Choices - Buyers Estate Agent?

Tony_R

Hello.

I have seen a house which I quite like the look of and went to take a look at the area this evening.

However, it is up for sale with Choices Estate Agents who take the fee from the buyer rather than the seller. Their website states they work for you and try to get you the lowest price rather than the seller the higher price.

Would the owner have listed with them? would it be listed with another agent working for the selller? I can't see to find anywhere else listing the same house.

I'm not sure I like the idea of paying a fee to buy the house, but it is a nice house.

How much are their fees I can't see to find it on their website. I'm considering phoning tomorrow but I'm a little apprehensive.

Do they generally save you the money to cover the fees you pay them?

hometrader

Sounds a bit shifty - my advice: Knock on the door, speak to the owner.

theGrinch

I have read alot of bad press usually from annoyed customers. not read a single good thing about them. I would never use them. try asking on singingpig dot co dot uk

Tony_R

Thanks - I have to say I really don't like the idea of having to pay a fee to an EA to buy.

It is a nice looking house though, and if they are the only agents and charge a perecentage to the buyer, surely they have a conflict of interest as the more the house sells for the fatter their % would be?

It is a nice house though.

Tony_R

I've just phoned Choices to enquire about the house and the buyers fees.

The buyer pays 1.5% off the purchase price as comission to the Estate Agent. When an offer is accepted you would pay £500 deposit and the rest on completion.

They say that they try to get the cheapest possible price for the buyer rather than the highest price for the seller.

What I can't get my head around is surely as it is a percentage, the EA would want to get as much as for the house as possible to get a bigger slice for their 1.5%. I'm not saying they would do this, but surely its a conflict of interest?

If it was a set fee, rather than a percentage I wouldn't have so many doubts about it.

princeofpounds

It's quite simple to deal with it. In reality when there is an middleman charge the cost is shared between buyer and seller. Only one party pays, but the asset price is normally adjusted to account for a portion of that friction charge. With a lot of effort and statistical data you could probably even work out by how much.

Just value the place as you would a normal property (where the seller pays a charge which is implied in the transaction prices you would hopefully be valuing from) and deduct the EA fee from your internal target price.

I have to say, I'm not sure quite how they can operate as a buyer's agent when they are effectively commissioned by the seller to market a property. I would have thought that there would be massive conflicts of interest and such a thing would only be possible if they were not involved in the marketing. Plus a percentage fee incentivises higher prices! Sounds very misleading to me. Wonder what they tell the sellers?!

............

Having read the website just now have you been told that they are operating as a buyer's agent on this transaction in particular? Because you could pick up the impression from the exceptionally poor website (and they aren't a small firm!) that they are always buyer's agent's but it's not clear if that's true or if it is just one capability they have.

Tony_R

They gave the impression they are just a buyers estate agent.

But I agree the fact they are marketing for the seller and earn their money as a percentage which would favour getting a higher price, it makes me slightly uneasy. They probably are totally trustworthy but it just doesn't feel right.

theGrinch

Tony_R wrote: »

They gave the impression they are just a buyers estate agent.

But I agree the fact they are marketing for the seller and earn their money as a percentage which would favour getting a higher price, it makes me slightly uneasy. They probably are totally trustworthy but it just doesn't feel right.

I havent followed choices recently, but a few years ago they were charging naive punters a buyer's fee for properties that were actually auction properties that anyone could access pre auction with a little homework. On further reading they were giving the impression these were exclusive which was plain misleading.

A fixed fee or even a percentage on the savings gained would be more appealing. That said, I wouldnt use them

genuineplacebo

Hi,

We've also seen a property on the Choices website that we're interested in and had the same aprehensions...!

However, what do you do?! If you really like the property and they're the only ones marketing it, you have no option do you?

I've emailed them today and asked them to also clarify the 'Buyer Commission Required' statement and then we'll go for a viewing.....

I don't particularly want to pay a fee to buy though as we're also paying to sell... I guess we'll just offer less to compansate.

One thing, if you pay a deposit when you offer, what happens if they seller pulls out?! Would they reimburse you?!

What a nightmare!

DVardysShadow

It is easy. Make all offers inclusive of commission and let Choices and the Vendor sort it out. That way, your offer is always directly comparable in the market

verytricky69

Tony_R wrote: »

They gave the impression they are just a buyers estate agent.

But I agree the fact they are marketing for the seller and earn their money as a percentage which would favour getting a higher price, it makes me slightly uneasy. They probably are totally trustworthy but it just doesn't feel right.

My experience is that choices aren't trustworthy at all. I found them to be totally unreliable when they were marketing my property (2 years ago) and very unprofessional. This 'buyers pay commission' idea is an attempt to get more properties on their books- to me it seems like a desperate effort to counteract the damage of their bad reputation. Having said that - if you like the property- what else can you do- just be careful and don't believe everything they say- they want to get the highest price possible out of you and will probably claim that there is already a high 'bid' on the place when there isnt. Best of luck