did it and saved me a couple of grand or so, Result !!!

[bonsai]

Martyn-123 said:

Have a agent come round to give a free valuation and then wait for another house in your street to have a "Ford Sale" board with a local agent and then get your own made up with your mobile numner for about a tenner from a local printing co and wait for the passing trade.

I did it and saved me a couple of grand or so, Result !!!

Did this actually happen?

[zcacogp]

Can't speak for Martyn, but we bought our current house from a hand-made 'For Sale' sign in the front window. We were walking past, saw it, were looking for a house in the area and noted down the telephone number.

The rest, as they say, is history.


Oli.

[Yelly]

bonsai said:

Martyn-123 said:

Have a agent come round to give a free valuation and then wait for another house in your street to have a "Ford Sale" board with a local agent and then get your own made up with your mobile numner for about a tenner from a local printing co and wait for the passing trade.

I did it and saved me a couple of grand or so, Result !!!

Did this actually happen?

It did. The house didn't sell, but the Mondeo did.

[KenBlocksPants]

Our estate agent was charging a flat fee of £1600 + VAT.

We sold to a family friend and just had to pay a cancelation fee of £300 instead.

[Zippee]

We've just sold our house for 185k and got a rate of 1.25% from one of the decent agents in town - down from 1.5%.

[Dan_The_Man]

We just bought and sold in the last 10 weeks, we did get one agent down to .95% but used this to get 1% with a bigger agent who sold our pad in approx 24 hours. You really have to haggle like a demon, take no prisoners, they all want your percentage !

[Guffy]

In my experience the thievin gypsies add little value to the sale of yer average 3 bed semi, especially up here where every man and his dog uses the web based property service (ASPC.co.uk). It only costs a few hundred squid, plus some nice piccies and the usual Estate Agent Blurb/brochures... should all be less than a grand, yet they want another 1% for feck all... come the revolution they'll go on the same pyre as planning control officers, scamera vans and telesales vultures.

Edited by Guffy on Wednesday 23 June 07:18

[Yelly]

Guffy said:

In my experience the thievin gypsies add little value to the sale of yer average 3 bed semi, especially up here where every man and his dog uses the web based property service (ASPC.com). It only costs a few hundred squid, plus some nice piccies and the usual Estate Agent Blurb/brochures... should all be less than a grand, yet they want another 1% for feck all... come the revolution they'll go on the same pyre as planning control officers, scamera vans and telesales vultures.

I'm confused; that link doesn't seem to go to anything useful???

[Guffy]

Yelly said:

Guffy said:

In my experience the thievin gypsies add little value to the sale of yer average 3 bed semi, especially up here where every man and his dog uses the web based property service (ASPC.com). It only costs a few hundred squid, plus some nice piccies and the usual Estate Agent Blurb/brochures... should all be less than a grand, yet they want another 1% for feck all... come the revolution they'll go on the same pyre as planning control officers, scamera vans and telesales vultures.

I'm confused; that link doesn't seem to go to anything useful???

Oops, .co.uk not .com! It covers Aberderdeenshire, so nae much use if you're in englandshire It's a central website that all the estate agents/solictors use, so a one-stop-shop. I'm sure there must be similar websites across the UK.

[Dr_Rick]

Different ways of doing things. We sold on the basis of a sliding scale of fees; performance related pay. Settled in the end on 0.9%+VAT. This was for a top estimate price.

His range was 0.7% for below Offers Over price, 0.8% for Offers Over price to a bit more, and 0.9% for a 'good price. We were advertising for 4 weeks, had around 20 viewings and came out with 5 offers.

Dr Rick

[Goochie]

Dr_Rick said:

Different ways of doing things. We sold on the basis of a sliding scale of fees; performance related pay. Settled in the end on 0.9%+VAT. This was for a top estimate price.

His range was 0.7% for below Offers Over price, 0.8% for Offers Over price to a bit more, and 0.9% for a 'good price. We were advertising for 4 weeks, had around 20 viewings and came out with 5 offers.

Dr Rick

I have thought about suggesting a sliding scale to try and encourage them to work harder for the money.

I think Scotland's system works differently though with people putting in formal offers from which theseller can chose - is that right?

[Dr_Rick]

Goochie said:

Dr_Rick said:

Different ways of doing things. We sold on the basis of a sliding scale of fees; performance related pay. Settled in the end on 0.9%+VAT. This was for a top estimate price.

His range was 0.7% for below Offers Over price, 0.8% for Offers Over price to a bit more, and 0.9% for a 'good price. We were advertising for 4 weeks, had around 20 viewings and came out with 5 offers.

Dr Rick

I have thought about suggesting a sliding scale to try and encourage them to work harder for the money.

I think Scotland's system works differently though with people putting in formal offers from which theseller can chose - is that right?

Process we followed was as follows:
Put house on market.
Agent does viewings.
'Notes of Interest' put in by interested viewers. Enough notes of interest or an indication from the EA that now would be a good time to close.
Set closing date, at which point EA notifies all those on his list.
First and final offers are submitted by 12pm on the day of reckoning. No negotiation, don't have to accept any offers, but the response to selecting one was made that day, actually within 2hrs in our case. The offer stipulates what inclusions the buyer would want. This area is negotiable. Our purchaser wanted two chairs in the hall and my DVD surround sound system, over and above the typical curtains and light fittings stuff. In this case I told him the chairs and DVD were not his.
Wait for Missives to be concluded and then wait for the exchange date.

Simple really.

Dr Rick