Estate Agent fees - Does this sound expensive?

underlay_guru

Hi,

We are selling our house in the North of England. A local independent estate agent has quoted us:

- A flat fee of: £1600 + vat on completion of sale;
- £575 + vat for HIP (for leasehold apartment), turned round in 10 days.

The property was valued at £85k. I thought the fees would be around 1% of agreed sale price. Have I been quoted over the odds?

chickmug

I am sure you will gets others say you should haggle them down towards 1%. As an retired agent I am afraid that this would of been my level of fee as would of been many other agents I know. Some argue - why is there same percentage applied for dearer houses when there is little more work to be done - which I agree with but on the other end of the argument there are still many fixed costs to the agent whether the selling price is £85k or £485k. Often the lower priced houses can take more time re survey problems and there can still be chains as not always a FTB but those trading down.

But good luck you must try.

alexlyne

My quotes from the EAs have been similar to yours... same price property value, quotes of 1750 and 2300 (+vat).

A lot of people on this forum have said you should pay about 1.5% fees, and you can try and haggle with the EA, but I reckon it'll be tough as they will all know their competitors prices. Every area is different.

princessamy86

I'm an EA in the north west, and that's only very slightly higher than what I would have quoted you. We charge around 1.75% as a top rate fee-this is negotiable but not below 1.5%! You can try and ask them if they will reduce slightly, or maybe agree a % of selling price instead but no, it doesn't look unreasonable to me. Did you get 3 agents out to see how they all compared to each other? The independent might just be the best one when you compare fees and services, then again they might not and it's best to compare. If you are impressed with the independent and want to use them then tell them-but ask politely if they will reduce fee as it is the only barrier to you using them.

lyndasharp

We're selling a flat in Wiltshire, on the market for £82k. We had 4 estate agents out - their fees varied between £2750 plus VAT down to £750 plus VAT. Interestingly, the £750 was with Halifax who halved their fees from their initial quote. Still didn't go with them despite that - we went for one that had slightly higher fees (not the £2750 though), but the agent seemed like a better salesman!

The HIP seems very pricy. Ours came from hips4u online, they charged under £200.

cattie

Don't forget to add vat to the fee as lot's of people forget this addition, thus get a nasty shock when they realise it needs to be added on.

hostiegirl

lyndasharp wrote: »

We're selling a flat in Wiltshire, on the market for £82k. We had 4 estate agents out - their fees varied between £2750 plus VAT down to £750 plus VAT. Interestingly, the £750 was with Halifax who halved their fees from their initial quote. Still didn't go with them despite that - we went for one that had slightly higher fees (not the £2750 though), but the agent seemed like a better salesman!

The HIP seems very pricy. Ours came from hips4u online, they charged under £200.

Me To (Wiltshire) and all the good agents fees are high! 3% is normal here. I personally dont believe in flat rates as the agent has no incentive to get you a better price as get paid the same either way. I do think the OP hip pack sounds very over priced for a flat. We paid £250 for a 2 bed house. Unless higher prices for flats that are leasehold???

princessamy86

Yes, HIPs cost more for leasehold as there is more work that needs to be done.