Negotiating Agent Fees

princeofpounds

You should also consider the tactic of negotiating services as well as fees. For instance, if you lower your favoured agent a bit, give into their haggling position but ask them to give you window space, or extra press advertising or something along those lines.

Fire_Fox

dodgy wrote: »

I bought my house for 135k, so 2% is £2700
Now my house is worth 225k, so 2% is £4500

Have I had a pay rise? Certainly. Was it 40% in the period I'm talking about? Nowhere near.

I understand the principle you are putting forward, however it does seem that deals are there to be done. At the end of the day, 1.5% of something is a lot more than 2% of nothing and I think that's the basis people in a tough market should be working on. I just don't feel like being generous beyond the norm to estate agents through these hard times which are equally hard for me.

Many thanks to the other poster for their links.

So you have made £90K on your purchase price? Of which the estate agent would like £4.5K for extracting that £90K from a willing victim.

By all means negotiate a cheaper price. But when the estate agent is looking for houses to feature in their newspaper ads, don't expect yours to be one of the few allowed more space.

dodgy

Fire_Fox wrote: »

So you have made £90K on your purchase price? Of which the estate agent would like £4.5K for extracting that £90K from a willing victim.

Not wanting to state the obvious, but the house we are purchasing hasn't magically missed out on a similar price rise.

One thing that has become apparent is that this forum is frequented by a bunch of estate agents ...

treacle32_2

Hi,
We drove a hard bargain basically have saved approx £500 in negotiating with our chosen EA. They had 3 viewings lined up even before it went to print/website, i have a lovely brochure, even went back out and re took photos as we were'nt happy. Its a sorry state of affairs if SOME EA are only half heartidly selling peoples property because they have THEMSELVES agreed to a lower negotiated figure. Certainly where i am, most EA want money up front for advertising costs which we were more than happy to do, so why would some NOT give a good service and advertise??. I would name and shame if i thought that was happening to me!!!!!!
Throughout this money saving forum, it suggests that we barter and negotiate on prices.. why should EA be any different????????

Good luck Dodgy

freeride

treacle32 wrote: »

Hi,
They had 3 viewings lined up even before it went to print/website,

Is that what they told you?.

Dont tell me, one cancelled, the second has decided not to buy/sell and the third has reorganisd the viewing for 2 weeks time.

EA's use this stroke all the time to get the contract
:rotfl:

treacle32_2

freeride wrote: »

Is that what they told you?.

Dont tell me, one cancelled, the second has decided not to buy/sell and the third has reorganisd the viewing for 2 weeks time.

EA's use this stroke all the time to get the contract
:rotfl:

Sorry to dissapoint!! LOL. But had already signed contracts, and yes all 3 have been to view:rotfl:

freeride

treacle32 wrote: »

Sorry to dissapoint!! LOL. But had already signed contracts, and yes all 3 have been to view:rotfl:

I'm not disapointed at all, I was just giving an example of what EA's will say in order to win business. We are currently getting valuations for our house which is currently being let.

One EA tried to sell me a HIP even though my old one from 11months ago is still valid, he said they are only vaild for 28 days, but he can sell me one at a cost price of $300 (which happens to be expensive).
Anyway, after I challenged him and asked to see his source, he phoned me up 2 minutes later and said they have changed the rules again and he wasn't told...:rotfl:. So, either he is incompetant or he is a liar. I'm guessing he is a liar

Another EA valued the house at last years prices, when I said it was to much, he said that I'd done such lovely work in there a buyer would buy it straight away. What a liar, no one is going to pay last years prices, we all know that. He thought he could win the deal by promising a high sale price.

I think it is right to negociate fees because they care about no one bar themselves, so why should we.

dodgy

Well, just to follow up - all agents were more than happy for me to provide my own HIP, none charged any form of 'checking' fee.

I negotiated our preferred agent down to the price of the second lowest (they came in at 1.0%, 1.1% 1.25% and 1.5%) so was pretty happy with that. No apologies to the fervent estate agents on this thread ... I'm sure nobody will starve because I knocked .15% off their fees. Thanks to those who posted and did actually help.

chickmug

dodgy wrote: »

No apologies to the fervent estate agents on this thread ... I'm sure nobody will starve because I knocked .15% off their fees.

Well thank you for the concern.:D

Goo to get your feedback as so many who ask for help just dissappear when they have it.

northerner79

One piece of advice a good estate agent can add value to your house, the marketing material and chosen advertising measures can add value.

So say an average estate agents charges 1.5% for the sale of your property and achieve a seeling price of £200,000. You will pay them £3,000. Leaving you with £197,000 before legals etc.

Say you choose a more enthusiastic and able estate agent they may charge 2%. But they achieve you a price of £210,000. You will pay them £4,200. Leaving you with £205,800 before legals etc.

So you may end up with £8,800 more in your pocket by choosing the agent who will achieve best value for you.

This is not to say the highest priced agent will be the best but think carefully when selecting your agent.