Estate Agent Fees!!

wotnoshoeseh

Hi,
I've just had my house valued by a couple of estate agents. Properties in my area usually are sold within 3- 4 weeks maximum of them going on sale. I was therefore somewhat mystified by their fees scales. How can an estate agent justify the fee of over £2K for the sale of a property? I understand that they need to place a "For Sale" board on the property, take a few photographs, place an advert on the Internet, and then handle a few phone calls to sort out the viewings etc., but really I would have thought that £300-400 could have easily covered those costs!!
Instead they charge a percentage of the final value. Considering the amount of properties that any estate agent has on their books, the turnover of these properties, and the outlay required to set up in the business, this looks like a pretty good return on investment!!
Anyway, rant over, I was wondering if any of you good folk had any ideas on how to sell a property without incurring such preposterous charges. Any and all ideas gratefully received.

Incidentally property is situated in Crumlin, Co. Antrim. Local estate agents would be good, as one of the estate agents that valued it was from Lisburn and wasn't even aware that the development I lived in was even there. Makes me wonder how he managed to value it at all!!
I might even consider having a go at selling it myself, so any advice on that front would be gratefully received.

CL

Get a couple out to value it and then bargain them down, let them know you have other agents interested and they will do a deal to get your business, like you say it is nearly all profit for them so some is better than none

declanmcc

Estate agents generally take 1% of the selling price. However whichever estate agent you go with - make sure to allow for VAT on top of it too so be wary of that extra 17.5% !!

rjh090384

there is a new place that does it for a sert amount no percentage but for the life of me i cant remember the name!!! tehy were advertised on abillboard in ards for a while.

wotnoshoeseh

Thanks for all the input. Anybody any ideas on selling a house themselves?? Couldn't be all that difficult, could it??

rjh090384

jesus i practically did!!! i used mcw and it took 4 months to complete and that was with constant chasing by me to the estact agency. they told me charges were 1% which i found reasonable as apartment was only worth 70k. then i got the bill...they forgot to tell me it was 1% + vat!!! a lto mor ethan i wanted to pay!!
though in all fairness to htem , they are very well known and a first option for a lot of people and the apartment was sold in two weeks at 8k above asking.

motorguy

rjh090384 wrote:

...they are very well known and a first option for a lot of people and the apartment was sold in two weeks at 8k above asking.

this is probably why i'd definitely use an agent, and as someone has suggested bargain them down against another.

My concern over selling your house yourself is that a good agent will probably be able to get you more for it than you can yourself, thus negating any savings in fees...

wotnoshoeseh

Couldn't agree with you more Paul. It seems that it is very much a closed shop, and you cannot use the website that the estate agents use, as they will not take adverts from Joe Public. There are a couple of web sites such as mpfs.co.uk, but their coverage of the six counties is pretty limited.
If only there was a website specifically intended for those of us from NI intent on selling for ourselves...................
Could even be a money spinner for somebody out there, as vendors could pay for the advertising space......

IvanOpinion

There is a new agent about not sure of their name but there are a couple of houses up our way that have the sign up and it advertises that the cost to sell is £239 (and I know one of the houses has had a stream of viewers). If I am out later I will try to get more info for you.

Ivan

leftieM

I've seen a new company called emoves (not sure of website). For a fee (less than £100) they supply you with the board and you take pictures to put on their website and you write all the stuff, do viewings etc - they aren't estate agents, they're more a website for private sellers.

alanobrien

They dont have to justify their fees since they pretty much have a monopoly. In my areea 1 to 2 1/2 % is the normal range which can be a lot of money.

Things will change in time as more people move to sell their houses themselves.

Some www sites allow you to list for free, there are many of them these days here's a place to start looking;

http://www.ahomeofmyown.co.uk/