How to find a buyer: Sole agent versus multiple agent

Cannon_Fodder

I think he means the EAs appeared to "give up", as the viewings dried up, in anticipation of the rejected offer later being eventually accepted by the vendors...

ghostbusters

sorry for the confusion..cannon fodder put it better than me.
one was in 2003 when the market was still booming.. the buyer was going with a mortgage from the estate agent as a btl. the other was june 2008 last year.. again the flat was sold to a professional landlord..I can only go by my experience that the first offer was pretty much in line with the viewing drying up. In the first instance there were possibly 20 viewings, in the second 4 before first offers made; possibly my sample is too small to be valid.

pie81

googler wrote: »

Why would any EA agree to no tie-in period?

What's the benefit from their point of view, if any?

ermmm.... the benefit is that they get the seller's business??

we have just spoken to several agents about marketing our property, two of them suggested no tie in period up front without us even asking, the one we are going with initially wanted 4 weeks but we asked for no tie in and they agreed.

we would not have used an agent with a tie in period, just in case we weren't happy with the job they were doing.

googler

pie81 wrote: »

ermmm.... the benefit is that they get the seller's business??

The agent gets one more house on their books, they put some work into it, only to find you jump ship at a moment's notice, without giving them a decent crack at selling it?

Would you recommend that approach to all agents as a business model?

patricia..xx

googler wrote: »

Why would any EA agree to no tie-in period?

What's the benefit from their point of view, if any?

Ours suggested this with no prompting. They said they were confident they could sell the house and provide customer service we were happy with. Therefore why would they tie us in to a notice period.

They were true to their word - on getting an acceptable offer, so we never tried the no notice clause.

John_Pierpoint

I think I have found an agency that should do a good job, I'll be signing up on Friday. .

The only piece of advice that I would pass on is this from a "retired" Estate Agent:

In the current market (more buyers than sellers) DONT sign an extended sole agency agreement.
If the agent is any good he should produce more than one buyer within a month.
If he doesn't there is no point in hanging about with him.

chickmug

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

In the current market (more buyers than sellers) DONT sign an extended sole agency agreement.
If the agent is any good he should produce more than one buyer within a month.
If he doesn't there is no point in hanging about with him.

Another retired agent here!!!

I agree & I am selling one of my buy to let places and insisted on a 2 week period & the EA agreed. But if I were back in business it would be much longer - between 2 months and on commercial six months. The agent will always go for what they can get and that applies to commission as well:eek:

pie81

googler wrote: »

The agent gets one more house on their books, they put some work into it, only to find you jump ship at a moment's notice, without giving them a decent crack at selling it?

Would you recommend that approach to all agents as a business model?

No of course I wouldn't recommend it as an ideal business model. Of course the agent would prefer a longer tie in period, if they can get it. But they also need to have properties on their books. In my local area, there are very few properties for sale. There are also lots of agents. So agents are having to be flexible over fees and tie ins to get the business.

It's competition... the agents can't just demand whatever terms they want, or sellers will go elsewhere.

chickmug

pie81 wrote: »

It's competition... the agents can't just demand whatever terms they want, or sellers will go elsewhere.

Yes it is possible that the good agents can offer less attractive terms, longer tie ins and higher commission. This is the business model we worked to as we were so confident of our service and reputation with a level of nearly 70% repeat business. So I say the good agents may have less advantageous terms but may be the better agents to deal with?

John_Pierpoint

When I signed up with the 1.6% + VAT estate agent [I could have got a strictly local one for 1%] with whom I "clicked" and who had a customer facing staff; I had been managing to get offers on my own account, of up to 360K using my own HIP & EPC. from people who probably really could not afford to pay more.

BTW the woman who prepared the EPC with my assistance only got 45 GBP for her largely accurate efforts.
[I was selling one of the last houses in the street in need of serious renovation and extension but with its an original period frontage and detailing in tact.].

In my heart of hearts I was prepared to settle for 375K rather than struggle on with an empty house through what turned out to be the worst winter for a good few years.

In the event, over a period of about 6 weeks, "we" managed to get 3 parties all based about 10 - 15 miles away to compete, the resulting offers were around the 400K mark.

The job was done and dusted before Xmas.

:beer:

John.

PS Don't forget to use "Property Bee"