How many people renegotiate estate agents fees?

googler

...and any profit on ones that do sell covers the losses on the ones that don't sell, or those sellers who decide to 'rent it out instead' or decide that they really still like their house after all, and don't want to move anymore......

not_loaded

Well we all know what we’d prefer to get as a seller – the maximum. How do you get it? I feel that maximum exposure and high quality exposure is certainly going to help, so good quality Rightmove/Propertyfinder etc presence goes without saying. At a tenth to a fifteenth of the price of the local EAs you’re able to get that.

Earlier this year (before going to the market) I phoned or dropped in to my local agents. Half of them, before checking my credentials in any manner, mentioned getting the vendor down significantly on their asking price. That surely ain’t what you’re paying them for.

You mention northerner79, that ‘normally, but not always the case of you get what you pay for’. From what I’ve seen to date, that almost certainly wouldn’t be the case in my locality. The most professional acting agent comes in at fifteen times the Housenetwork price.

Your sums above are quite correct, but you’ll need to actually know who the ‘average’ agent is and who the ‘good’ agent is in advance. Talking to friends and neighbours who’ve used local EAs brings out some interesting stories, and I’m afraid that around here paying more doesn’t equate to getting more.

I’m also not confident that the most expensive agent has the best negotiators.

Good points there googler. For the marketing/handling service there’s a certain amount I’d be prepared to pay. I don’t want to pay for other vendors fall outs/failures, and I certainly don’t want the agent to be offering huge discounts to an anonymous walk in customer.

googler

"I don’t want to pay for other vendors fall outs/failures"

Any shop price you pay on your high street carries a contingency price because the shopkeeper has to shoulder the cost of any shoplifted goods.

Any groceries you buy have an allowance in the price for any that lie on the shelves unsold and are spoiled.

Any other business has contingency costs; not everything goes according to plan, and the contingency cost gets passed on to the end consumer such that the business doesn't end up making a loss.

Why is Estate Agency any different?

keith969

googler wrote: »

"I don’t want to pay for other vendors fall outs/failures"

Any shop price you pay on your high street carries a contingency price because the shopkeeper has to shoulder the cost of any shoplifted goods.

Any groceries you buy have an allowance in the price for any that lie on the shelves unsold and are spoiled.

Any other business has contingency costs; not everything goes according to plan, and the contingency cost gets passed on to the end consumer such that the business doesn't end up making a loss.

Why is Estate Agency any different?

Its a fair point that they need to make enough to run a business, however by charging a fixed % of the sale price, they have seen their income triple in the last ten years as house prices have risen. Have groceries tripled too?

chickmug

keith969 wrote: »

Its a fair point that they need to make enough to run a business, however by charging a fixed % of the sale price, they have seen their income triple in the last ten years as house prices have risen. Have groceries tripled too?

I am not going to try and justify the increase but would point out that cost for agents today are far greater than they were years ago. Clients have very high expectations - floor plans, virtual tours multi photo, multi page sales details and much better web site presences. Years ago there were no web sites. Another fcator is the money spent for which the agent has no chance of recovery because some sellers are not that serious and back out either before selling or even after a sale has been agreed. It is a much bigger problem than it was years ago.

JayZed

Sorry, but isn't everyone rather missing the point here?

£500? On a handbag?!

Doozergirl

northerner79 wrote: »

People make this stupid error of going with the cheapest EA, bad move! It is normally, but not always the case of you get what you pay for. If you pay an average agent 1% and they get you 195k you pay them £1950 and are left with 193,050, you pay a good agent 2% and they get you 200k, you pay them 4k and are left with 196k. Take your pick, I know what I prefer!!

Unfortunately, you're entirely wrong. I've dealt with many agents now and that simply is not the case.

The best agents I have dealt with have charged me .5%, 1% and 1.5%. No rhyme or reason. I've also used Kinght Frank who we've bartered down the commission fee but you still spend well over £1000 on marketing materials before you pay for your own advertisements. Whilst the look of the brochures etc are fab, they should be when I'm spending £250 for the photographer to come and take them! Ultimately they were not good at vetting the viewers and whilst we had our own dedicated person, the viewings were undertaken by a retired lady and the call backs made by the nice but slightly dopey receptionsist

I've also used House Network 3 times and been perfectly happy with what I got.

The agents that charge 2% in my area are part of the countrywide chain and actually deal with the real bottom end of the market in my area and as a buyer they were distinctly average.

The better agents are the ones who need the sale because it's their company, they have proper experience of the local market and it's their livlihood at stake; not an office full of people who couldn't care less as long as their salary hits the bank account at the end of the month.

Oh, it was the 0.5% agent that sold a house for more than Knight Frank could, by the way!

Doozergirl

googler wrote: »

"I don’t want to pay for other vendors fall outs/failures"

Any shop price you pay on your high street carries a contingency price because the shopkeeper has to shoulder the cost of any shoplifted goods.

Any groceries you buy have an allowance in the price for any that lie on the shelves unsold and are spoiled.

Any other business has contingency costs; not everything goes according to plan, and the contingency cost gets passed on to the end consumer such that the business doesn't end up making a loss.

Why is Estate Agency any different?

Because the fall out rate of an estate agent is much higher than that of a regular shop.

It's more like the shopkeeper asking people to eat the food before they decide to pay for it rather than people shoplifting. And then asking the genuine folk to pay for the others who didn't pay.

You can't justify it. The sensible way for estate agency to operate is to charge an upfront fee to those genuinely motivated to sell. Unfortunately genuine sellers seem to be prepared to pay for kitefliers and the estate agents willing to entertain them.

not_loaded

googler wrote: »

Any shop price you pay on your high street carries a contingency price…
Any groceries you buy have an allowance in the price…
Any other business has contingency costs… contingency cost gets passed on…
Why is Estate Agency any different?

Yup, knew all that already. Estate agency is different because 1) they extract the p with such huge amounts coupled with poor service, and 2) because the huge amounts can so easily be avoided.
I’m sure you, like other MSE users, avoid huge cost differences if you possibly can.

My point here chickmug (#46) is that Housenetwork imho give an overall better than most, at least equal to the best, marketing presentation of the property. No one really wants to pay a minimum of ten times Housenetwork to get an inferior job done surely?

Doozergirl wrote: »

Unfortunately, you're entirely wrong. I've dealt with many agents now and that simply is not the case... …I've also used House Network 3 times and been perfectly happy with what I got.
The better agents are the ones who need the sale because it's their company, they have proper experience of the local market and it's their livlihood at stake; not an office full of people who couldn't care less as long as their salary hits the bank account at the end of the month.

Glad to hear they did a good job 3 times for you!
I agree about the agents who ‘need the sale’ being more interested. In all though, I feel that High Street EAs simply won’t exist in a few years. The online world will continue its onslaught and quite rightly so.

No one cared when I was redundant (more than once) following technological ‘progress’.

MSE is all about not chucking your money away unnecessarily isn’t it?

googler

keith969 wrote: »

Its a fair point that they need to make enough to run a business, however by charging a fixed % of the sale price, they have seen their income triple in the last ten years as house prices have risen. Have groceries tripled too?

The business income might have increased in line with house prices, but do you really imagine all their expenses have stayed static?

Profit equals Income minus Expenditure.