Selling Flat - Costs involved?

mantamark

Hi all, we are putting our 3 bed flat on the market soon, but i wanted to check i have everything covered.

We have had 3 agents out to value it, we have decided which one we are going with. Their sales fee is £1400+vat

HIP - there are two online suppliers that have decent reviews, that a few frinds have used, thats £250inc vat, the agent wants an extra £100 for theirs.

Solicitors, the agent has got a fee of £325 for their own solicitors, not sure if this is an ok price?

Is there anything else we need to budget for?

Thanks

Mark.

hpa423

£325 is a great price for solicitors - I'd check the small print though. Obviously you haven't considered moving costs, and costs associated with buying a new place, if thats what you are doing

VIGILANT22

£325.00 for a solicitor doesn't sound right.......

mantamark

I was focusing on just the costs of selling for now, moving costs are ok, my dad sells vans Also looking at mortgages at the moment, but thats a seperate issue.

Will find out what the solicitor actually does for the £325, as i thought it was a good price too!

VIGILANT22

I wouldn't call it good.........more like unrealistic....I think you will find this is the basic fee, then all the add on's............

RX-78

As usual, never ever use EA's solicitor. We almost went down this rout and thankfully we didn't.

As vigillant stated;
1. Do they include all other costs (disinbursement, leashold, money transfer etc. Some even charges for quick completion!)
2. Are they no move no fees?
3. Do they provide good service? Looking on the forum, less astute solicitor may not look into all the small prints to ensure a water tight contract
4. Can they deal with unexpected? There was post on here where the vendor pulled out after exchange and the poster had very good solicitor who got them a good compensation in the end - its worth noting that vendor ended up changing solicitor 1/2 way through (I assume their original solicitor couldn't deal with the complex situation)
5. How easy is it to communicate with them? EA's solicitor had friendly (but clueless) receptionist who always tried to answer my question without referring to the solicitor. She gave me heaps of wrong information. My current solicitor replies emails within 30min, always available on phone, and is happy to update the process several time each week.
6. How much is the solicitor paying the EA? If they are paying £100 for referral, they are in effect earning that much less. And human nature tells me they will do their best job for highest paying customer, and least paying the last. You could be put in the bottom of their "to do" list.....
7. Do you actually like them? I know it shouldn't matter but its difficult to trust someone you dont like. EA's solicitor was obviously more interested in the money than providing a good service. My new solicitor is keener to provide a good service as she knows I'll be living local to her office and I'll more than likely use her again if I'm happy with her.

So all in all, its not about getting the cheapest one.

p.s. I'm not sure about local vs national solicitor. Mine actually is about 30miles away from my current address but local to my (hopefully) new home. We did go and see her in person once but rest has been post/email/phone and had no problem so far.