Using budget estate agents?

daisybob

We are in the early stages of selling our house. Just had 2 estate agents round to value it. Neither quoted a % fee, both had flat fees, £1200 and £2000 +vat. Our house is worth £75-85k!
I looked at move and save and they would charge £292 inc vat, plus £50 for a board.
As far as I can see, the only difference between them and 'regular' estate agents is that they don't actively market your property and they don't do viewings for you. They also want the fee upfront.
Worth it or not? Any others to recommend?
And what about cheap online HIPs and conveyancing? I have read they can sometimes be slower, but they seem to offer big incentives to take both together.
Thanks

googler

A Lada costs £2000, and a BMW £18000.

I can't see any difference between them - they've both got four wheels, a steering wheel, four seats.....


Does the term 'false economy' hold any resonance for you?

If you go with the regular agent, and your house doesn't sell, how much will you pay of the £1200 or £2000? Zero.

If you go with Move and Save and don't sell, how much will it cost you to try them out? £292, non-refundable I take it.

looloo1

hi, if you are definately moving and not testing the market i would 100% go with move and save , i used them 4 years ago and sold ,and am currently waiting for exchange of contracts ,again with move and save . the way i see it is they are like any other agent in the respect of marketing in the paper and mainly getting u on RIGHTMOVE. i am saying this as someone who would rather pay £300 upfront rather than £2000 at the end that would break my heart. if you are in notts area there is also moss and co who are slightly cheaper but i chose move and save , as they say better the devil u know . they will try and sell u a video tour ,3d floorplans, for sale board . i only had 3d floorplans which they dropped from 50 to 30 when i declined the package they offered.hope this helps , good luck lee.

motherofstudents

I heard that Ladas are coming back, might have to part ex the BMW:rotfl:

I think estate agents can be very useful in negotiating but if you don't mind risking the money on move and save you could give them a try. From my own experience I would not use online conveyancers. Could you try to get a recommendation from someone for a solicitor/conveyancer, you get what you pay for. Hope you sell quickly whichever way you decide to do it.

dander

googler wrote: »

If you go with the regular agent, and your house doesn't sell, how much will you pay of the £1200 or £2000? Zero.

If you go with Move and Save and don't sell, how much will it cost you to try them out? £292, non-refundable I take it.

This is a vary good point. I've often posted on here about how I just don't think online agents get the results that "real" agents do. But of course, this is their huge advantage as a business model, they don't have to. It's rather like the pyramid selling schemes, really. Give me your £300 and I'll tell you how to sell a house...

Plans_all_plans

...DON'T use a fixed fee agent, they are rubbish. From our point of view as FTBuyers, when we wanted to view houses on with fixed fee agents, we had to chase and chase and chase them. They would NEVER ring us back if we left messages etc. We tried to view several properties with different fixed fee agents and the process was so galling to us as sellers, we made a decision not to view ANY properties on with such agents.

It really was a nightmare and I'd say avoid them at all costs!

ETA: the best agent near us (from a potential buyer's point of view) is the most expensive for the seller. BUT, they work their socks off for the sellers. They were ringin us at least once a day updating us with new properties on the market and getting us in to view properties. If the guy who was dealing with us is still working for them when we come to sell, we've already said we'll try to sell through them.

Woby_Tide

dander wrote: »

This is a vary good point. I've often posted on here about how I just don't think online agents get the results that "real" agents do. But of course, this is their huge advantage as a business model, they don't have to. It's rather like the pyramid selling schemes, really. Give me your £300 and I'll tell you how to sell a house...

It's very dependent on the amrket though. Last time we moved was during the last rally, we paid £345 for an online agency and that got us the Rightmove ads etc. Meant we saved somewhere between £2k and £3k on a normal agent. In a market like today, not a chance personally. And to prove the point the low fixed fee went bust not long after the market started faltering, that despite them changing their pricing model to £345 up front, £345 on a sale.

dubsey

In my job I have to deal with all the solicitors and other agents in the chain to get the progress. When I get a new file I firstly check who the solicitors are, anything with an online conveyancer and I know we are adding time to the process (don't even start me on CPL) and then look at the other agents. The cheap online do it yourself types don't do any kind of progress reports at all. When I call any of them in a chain they are simply a call centre looking at boxes that have been ticked or not ticked, so there is never an accurate picture of where we are.

We have a couple of cheap agents in our town and if my buyers are using them to sell it bugs me when they say, you're the only person I ever hear from, my agent never calls me and never returns my calls. No - and you're bloomin well paying them a few housand quid, not us!

No we are not the cheapest, but I do think that at least with us in our town you get me who will definately call you back and give you the truth (very unusual in an estate agent!)

Doozergirl

I've used House Network (online agent) 3 or 4 times with complete success,paying upfront each time. The fact is that if you are able to take control yourself , take responsibilty for getting the price right and then keep driving things through then paying an agent is often like money for old rope. It is great when an agent genuinely earns their fee but really, there aren't that many agents like that out there. I deal with them all the time. In your price bracket I wouldn't blink before opting with House Network over a fee of £2000+VAT.

I've made my own HIP and I've used www.hips4u.com. hips4u were cheaper! It took about a week to get the HIP and you can email the link straight to an agent.

I used conveyancing-warehouse after reading on here about them. Wouldn't do it again. That said, I have a fantastic local solicitor and it's only using another service that I realise how fabulous she really is. Our buyer's solicitor when we used conveyancing-warehouse were just as sluggish and they were local and not cheap either.

If you get a really good agent, solicitor then they are absolultely worth what you pay for them. But IME, there is a lot of mediocre out there and it really grates when you pay good money for an apathetic response.

timmyt

daisybob wrote: »

We are in the early stages of selling our house. Just had 2 estate agents round to value it. Neither quoted a % fee, both had flat fees, £1200 and £2000 +vat. Our house is worth £75-85k!
I looked at move and save and they would charge £292 inc vat, plus £50 for a board.
As far as I can see, the only difference between them and 'regular' estate agents is that they don't actively market your property and they don't do viewings for you. They also want the fee upfront.
Worth it or not? Any others to recommend?
And what about cheap online HIPs and conveyancing? I have read they can sometimes be slower, but they seem to offer big incentives to take both together.
Thanks

you obviously havelittle respect for your transaction, going incredibly cheap, so the people you are using will have no respect either...nt for the fee you are paying, clearly they won't do as good a job.

cheap HIPs and conveyancing too...good grief.

Use an estate agent, and then a local solicitor firm to do the conveyancing.

estate agents pay their own fee by squeezing every penny out of a BUyer. A cheap estate agent you pay up front won't have thatsame drive.

Good luck OP