Valuation of my house

Wobblydeb

Get a few quotes and get haggling! It's worth a HUGE amount of money to you and the estate agents DO have the ability to negotiate that fee.

For example, I got quotes at 1.5%, 1.25% and 1.0% of selling price (all + VAT). The 1.0% did have a £95 cancellation charge, which seemed fair.

It may simply be competitive around my area at the moment, but I believe you should be able to negotiate a reduction of 0.25% at a minimum. The easiest way to do that is get another valuation and ask them to beat the previous firm's quote.

G_M

first78 wrote: »

As far as I know it's a sole agency agreement. There's no lock in period.
Does 1.75% seem ok?

as far as you know??!! You need to know!
No lock in? I've never, no not ever, heard of this on a sole agency agreement. Check and get it in writing. If the EA turns out to be rubbish and you find out you're locked in for 3 months......

Doozergirl

googler wrote: »

Again, this depends on where you are. Round my way, in some cases, the agent who does the valuation also handles measuring, photos, description, viewings and negotiation too.... only handing over to a solicitor for the legal work once an offer is accepted - but I'm in that foreign land known as Scotland.

So you wouldn't test an EA by acting as a buyer then, or what? As well as doing all the valuations, measuring, photos, viewings and negotiations do they answer the phones as well when someone calls up looking?

It's by the by really; in many cases agents have valuers who only do valuations. Even if they do a lot of the dealing themselves, it certainly isn't one person doing every last thing, even in a small office. The importance is of anyone who deals with the buyers and how they treat people in general as an office. Do not choose an agent purely on one the one person who comes around to value the place!

MissMotivation

First78......that figure is a lot for the area!

Why do you want this agent, in particular, to market your house? Average fees in your area are approx 1.5%.....what is that agent doing that warrants such a high fee?

bsk198

Also make sure that you seek clarity (written) on the No-Sale No-Fee statement. You need to be careful about any buyers that your EA may have 'introduced' to the property if at some later point you end up putting the property on with a different EA. Worst case you could end up with a buyer that completes through your second EA but who originally saw the property through the first EA. If you are not careful you could end up paying two lots of commission...

parallax_20

bsk198 wrote: »

Also make sure that you seek clarity (written) on the No-Sale No-Fee statement. You need to be careful about any buyers that your EA may have 'introduced' to the property if at some later point you end up putting the property on with a different EA. Worst case you could end up with a buyer that completes through your second EA but who originally saw the property through the first EA. If you are not careful you could end up paying two lots of commission...

I agree. The details of the commission payable should be in the terms of business. Read them very carefully before signing. I had one agent who showed us an agreement that had a clause saying that their commission was still payable 6 month after the termination of contract, if the buyer was one they initially introduced. Very sly, and the agent tried to convince me it was standard contract terms. What complete b*ll*ks, defeats the meaning of a contract if it continues after termination! That agreement quickly went straight in the bin. Ironically it was the agents own website that "advised to read the contract terms carefully as you could be liable to pay commissions to multiple agents". How helpful their site was! hehe.

Forgot to add - Try and get a copy of the agreement before calling them around to clarify the contract terms. As once they are through the door, they will try talk you into signing on the dotted line whilst they are there. Don't feel pressured on the day.

As other have said, sole agency is around 1.5%. If you can, get a multi-agency agreement that would help to sell your house quicker. We paid 2.0% last year, but glad we went the multi-agency route as it allowed us to try agents out and if they were rubbish within the first month, we just dropped them for someone else without affecting marketing time. We had 2 or 3 agents on the go as selling was difficult last year. But again read the agreements carefully before taking any agents on board.

MissMotivation

parallax_20 wrote: »

I agree. The details of the commission payable should be in the terms of business. Read them very carefully before signing. I had one agent who showed us an agreement that had a clause saying that their commission was still payable 6 month after the termination of contract, if the buyer was one they initially introduced. Very sly, and the agent tried to convince me it was standard contract terms. What complete b*ll*ks, defeats the meaning of a contract if it continues after termination! That agreement quickly went straight in the bin. Ironically it was the agents own website that "advised to read the contract terms carefully as you could be liable to pay commissions to multiple agents". How helpful their site was! hehe.

Forgot to add - Try and get a copy of the agreement before calling them around to clarify the contract terms. As once they are through the door, they will try talk you into signing on the dotted line whilst they are there. Don't feel pressured on the day.

As other have said, sole agency is around 1.5%. If you can, get a multi-agency agreement that would help to sell your house quicker. We paid 2.0% last year, but glad we went the multi-agency route as it allowed us to try agents out and if they were rubbish within the first month, we just dropped them for someone else without affecting marketing time. We had 2 or 3 agents on the go as selling was difficult last year. But again read the agreements carefully before taking any agents on board.

Don't forget you have a 7 day "cooling off period" from the date that you sign the agreement.